NEW Year bargain hunters are being urged to know their rights.
With the recent introduction of the new Consumer Rights Act, Warwickshire Trading Standards has produced a top tips guide for bargain hunters.
Warwickshire County Council spokesman John Horner said: “The new Consumer Rights Act has strengthened and extended a consumer’s shopping rights. We want to ensure that shoppers know their rights and what to do if things go wrong over Christmas and in to the New Year.
“Consumers can obtain more help and advice from Trading Standards via their consumer advisors at the Citizens Advice Consumer Service on 03454 040506.”
Top Tips
1. All goods you buy must be of satisfactory quality, as described, and fit for their intended purpose. If they aren’t consumers now have a 30 day time period to return most faulty goods and get a full refund.
2. Outside these 30 days, you have to give the retailer one opportunity to repair or replace faulty goods.
Goods now include digital content such as music downloads and e-books.
3. Don’t be fobbed off by notices such as ‘no sale goods exchanged’ or ‘no cash refunds’. Your consumer rights apply equally to goods bought in a sale.
4. Manufacturers’ guarantees add to your consumer rights, and don’t replace them.
5. Always keep your receipts. Although not strictly necessary for returning faulty goods, they can make life a lot easier if you can show when and where you purchased goods and the price you paid.
6. The actual purchaser of goods is the person who has rights, not the recipient of the gift.
7. Many consumers don’t realise, but you have no legal right to return goods bought from a shop if they are not faulty or mis-described, so check the stores policy. Many shops will now accept returns as a goodwill gesture.
8. If you have a credit card, you can use it when making purchases over £100, to give you extra consumer protection.
Be careful when buying from online auction sites or online classified advertisements and beware of ‘bargains’ at unrealistically low prices, which may turn out to be counterfeit, or poor quality goods. Try to buy from reputable businesses that you know and trust.
9. Consumers have additional rights when shopping online, which in most cases allow you to change your mind and cancel your order up to 14 days after delivery, so check your order as soon as it arrives.
10. If you decide to cancel, online retailers are obliged to refund the full cost plus the original delivery charge, although you might have to pay the cost of return.
11. Some sale bargains may not be all they seem. Read all it says on the sale notice or in an advertisement. A sign might read 80% off from a distance, but a closer look might reveal the words ‘up to’.
12. Shop around – even a ‘massive reduction’ doesn’t mean you can’t buy the same for less elsewhere.
Anyone unsure of their rights or would like further advice should visit www.citizensadvice.org.uk or call 03454 040506.
