Five consumer laws you should really know

To mark the beginning of this years National Consumer Week (14-18 September 2009), here are five official laws that you really should be aware of when shopping, especially during these hard times.

You may not have experienced it first-hand [yet], but consumers are fighting a war against the firms they have to deal with when they feel they have fallen victim to faceless companies, whether it be down to a faulty product, or poor customer service.

Sale Of Goods Act

Key Advice: Think twice before signing up to that five-year extended warranty.

The Scenario: Your 32” HD-Ready flat-screen TV, the totemic centre of your life, decides to go into a coma exactly 366 days after you met in the electrics store. The large electronics firm that you purchased the television from tells you that there is nothing they can do for you because the one-year guarantee that came with your purchase has passed, and recommends you buy a new one.

Tears begin to roll down your face and onto the lifeless grey screen as you ponder what to do.

But hold back those tears before you cause further damage to the late TV, as this cloud has a silver lining. The good news is that the shop assistant you spoke to doesn't know what they're talking about.

Why I hear you asking? Well, the Sale of Goods Act states that your TV must be fit for purpose.

As put by Dr Christian Twigg-Flesner, a consumer law expert at the University of Hull: "It must be as described. It must be of satisfactory quality, sufficiently durable, free from any defects".

Granted, if you've ignored the warnings stated in the manufacturer's manual and have installed your TV in the bathroom, then you're unlikely to have a case.

However, if you have treated your TV with respect, and it has remained firmly framed on your wall but has still broken down, this may suggest that there was in fact something wrong with it from the very beginning of its short life.

This is how it works. From the date of purchase, right up until four to five weeks (depending on the T's and C's) you have a "right of rejection" - if the item you bought stops working, you have the right to demand a refund.

Six months on, and you are still entitled to replacement or repair. Within this period it is up to the retailer to prove that your goods were in full working order it if they wish to avoid responsibility. After this time, the retailer still has a duty to replace or repair faulty products, but in this case it is up to you to provide suitable evidence to suggest that the fault was not down to you, the consumer.

Something that you may be surprised to hear is that goods may be covered by the Sale of Goods Act for up to six years from the date you purchased the item. This all depends on what "sufficiently durable" means. If one of your light bulbs stops working after 13 months, you're not going to be overly devastated. But If your fridge-freezer packs in after the same period of time you're going to be understandably upset.

The government's guidelines state that: "Goods are of satisfactory quality if they reach the standard that a reasonable person would regard as satisfactory, taking into account the price and any description."

And be aware that if you go to the fridge-freezer repairer and spend £30 in an attempt to diagnose an inherent fault, only to find out that you failed to read the instructions stating that you must leave the appliance for at least 8 hours in its resting place before turning it on, then you will end up further out of pocket.

Something important that you must remember is that your relationship in the Sale of Goods Act is through the retailer and not with the manufacturer.

"The retailer likes shepherding you off to the manufacturer," says Dr Twigg-Flesner.

Looking on the plus side to extended warranties, they tend to offer ongoing technical support that you may wish to make use of, but make sure this is going to be useful for that the product you're purchasing, as this is unlikely to be useful when buying, for example, a new storage heater.

The law applies throughout the UK, but has a number of small differences in Scotland.

Consumer Credit Act

Key Advice: Your credit card provider will often provide cover on purchases made with the card as standard.

The Scenario: You've finally found your dream bed. It's an surprisingly cheap, but this doesn't put you off under grounds of suspicion, and you excitedly complete the £300 payment using your credit card. The delivery date arrives, but no bed. Gutted. You switch on the radio, and to your astonishment the news reader reports that insanelycheapbeds'r'us has gone bust. It turns out £300 was too good to be true and the company has been losing money.

You call up the company and an displeased ex-employee is rather unhelpful. They inform you that you won't be receiving your bed or be refunded your £300. It's all been passed to the liquidators to pay the creditors.

You quietly break down into tears. No bed and £300 out of pocket.

The Truth: The good news for you is that there is another avenue you have yet to explore. It is very likely that your £300 can be refunded by your credit card provider under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.

Section 75 works exclusively for credit cards, for any purchases made using the card for items costing between £100 and £30,000.

This means that you can forget about insanelycheapbeds'r'us, as you may as well have purchased the bed from your credit card provider as far as refunds are concerned.

A very common claim that crops up when furniture suppliers go bust, is for goods that never turn up. But if you purchase an item with your credit card and find it stops working after13 months, and the retailer you bought it from has since collapsed, you are fully within your rights to pursue the claim with your credit card provider.

Supply Of Goods And Services Act

Key Advice: Think of services as goods.

The Scenario: Your car won't start, so begrudgingly you take it to the garage for repairs. The mechanic takes one look and sharply breaths in – the kind of sharp breath that indicates a big [expensive] job. You get it out on the road, but the following day and you're back to square one. The garage refuses to fix the problem again with no further expense.

What you should know: The act does the same for services as the Sale of Goods Act does, so it is up to the garage to provide a service that is carried out with reasonable skill and care. The goods part means the widget has got to be of satisfactory quality.

In short, you have rights to have the problems put right, either by the garage that did a bad job to begin with, or another mechanic paid for by the offending party.

This act applies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, but again has some differences in Scotland.

Denied Boarding Regulations

Key Advice: Airlines cannot mess you around with impunity.

The Scenario: A low cost airline – nickel-and-dime airline, cancels your flight to Spain and refuses to offer any compensation.

The Truth: The EU recently brought in some regulations that have caused caused major upset among some sectors of the airline industry.

If you have met all parts of the boarding criteria, for example prompt check-in, valid ticket etc, but you are denied entry to a flight - or the flight is cancelled, don't simply back down and take the hit, because you have rights!

To start with, you are entitled to a full refund of the cost of the ticket within seven days, or alternatively a return flight to the first point of departure or re-routing to your final destination.

You are also entitled to be looked after. The EU's regulations say that "refreshments, meals, hotel accommodation, transport between the airport and place of accommodation, two free telephone calls, telex or fax messages, or e-mails" are to be provided to the unfortunate traveller.

On top of this, if your flight was due to travel 1,500km or more, you're entitled to compensation of 250 euros, and 400 euros for all flights within the EU of more than 1,500km, and all other flights between 1,500 and 3,500km. Compensation is only given when a light is cancelled, not delayed.

However, you will not qualify for any compensation if the airline notifies you of the cancellation at least two weeks before departure. If you are told less than two weeks before, but another flight is arranged causing only minor delays, they will also not be obliged to provide compensation.

There are different levels of rights available to people who are delayed, depending on the length of time in question, but any delay of more than five hours entitles customers to a refund to be obtained, although this is unlikely to help you get any closer to your destination.

But the legislation does offer an annoying get-out for airlines. In "extraordinary circumstances", compensation is not obligatory.

There gives airlines the ability to use the "extraordinary circumstances" for reasons such as shortages in crew, or technical faults. But this may not continue to haunt passenger for much longer

Dr Twigg-Flesner said: "The European Court of Justice has cracked down. Technical problems are not extraordinary circumstances."

This regulations is under European law, so it applies across the whole of the EU.

Distance Selling Regulations

Key Advice: When buying online, you can still change your mind

Scenario: You buy a shiny black MP3 player online using birthday money sent to you from Aunt Bessy and, sods law, your sister has also been out and bought you a shiny black MP3 player.

Luckily, you didn't open the one you bought, so you try and return it. The online retailer refuses to give you a refund.

What you need to know: The Distance Selling Regulations state that customers must be given a cooling-off period of seven working days. For goods, this is effective from the time the goods reach you. For services, it's seven working days from the date the contract is agreed.

The same rule applies to all transactions made out over a distance, not just online.

So basically you are entitled to a refund. But Ms Fuentes warns that there are some things you should be made aware of.

"You do have to bear in mind who pays the postage."

Also, there are a several items that are not covered by this regulation, for example flowers, newspapers, magazines, personalised goods, food, software – if the seal is broken, clothes that have been worn (unless simply trying them on), hotel bookings, and transport tickets.

The law applies to the UK, but does have a few differences in Scotland and Northern Ireland.