Before starting a conversation about how to make a return of a purchased product whose properties do not correspond to the declared ones, we need to deal with the procedure itself, which implies a return from the buyer to the seller of the goods, if it was revealed its poor quality after the purchase. The procedure for a consumer to return goods of inadequate quality, as well as all issues arising in connection with it, is regulated by the Federal Law “On Protection of Consumer Rights”.
Conditions
In order to return the goods to the seller, the presence of two conditions is necessary: firstly, the purchased goods must have serious production defects. These include the presence of marriage or significant defects. Secondly, these defects should not be the result of the actions of the buyer. In other words, this means that the product has inadequate quality, and also its direct purpose cannot be realized.
In the event that subsequently production defects were discovered on the purchased goods, the buyer can submit a claim (claim) to the seller on the basis of the consumer protection law on the return of goods of inadequate quality. But this rule only applies if, at the time of purchase of the goods, the buyer was not warned by the seller about the presence of certain defects.
Moreover, such information should not only be agreed orally, but must be documented without fail.
The return of goods that do not meet the declared quality, as well as the return of money for goods of inadequate quality, paid upon the purchase of this product, is only one of the possible requirements of the consumer. He also has the right to demand that the seller reimburse other expenses, additional that the first incurred as a result of the acquisition of goods with inappropriate quality. However, the costs of such a plan can only be reimbursed by the seller.
The main condition under which the right to return the goods can be realized is that the return must be made before the end of the period prescribed by law. For goods of various categories, different return periods are set. The total period for most products is 14 days. However, for some specific categories of goods there are special terms. For example, some products can be returned while the warranty period is in effect, while others can be returned while the service life or shelf life is valid. This confirms the law.
The consumer needs to know the following about the return of goods of inadequate quality.
About Return Procedure
In order to start the mechanism for returning goods, the first thing to do is send a certain type of application to the seller, manufacturer, company that imported the goods, or another authorized person. Moreover, the buyer selects the recipient of the application at his discretion.
A sample application for a return of goods of inadequate quality is presented below. It must necessarily reflect the reasons why the product is returned to the seller, as well as other relevant information:
- Full and accurate description of all the shortcomings.
- The place where the product was purchased, as well as the date of purchase.
- The exact name of the goods, indicating the brand or model.
- Reflect the intention that you want to return the goods to the seller, and with full compensation of its value.
The law recommends attaching to the application all available payment documents that are able to confirm that the goods were purchased. However, if these documents are missing, the seller is not exempted from the need to accept your application for consideration. It is not necessary to look for the original factory packaging.
In the event that when you transfer to the seller an application compiled on the model for returning goods of inadequate quality, you also give the goods specified in the application, then the acceptance-transfer certificate must also be attached.
After accepting the application, if the seller doubts that the defects arose through his fault, he is entitled to conduct an independent examination, which will reveal the causes of the defect. If the result of such an examination indicates that the defects, damage, or failure of the device occurred due to the fault of the seller or manufacturer of the goods, then the buyer will receive a full refund of the cost of the goods.
It should be understood that if the examination reveals that the marriage appeared as a result of the actions of the buyer or as a result of improper storage or operation after the purchase, then the return of the goods will be refused. Moreover, in addition to the fact that there will not be a return of money for goods of inadequate quality, the costs incurred by the seller to organize the examination will be borne by the buyer.
How to act to the buyer?
In order for the return of goods to be correctly initiated, and also to be successful, the buyer must take into account some important nuances.
To begin with, he should understand his goals and requirements, which he intends to present when returning low-quality goods. It is also necessary to determine to whom this application should be sent - directly to the seller, manufacturer, or other authorized person.
An important nuance here is that if a claim for return and refund is sent to the seller, it is also possible to demand compensation and additional costs. For example, the cost of transporting goods to the location of the seller. But if the application is sent to the manufacturer, then he is not authorized to reimburse additional costs. It contains only expenses in the amount of the cost of the goods themselves.
When an application for the return of goods of inadequate quality is compiled according to the model, it will not be amiss to indicate in it those legislative norms on the basis of which the buyer has the opportunity to request compensation for the cost of goods with inadequate quality. However, this is not a requirement. In the event that the seller insists on an examination, the buyer has the right to declare his desire to be present directly at the examination. This may be necessary if the buyer doubts the legality of the expert assessment, and fears that the decision will be falsified. This, by the way, will make it possible in the future to avoid conducting the examination again and do not have to dispute the examination in court. In the event that the result of the examination speaks in favor of the buyer, the next step may be to send a statement with a claim for reimbursement of expenses that arose additionally.
What is important for the consumer to know?
The consumer needs to know that the buyer does not have the right to refuse to accept the stated requirements for consideration if all the rules for initiating the procedure for returning goods of inadequate quality are complied with, according to the law “On Protection of Consumer Rights. In order to prevent the seller from doubting the legitimacy of the buyer’s actions regarding the return of goods, the quality of which is rather poor, it is recommended that all available documents relating to this product be attached to the return application.
In the event that the seller, to whom the application for the return of the goods was received, is worth his reputation, he will accept, consider the application, satisfy all requirements, and also refund money for goods of inadequate quality, if they are confirmed by the necessary documents.
Drafting of documents
It is necessary to consider in more detail the list of documents that will be required when processing the return of goods, as well as their main features. Documents should be given special attention, so it is on their basis that a decision will be made on satisfying the requirement to make monetary compensation for the goods. As we noted earlier, one of the main documents is an application for the return of goods. It is it that initiates the return procedure.
A sample application for a return of goods of inadequate quality can either be downloaded on the Internet, as they all have a typical structure, or you can compose yourself, the main thing is to specify the information that is needed.
Another equally important document is the act of transferring and receiving goods of inappropriate quality from the buyer to the seller. It is this document that indicates that the buyer returned the goods to the seller, and also contains information about in what condition the goods were transferred. It is worth paying special attention to this document.
If you adhere to the general rules that all the documents described above must be in duplicate. One of these copies is transferred to the seller along with the goods, and the second copy remains in the hands of the buyer. Moreover, the seller in the copy of the buyer must put a mark that he accepted the goods, as well as the date when the reception was made.
These documents will not be amiss to attach the technical documentation that accompanied the goods, as well as payment documents that can confirm that the goods were purchased at this particular outlet. However, such documentation is not required.
Money back
If the seller made a positive decision after considering the application, then there is a refund for the goods of inadequate quality in the amount that was paid for the goods at the time of purchase. Or in the amount of the cost of goods and additional costs, if any. However, it is possible that the price of a product has been changed since its purchase. Moreover, changes could occur both upward and downward.
In the event that the price of the goods has changed downward from the day of its purchase, the seller is obliged to compensate for the amount that was paid for the goods on the actual day of purchase.
In the event that the price of the returned goods has changed upwards, the seller must compensate for the amount that reflects the price of the goods at the date of filing the claim. That is, in fact, compensation may be greater than the amount for which the goods were purchased.
Replacing marriage with a similar quality product
According to the Law on Consumer Rights, when returning goods of inadequate quality, the buyer is provided with two options for compensation for the goods. In addition to the fact that he is obliged to return the money, the buyer may demand to replace the goods with a similar, but only high-quality one. If the buyer chooses the second option, then the package of documentation that accompanies the return of the goods remains the same. The only difference is the wording of the requirement. In this case, the statement must indicate that the buyer expects the replacement of the goods, and not monetary compensation.
Important information: if the buyer wants to replace the defective with a good exactly the same product that has the same make and model, then the application can be sent to both the seller and the manufacturer.But in the event that it is required to replace the goods with a similar one, and not exactly the same, then a statement drawn up on the model of a claim for the return of goods of inadequate quality can only be sent to the seller and not otherwise.
The time period when the submitted claim must be satisfied is no more than a week, that is, 7 days from the date when the demand was presented to the seller. In the event that the seller directs the goods for examination, this period may be extended to 20 days. If at the time of making a decision on the application, the seller does not have a product for which a replacement should be made, then this period can be extended up to thirty days from the moment the claim is submitted.
About the timing
Consider the time period during which the buyer can come to the seller with a claim for the replacement of goods or for compensation in cash.
If the buyer finds out that the goods turned out to be defective, then he has the right to file a claim for the return of goods of inadequate quality. Moreover, it is necessary to do this in the warranty period or while the service life of the goods is valid. The standard period of two weeks after the purchase of goods is not taken into account in this situation.
In this case, the warranty period will be the period when the manufacturer of the goods provides free after-sales service. It may involve both free repair and a complete replacement of the product or its component parts. But this is only if the marriage of the goods arose not through the fault of the consumer. If the examination proved that the buyer himself spoiled the goods, then you will have to pay for service.
The expiration date applies to a product that, after this period expires, loses its properties, either becomes unusable, or its further use is impossible. The general shelf life is set for a period of two years. However, the manufacturer may set an expiration date that exceeds or is less than this figure. However, all such non-standard expiration dates must be necessarily recorded by the manufacturer in the documentation that accompanies the goods.
The service life is applicable if a limitation of the operational period is made. The service life of the product, as well as the warranty period, starts from the date of purchase of the goods, which is recorded in the documents for payment for the goods. The manufacturer sets the service life on his own and fixes it in the relevant documentation. However, this period may not exceed 10 years. These conditions are spelled out in the law on the return of goods of inadequate quality.
In a situation where the product is no longer covered by the warranty and the service life stipulated by the manufacturer has also expired, a statement with a claim for the exchange of goods or a refund may still be considered by the seller. But in this case, the return or exchange is made only at the discretion of the seller.
How to return funds for low-quality goods?
Money paid for a defective item is returned immediately after the seller has considered the application for returning goods of inadequate quality from the buyer, completed on the model. Refunds can be made in several ways: in cash, by wire transfer to the buyer's bank card or by postal order.
The law establishes a period of ten days, during which the seller must transfer the amount of money. A different time period may be set by separate agreement between the parties, however, it should not exceed the legislatively established one.
If the seller rejected the claim
In the event that the buyer designed everything in accordance with the established rules and took into account all the nuances, and the seller ignored the application, or still made a negative decision, the buyer can turn to a judge to challenge the seller’s decision.
Before going to court, you can send the seller a second claim for the return of goods of inadequate quality, while attaching all the documents collected earlier, as well as the result of an independent examination. As a rule, sellers prefer to satisfy pre-trial claims. However, if the seller has repeatedly refused compensation, the next step will be to go to court.