How to make a customer complaint: The consumer rights you have, and the ones you don't

Irish Times

5 days ago

The vast majority of the queries
Pricewatch
receives from readers reflect entirely legitimate grievances but every now and then we hear a story and have to side with the company because they have done nothing wrong.
It is instead the consumer who is wrong about the rights they think they have.
There is no point, for instance, expecting an airline to refund you the cost of a non-refundable
flight
because you broke your toe and decided not to travel or demanding that a
shop
sell you a 72-inch liquid glass telly for a tenner because that is what the sticker price on the shelf said.
If you bought a shirt but want to return in because you have buyer's remorse you can't expect them to give you your money back – although they might – and if your phone breaks after 18 month because you dropped it in the toilet don't be surprised if the phone shop wants to send it off for assessment before giving you any redress.
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This is all by way of saying that knowing the rights you don't have can be as important as knowing the ones you do have, not least because being forearmed can save you time and effort and stop you fighting losing battles on shop floors as your sense of indignation rises in line with your blood pressure.
1. We have said it before and will say it again, if the shelf price is cheaper than the price at the till, you do not have the right to buy the product at the lower price. And why is that? Well, the price on the shelf is not an enforceable contract. It is what is known in law as an 'invitation to treat'. Effectively by putting the price tag on a product, the shop is inviting you to give them that money and until you do just that there is no deal done. And if the shop spots the pricing error before you pay them, then they can refuse to sell the product to you at the lower price.
And even if you have actually bought the product an order can still be cancelled if an error is uncovered before it is dispatched or you get to use it. So if you bought a first-class ticket to Australia for €10 when the regular price is €10,000 and the airline sends you the booking reference and deducts your credit card the tenner, it can still cancel the ticket and refund you the money if it cops the mistake before you fly because the contract is null and void as it was based on erroneous information.
In essence, you cannot profit from someone's genuine error. If, on the other hand you can show that the pricing 'error' was intentional and designed to lure you through the doors, you might have a case, but generally speaking the law sides with the retailer or service provider.
In essence, you can not profit from someone's genuine error. Photograph: iStock
2. The best of shops have decent returns policies, ones that allow you to exchange goods within a set time frame if you have changed your mind. Sometimes they will give you an alternative product of the same value or a credit note or sometimes – although less commonly – they will give you your cash back.
It is worth remembering that shops have no legal obligation to do this and if they are offering you some class of exchange in circumstances such as this, take what is on the table and don't demand more. – you might well end up with nothing. The law differs when you shop online; in that realm you can exchange a product for whatever reason and are legally entitled to a full cash refund.
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3. You do need proof of purchase when seeking an exchange. It doesn't matter if the product has the original labels attached or is a product branded with the store's credentials, a shop will most likely not entertain you if you don't have a receipt. This is not because they are unreasonable – it is because if they're going to give you money back or a credit note they will want to be sure you spent the money with them in the first place. Mind you, if you are returning something because it is flawed you do not need a store receipt, only proof of purchase. That can take many forms, including credit card receipts.
4 And speaking of flaws, if one materialises within six months of a product being bought, it can be presumed to have existed at the time of purchase. That means you are not legally obliged to provide proof of the defect. After that point the burden of proof switches and you can be asked to prove any fault did not arise as a result of misuse.
A shop also has the right to send a product off to be assessed by a manufacturer before they offer a refund so don't waste your time demanding instant redress – a shop assistant with absolutely no expertise in the area cannot really be expected to determine why a flaw has materialised. But that does go two ways. Just as they can't be expected to give you your money back straight away because your telly is on the blink, they can't refuse you redress on the basis that the problem was caused by you just by looking at it for 30 seconds on the shop floor.
5. As well as having the right to a refund, a replacement or a repair when a product is flawed, consumers also have the right to agree a price reduction on faulty goods and they will be entitled to withhold payment for goods partially paid for if they are not satisfied with the quality of the item received.
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6. Consumer law in Ireland prohibits the use of certain terms and conditions which are 'automatically regarded as unfair when put in a contract'. Any condition that allows a trader to unilaterally change the terms of a contract, or any provision that would indemnify a trader from harm caused by a product or service is not allowed. Businesses also have to set out clearly a description of the goods or services being provided, the total price and the cost of delivery before entering into a contract with a consumer.
7. When it comes to sales there are some – fairly new – rules in place that are worth knowing about. When a retailer has a sale, they will have to clearly display the previous price and that will have to be the lowest price the product was priced at over the last 30 days before going into sale. In times past, a retailer could increase the price just before it went on sale or used the recommended retail price from 12 months previously when boasting about a discount.
8. And staying with sales for a minute, it is always worth remembering, they do not exist for our benefit – retailers have sales to shift stock they were unable to sell at full price. So the last thing they want when they have finally managed to sell you that unfortunately patterned cardigan – even at a heavy discount – is to see you wandering back in to the store days later with the cardigan under your arm in search of a refund or a credit note. That means that they can change their – non-statutory – policies when it comes to returns during sales periods. So don't be surprised if you sometimes see signs that warn there is 'strictly no returns on sale items' or some such.
Retailers can change their – non-statutory – policies when it comes to returns during sales periods. Photograph: iStock
It is worth noting that such a blanket warning, while understandable maybe, might also be against the law. When you buy something – and it doesn't matter if you pay full price or get it at a 90 per cent discount – it has to be of an acceptable standard, fit for purpose and as advertised. If it does not comply with any of these three rules, you are entitled to get the product repaired or replaced, or to get a refund. No matter what the sign says.
The only exception is when the sign adds the postscript: 'This does not affect your statutory rights.' If that phrase appears on the sign, the retailer is in the clear and you have no right to go looking for a refund or an exchange unless there is something wrong with the product, in which case you are still protected by the law.
9. If you leave a treasured dress into a dry cleaners and it comes back in ribbons, you do have some comeback. This is despite the sign that you will sometimes see warning you that clothes are left at your own risk. Such signs do not have any legal basis and by putting up a sign, a business does not absolve itself of all responsibility if things go wrong. They are legally obliged to carry out the service you are paying them for with reasonable skill, care and diligence.
If a dry-cleaner destroys the nice frock you wore only once because the bloke manning the machine went out for a smoke and left it lying in harsh chemicals for too long, they have to make things right – either financially or by repairing the garment, if that is possible. Similarly, if they break loose buttons or tear something, you have a right to redress (if that is not the wrong word).
You do not, however, automatically have the right to get the full price of the garment back and some class of sliding scale might be deployed. So a black Vera Wang cocktail dress that is a week old might entitle you to more money back than one that is five years old.
Incidentally, the reasonable skill, care and diligence rule can also be applied to hairdressers, so if they make a pig's ear of your head you might have some comeback, although not – and we can't stress this enough – if you asked them to cut your long flowing locks into a boyish bob and then had second thoughts after the fact.
By parking in a car park, you are entering into a private contract with the owner. Photograph: iStock
10. If you park your car in a car park and return to find it has been broken into or badly damaged by another car which has fled the scene, you might think you will be able to make some kind of claim against the car park owner. You won't. Generally speaking, car parks will display signs that warn that cars are parked at the owner's risk and while you might think that such a sign has no legal basis because, after all, you are parking in a supervised car park and paying them to look after your car, it means the owner is covered and you are on your own.
There are no regulations governing car parks. By parking in a car park, you are entering into a private contract with the owner, and you agree to their conditions. If they have a sign up that tells you that all cars are parked at the owners' risk, then whatever happens to your car is none of their concern.
11. And staying with cars, if you buy one – new or second hand – from a dealer, then you have considerable consumer protections should things go wrong. However, and at the risk of stating the obvious, if you buy a car privately you have almost no comeback should the car break down 50 metres away from where the deal was done. That is one of the reasons cars bought privately tend to be cheaper than ones bought from dealers. It is also why you should make sure that if you are buying a car privately you check its history and get it looked over thoroughly by a mechanic you trust before you hand over any cash.
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12. If you leave a jacket or coat into a cloakroom in a nightclub or hotel and return to find it gone, you don't have much by way of comeback. You might think you have rights in this respect – after all, what is the point of a cloakroom if it can't keep your coat safe? – but if a cloakroom has a warning about items being left at the owner's risk then under the law they have told you unambiguously about the terms and conditions of the contract, and you have accepted them. They have said they are not providing security for your jacket, only somewhere to put it, so if anything happens to it, it's your lookout.
In the absence of the sign, you could argue that it is their responsibility, as they have not warned you otherwise, but there is no guarantee that such a line would work
13. Can a shop make you pay for something if you – or more likely, maybe, your fiercely curious and slightly clumsy child – break it in the store? The answer is not as simple as a 'if you break it you buy it' type sign might suggest.
If you break something in a shop and it is a genuine accident, they are going to struggle to make you pay for it. Even if they do manage to convince you to pay for it, under absolutely no circumstances can they demand you pay for the item before you leave the shop. Nor can they demand that you pay the full retail price. If a shop can prove you were negligent in handling the goods, then the law may compel you to make restitution, but this would be capped by the court at the replacement cost and not the retail cost.