When can you return items and demand a refund?

HAPPY New Year, dear readers. ’Tis now the season of maxedout credit cards, monstrous medical aid tariff increases, school-related expenses and rampant consumer uncertainty about the safety of banks’ so-called safety deposit boxes.

But the issue that continues to dominate my inbox, no matter the time of year, is that of returns. More than five years since the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) came into effect, an astounding number of consumers and retailers are still getting it wrong.

Some consumers get bullied by retail staff into accepting a repair of their defective purchases when they’re legally entitled to a refund, while others demand refunds when, legally, they’re lucky the retailer is taking back the item at all.

A new year seems a good time to attempt, once again, to clear up the confusion on both sides of the retail divide.

What causes the confusion is a failure to distinguish between defective and non-defective goods: those which have broken or developed a defect which makes them unfit for purpose, versus “change of heart” purchases – the jeans which you later realise aren’t flattering, or an unwanted gift, or the discovery that you could have bought that microwave cheaper elsewhere.

So, if you remember nothing else, remember this: the CPA gives you lots of rights if something you’ve bought breaks or becomes unfit for its intended purpose within six months of purchase. But it gives you no right to return something if it is not defective – except if it was a direct marketing deal, but more on that later. ● Defective returns: It if breaks within six months, you get to take it back and choose the remedy – a refund, replacement or repair. You do not have to accept a repair.

They may not insist that you produce the original packaging.

But you do have to produce a receipt, and you do have to accept them sending the product away for technical assessment to rule out user abuse.

IMPORTANT: Always note your chosen remedy, e.g. refund, in the form when you hand the product in.

If you do agree to a repair and it breaks again within six months of the repair – in any way – the supplier may not repair it again; you get to choose between a refund and a replacement. ● Non-defective returns: You have no legal right of return at all. Many companies do have generous returns policies for change-of-heart purchases, but they do this as a courtesy. Do not confuse this with your legal right. And no, you don’t get a cooling-off period, not unless it was a direct marketing deal.

If a company does choose to take back non-defective purchases, they are entitled to impose conditions, such as only within a certain time frame, on presentation of a receipt, in a saleable condition and for an exchange or a voucher, not a refund.

So, being offered a voucher when you return a non-defective item such as an unwanted gift is a favour, not a denial of your CPA rights.

But many consumers don’t see it that way.

Koketso bought a bed rail from a major baby goods retailer in Roodepoort a week before Christmas, but returned it shortly afterwards having decided she didn’t need it.

It was unopened and she had its receipt but her refund request was denied by the store manager, who offered her a voucher to its value instead.

“Being issued a gift card when I do not want it basically means that I am not allowed to exercise my right to choose a supplier,” she said.

The point is she did exercise that right – she chose that retailer, and they sold her a product which was fit for purpose. No country in the world legally compels retailers to take back change-of-heart purchases and refund consumers for them.

It is the consumer’s responsibility to make sure they are happy with a product before they make payment.

In my view, accommodating consumers who change their minds by taking unwanted goods back and allowing them to buy something else from the store is fair.

Ironically, in many cases it’s the most exclusive, expensive boutiques that have the least consumer-friendly policies when it comes to the return of nondefective goods.

Sandro Borrelli e-mailed me shortly after Christmas to say that a R600 Tshirt he’d received as a gift from a relative, who had bought it from an international brand store in Gateway, was too small, but the store refused to let him exchange it for a bigger size because he didn’t have proof of purchase.

This despite the tags showing it was bought from that store and the T-shirt being current stock.

To my mind, the store’s policy in that instance was unnecessarily uncooperative. It had nothing to lose but a customer, and a lot of goodwill, but legally, I have no basis to challenge its policy.

If you buy something as a result of direct marketing – getting an unsolicited call, SMS or e-mail, or being approached in a mall and asked to try a face cream – you have the benefit of a cooling-off period of five working days in which to cancel the deal in writing, for a refund. It doesn’t have to be defective, and you don’t have to give a reason.

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