A complaint means that you notify the seller
- that you do not accept the goods
- the way in which you consider the goods to be faulty
You must give notice of the fault within a reasonable time after you have discovered it. You are always entitled to a two-month delay before notifying a complaint. Usually a valid excuse is if you have been prevented, such as by illness or by travel. According to the consumer purchase law, your right to complain expires three years after you have received the goods. The goods may have a guarantee period that is shorter than three years, but this does not shorten the complaint period according to the law. But you lose you rights under the guarantee and will instead have to claim restitution according to the law. On the other hand, if the seller has given a guarantee for more than three years, the complaint period is moved forwards to the same extent.
If the seller has acted with gross carelessness, contrary to trust or honour, or if the goods have been sold in contravention of a sales prohibition, you can make a complaint after a period that exceeds three years. But even then you cannot wait for any amount of time. In these cases, your claim is dismissed after ten years. In order to be sure not to lose your rights: Always complain as soon as possible!
Repairs, replacement or your money back?
In the first instance, the fault shall be remedied. Either the fault shall be repaired, or the goods exchanged for new. It is primarily the seller who decides what to do, depending on the price of the goods and the type of fault. If your newly bought telephone is faulty, there is no great problem for you to take it back to the seller for a replacement. But if the lock on the oven door on a newly installed cooker has broken, it is not so certain that you will want an entirely new cooker due to the fault. You would probably prefer the seller to repair the fault in situ.
Within reasonable time
Irrespective of whether the fault is repaired or the goods replaced, the measure shall be taken "within reasonable time" from the time you made the complaint. Naturally, the measure taken must rectify the fault. If the fault is still there after two attempts at repairing it, you are normally entitled to refuse any further attempts.
Without cost
The seller shall also carry out the repair or the replacement without any cost to you. The seller is always entitled to rectify the fault or deliver new goods to you if it can be done "within reasonable time from when you made the complaint and without cost or significant nuisance to you". The seller is liable to rectify the fault, if you have requested it, except if cases where his costs for repair or replacement are unreasonably large in comparison with the importance of the fault to you. If the seller does not succeed in rectifying the fault, if he refuses or if it is not suitable to repair the fault or offer replacement goods for some other reason, then you can claim a deduction in price, compensation for having the goods repaired elsewhere or for the purchase to be revoked. The price deduction should be proportional to the fault, that is it should represent a notional reduction in value or future cost of repair.
Revoking the purchase
Revoking the purchase means that the seller pays back all the money paid by the buyer, and that the buyer returns the goods. You are entitled to interest on the amount repaid by the seller. The seller is not liable to accept a credit note that is only valid in the seller's shop or chain of shops if the purchase is revoked due to faulty goods. In order for you to be entitled to revoke the purchase, the fault has to be of significant importance to you. When the significance of the fault is determined, its importance to you in particular is taken into consideration, not the importance of the fault in general.
Paying compensation
If you have made significant use of the goods, you may in some cases have to pay reasonable compensation for having used it.
Waiting to pay
The law entitles you to retain as much of the payment as is equal your claim. This may for instance relate to the cost of having the fault rectified or a claim for a price reduction. If you are entitled to revoke the purchase, the entire purchase price may therefore be retained. You carry the risk if you have refused to pay without any reason or have retained too large a proportion of the purchase price. You may then be liable to pay interest on late payment to the seller.
Damages
According to the consumer purchasing law, you are entitled to compensation for all expenses and losses incurred by you due to faulty goods or late delivery. The right to compensation remains, irrespective of whether the purchase is revoked or whether the fault has been rectified by the seller. Costs regarded as grounds for damages may be - expenses, such as travel and transport to have the fault rectified - loss of income, for instance due to you having to take time off work to wait for an engineer and thus having had a reduction in your salary - price difference, that is if you are forced to pay more for equivalent goods after having revoked the purchase - other losses, such as a car ferry ticket that could not be used, and compensation for being stationary when a car if faulty. The seller's liability also covers compensation for damage to other property belonging to you or your family caused by the faulty goods. An example is if a dishwasher has a water leak and damages the kitchen floor.
