The modern enactment of the Consumer protection Act has seemed to cause a feverish level of excitement surrounded by businesses, the media and the general public. The concentration of the general communal has primarily been focused around the provision which allows a buyer to return goods and limits the potential of retailers to invent a no refunds policy.
With the contents of the Consumer protection Act in mind I have found it to be a curious development that despite the enactment of the Act, retailers still have sign and display boards that indicate a " no refund" policy.
Consumer
On a modern speculation to a local cellular network store, to purchase a gift for a house member, I again encountered a "no refund" signage inside the store and politely enquired with the staff why such signage was on display after the enactment of the Consumer protection Act. The response I received was both surprising and instructive as a staff member replied to my enquiry by stating that the Consumer protection Act's provisions that allow for the return of goods and a claim for a repayment does not apply to all goods.
On exiting the local cellular network store I soon found myself examining the considerable provisions of the Consumer protection Act so as to invent whether the statement of the staff member at the store was correct.
The effect of my examination of the Consumer protection Act was enlightening and I will discuss them in the following paragraphs.
The Act does supply consumers with a right to a cooling period; however, this cooling-off duration would seem only to apply after direct marketing with positive exclusions. Direct marketing has been defined in the Act as
"approaching a person, whether in someone or by mail or electronic communication, for the direct or indirect purpose of promoting or gift to supply, in the commonplace policy of business, any goods or services to the person, or requesting to make a donation of any kind for any reason"
This definition basically means that I, as a consumer who had walked into the cellular network store to purchase a gift for a house member without having received e-mail, internet, post or personal advertisements relating to the goods that I wished to purchase, would not be able to utilise the provisions of the Consumer protection Act relating to the right to cooling-off periods, plainly because I had not been a recipient of direct marketing in respect of the goods that I was purchasing at the cellular phone network store.
In the same vein I would also not be able to utilise the provisions of the Act relating to a right to cancel progress orders to return goods and claim a refund, as I had not ordered the goods that I purchased at the store in advance.
In the context of my situation the assistance that the Consumer protection Act would supply is that, because I examined a sample of the goods that I purchased and was told about functions and potential of such goods, the goods I purchased must correspond both with the sample that I had examined and the article which I had received. If the goods that I purchased did not correspond with both the sample examined and the article that I had received then there would be a violation of the Consumer protection Act and I would be entitled to enforce the provisions of the Act in my favour.
Also, I would be able to return the goods that I purchased and receive a full repayment within 10 business days after delivery if the goods purchased were found to be unsuitable for the particular purpose for which I purchased the goods for, and for which purpose I told the supplier I was purchasing the goods. This right provided to me by the Act is conditional on me not having altered the goods purchased or dissembled the goods and trying to heal it. The right to a full repayment is also conditional on the supplier being able to payment me for returning the goods in packaging that is not the customary packaging for the goods and the supplier being able to supplementary payment me for the costs incurred by the supplier to restore the goods to its customary packaging and render the goods fit for re-stocking.
My closing after my examination of the Consumer protection Act in light of the staff member's statement was therefore that no right is absolute and the importance of knowing the conditions that apply to any legal right can never be underestimated.
buyer security Act: Right to a repayment Consumer
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