P4

In this part of the unit I will outline how consumers are protected for the supply of goods/services

The sale of goods legislation applies to contracts where good are sold for a money consideration. It doesn’t cover other methods of obtaining goods and it doesn’t cover the provision of services.

Legislation has been passed to protect transactions that aren’t covered under the sale of goods which include:

• Contacts for work and material e.g. building work, car repairs and hairdressing.
• Contracts where no money changes hand
• Contract for free gifts and contracts for hire of goods  

Protection

Office to go sold the OmniaCopy 2010Photocopiers to Henry Parnell. Henry Parnell is a consumer however he isn’t a company. The photocopiers had a lot of faults but the sales manager of Office to go would not change the photocopiers but kept on sending out technicians from KeyPrint to sort the problems out. The technicians kept on fitting the photocopiers with the wrong components. Henry Parnell is protected by the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 and the Sale of Goods Act 1979 which meant that the company who sold the photocopies to Henry Parnell had to fix the problem. KeyPrint and Henry Parnell had no contact which each other however Office to go had contact with both Henry Parnell and KeyPrint

KeyPrint

X

Office to Go        Henry Parnell

Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982

This act only applies to contracts where goods are sold for money consideration. This act was passed to place on a statutory footing terms that has previously been implied by common laws in contracts for services.

Legislation has been passed to protect transactions that aren’t covered under the sale of goods such as contracts where no money changes hands and contracts for work and materials e.g. building work and hairdressing.

If you've hired someone to do some work, your rights are protected by The Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982, which states that someone providing a service must do it:

• With reasonable care and skill
• In a reasonable time, if you haven't specified a completion date
• For a reasonable price, if this hasn't been agreed in advance

This means the trader providing the service has a duty of care to you and your property, and should complete the job in good time and at a reasonable cost, even if you didn't agree a deadline for completion or a final price in advance.

In addition, any goods fitted during the work are covered by legal controls under the Supply of Goods and Services Act which says they must be:

• of satisfactory quality
• fit for purpose
• and as described

If the service is not in accordance with these standards, you are entitled to get a full or partial refund, replacement or repair.

How consumers are protected by the act

Consumers are protected in contracts for the supply of goods/services by sections 13 of the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982. This is an implied term about care and skill. The consumer is protected by this act as it’s an implied skill that the supplier of the goods has to carry out the service with reasonable skill and care otherwise the photocopiers that the suppliers are supplying could break.

As there is no direct contact between KeyPrint and Henry Parnell, Office go to had to deal with the problems of the faulty OmniaCopy 2010Photocopiers that they sold to Henry Parnell. However as KeyPrint had sold the Photocopiers to Office to go they had to help them deal with these problems. KeyPrint send technicians to try and solve the problems however the problems were not sold which may have led to Henry Parnell suing Office to go as the goods were not fit for purpose.

Sale of Good Act 1979

See appendix p1 number one

How consumers are protected by the act

Section 14 and 15 of Sale of Goods Act 1979 state how the consumers are protected by goods and services that they purchase from a supplier.

The rules that Office to go have to follow when selling their photocopiers to KeyPrint in relation to protecting their consumers are:

• Where the seller sells the photocopiers, there is an implied term that the goods supplied under the contract are of satisfactory quality.
• Goods are of satisfactory quality if they meet the standard that a reasonable person would regard as satisfactory, taking account of the description of the goods and all the other relevant things related to the goods.
• The quality of goods includes their state and condition and the following are in appropriate cases aspects of the quality of goods which are…

Fitness for all the purposes for which goods of the kind in question are commonly supplied

Appearance and finish

Freedom from minor defects

Safety, and

Durability.

• The decision to buy the goods could not have been influenced by the statement
• The goods will be free from any defect

As the goods were not fit for purpose Henry Parnell had the right to return the photocopiers to Office to go.