The Sale of Goods Act lays down several conditions that all goods sold by a trader must be of satisfactory quality this not only covers minor and cosmetic defects substantial problems as well. It also means that products must last a reasonable time. But it does not give you any right if a fault was pointed out.
They must also be as described this refers to any advertisement or verbal description made by the trader the consumer is protected by the Trade Descriptions Act 1973. The Act prohibits the misdiscription on the supply of goods and also prohibits false claims for services, accommodation and facilities. Any goods purchased must also be fit for purpose this covers not only the obvious purpose of an item but any purpose you queried and were given assurances by the trader. If something you buy from a trader does not meet any of these conditions, you are entitled to your money back. You are not entitled to any repair, replacement or credit note, only your money back. The Act also covers second-hand items and sales. But if you buy privately, you are only entitled to your money back if the goods are not as described.
The first Sale of Goods Act 1893 made no distinction between private and business buyers, the new one does and this was emphasised in the Unfair Contract Terms, which is only applicable to consumers. The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 and the Unfair Consumer Contract Regulations 1994 allow consumers to challenge terms in any contract they have signed or entered into if a term seems unfair or unreasonable, it is also not possible to exclude or limit liability as far as merchantable quality, fitness for purpose and description are concerned. The above regulations introduce a general concept of fairness in relation to consumer services. They implement the E.C. Unfair Contract Terms Directive (Council Directive 93/13/EEC) which took effect from July ’95. These regulations normally apply where consumers enter a contract based on a business pre-formulated contract.
The requirements of the Sale of Goods Act 1979, The Supply of Goods (Implied Terms) Act 1973 and the supply of Goods and Services Act 1982, required that goods supplied in the course of business be of ‘merchantable quality’ this has since been replaced by the phrase ‘satisfactory quality’. Goods are only defined as of satisfactory quality if the product
“Meets the standard that a reasonable person would regard as satisfactory, taking account of any description of goods, the price (if relevant) and all the other relevant circumstances”
The most important law covering services is the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982. This covers work done and products supplied by tradesman and professionals. It applies not only to builders and plumbers but to dentists, restaurants, hairdressers, in fact anybody who is supplying a service you pay for. Like the Sale of Goods Act, this law also imposes ‘strict liability’ on any materials used. If an electrician puts in a faulty light switch, it is irrelevant whether he knew the switch was not right- he still has to replace it and make good any damage done. When it comes to the work carried out, the Act does not give you any more rights than what you would have in common law, as it does not lay them out clearly enough. It states that a tradesman or professional has a ‘duty of care’ towards you and your property; that any price or standard you agree must be honoured, and that, if not agreed in advance, the work must be done to a reasonable standard, and at a reasonable cost. This means that when you have not agreed a price, you do not have to accept a ridiculously large bill. All you have to do is pay what you consider ‘reasonable’ and invite them to sue you for the rest. The test of ‘reasonableness’ will be the charge that other tradesmen would make in your local area for the same job.
Consumers are not only protected by civil law, but by specific criminal laws as well. If a trader breaks a criminal consumer law, they can be investigated by the appropriate enforcement agency, usually Trading Standards. Although some trading standards departments (a department which deals with consumer complaints and advices consumers. It also controls traders and educates the public on consumer law. Certain powers are given to trading standards officers. Trading officers are also able to seize goods, or suspend their supply for a period of time.) And citizens’ advice bureaux may well be able to give advice about a civil law dispute but in the end it will be up to the consumer to enforce their rights. If the matter cannot be resolved with the trader, the usual way is to threaten, and then take action in the civil courts. There are several facts businesses have to be aware of “Freedom of contract” is now dead. The new maxim is “let seller beware”, any investigations by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) are likely to reflect badly on the business and may involve much management time and legal costs, the OFT also react favourably to the chance for consumers to back out of a deal within 14 days. Cooling-off periods.
The most important criminal consumer law is the Trade Descriptions Act 1968. This makes it a criminal offence to falsely describe something on sale. It applies to any description a trader might make.
The act also applies to services, but here an offence is only committed if a description is ‘reckless’ as well as false. Under this Act, it is also an offence, in the course of business to give false indications that the goods supplied have royal approval, or of a kind supplied to some celebrity. A false description applied by a non-dealer will not be offence under these sections. Every year, approximately 1,000 traders are prosecuted under this Act, the majority face fines while few are sent to prison.
The Consumer Credit Act 1987 gives consumers a wide range of rights against companies who provide credit, for example, the right to look at any credit file; a ‘cooling off period’ of 5 days when people can cancel any credit agreement signed at home; the right to pay off credit early; and liability limited to £50 when a credit card is stolen or lost. The act also lays down several conditions and procedures which credit companies have to follow when they advertise or sell credit. These are backed up by criminal sanctions. Section 75 of the Act gives people the right to their money back from credit card companies if they use the card to buy something which turns out to be faulty. It only applies to goods worth more than £100 and less than £30,000, and it does not apply to debit, charge cards, bank loans or certain shop cards. But what it does mean is that if you use a credit card to purchase something that breaches laws like the Sale of goods Acts, you can get your money back from the credit company as well as the trader. This can be extremely useful if the trader has gone out of business. The OFT however believe that more can be done and are always actively seeking to improve consumer rights. John Bridgeman had the following to say
“The best that can be said of the buying experience in Britain is that it is mediocre. Consumer Protection agencies, including the OFT, fight a frustrating battle against increasingly sophisticated and widespread unfair trading…..”
“Unfair trading is costing UK consumers billions every year. Their biggest source of complaint – defective goods and services – is damaging the economy by at least £8.3 billion a year”
John Bridgeman (Director OFT) 29th June 2000
http://www.oft.gov.uk/news
Many occasions where consumers are dissatisfied go unreported, while not all of those complaints that are noted will prove to be soundly based. In Electrical equipment alone there were approx. 4730 complaints in 2002, Mobile phone and services followed with 3417.
John Bridgeman believes that for many years now both the law and funding of central and local consumer protection has been inadequate – the OFT spend approximately 10 million a year in this work. The OFT and other enforcement bodies now have new powers to stop rogue traders in their tracks. The OFT can now apply to the courts for an immediate Stop Now Order against traders who breach a wide range of consumer protection laws. Refusal to comply with a Stop Now Order may result in fines or imprisonment for contempt of court. The Oft intend to use these powers more proportionately and robustly. The order covers laws made under RC Directives on: Doorstep selling, timeshare, unfair contract terms, consumer credit, and distance selling.
The order gives the consumer four main advantages:
- Speed up process of taking action against businesses that breach consumer protection legislation.
- Extend enforcement powers to a much wider range of bodies than before.
- Allow enforcement action to be taken in areas where powers were previously limited or non-existent.
- Co-exist with other regulatory and enforcement activity.
Parliament has given consumers strong remedies, rejection and the right to recover damages, including consequential damage. However, in practice the most commonly invoked consumer remedies are repair and replacement, yet these are not provided for at all in the statutory scheme. They have introduced many regulations and statues in order to protect consumers from unfair traders. One of these Acts is the sale of Goods Act 1994, which gives the consumer an advantage over traders. The 1994 Act also replaced the old ‘merchantable quality’ requirement with the new and improved phrase ‘satisfactory quality’. The new requirement is a tougher standard for traders to meet. Goods now have to be fit for all common purposes. Consumer buyers retain the right to reject for any breach of condition, where as the non-consumer buyer can reject for minor breaches. The acceptance standard has changed. The buyer now has a ‘reasonable length of time’ to inspect the goods before he is deemed to have accepted them, even repair or sub-sales no longer bar rejection of the goods. It is also a criminal offence for traders to make a misleading price claims about goods and services.
Personally I think parliament has done enough to secure consumer rights, these rights are constantly being updated, reviewed and improved where possible what you’ll also find is that Consumer law in Britain gives us more rights than our common sense may lead us to believe – and that’s worth knowing about.
REFERENCES & BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS
K.M. Stanton, “The Modern Law of Tort”, 1994 Sweet & Maxwell Ltd.
P. Giliker etal, “Tort”, 2001, Sweet & Maxwell Ltd.
C. Elliott etal, “Tort Law”, 3rd Edition, 2001, Pearson Education Ltd.
ARTICLES
P Dobson, ‘The Sale and Supply of Goods Act 1994’, 1995 SLR v14, p8.
R Lawson, ‘Amendments to the Sale of Goods Act 1979’, 1995 SJ 139(2), p38
WEBSITES
www.oft.gov.uk/News
www.ruessman.jura.unisb
www.lawcom.gov.uk
www.ukonline.gov.uk
www.parliament.uk
www.hants.gov.uk/library