When can you pay the price you see, what's not covered for refunds plus how cooling off periods work

In this weekly segment of bite-sized chunks of useful information, consumer journalist Wendy Knowler summarises news you can use:

Info is only as good as its source

There’s no shortage of people willing to dispense advice and information on social media. The trouble is, a lot of it is well-intentioned but wrong or inaccurate.

When someone posted a warning on a popular Facebook group recently about the online directory listing scam which has been targeting small businesses for the past seven years or so, “J” responded with this: “Every contract you sign legally has a 30-day cooling-off period, so you can get out of it if needs be.”

That’s not true. That “out” does not apply to most contracts, so it’s really important to make sure you know what you’re getting into, and, in the case of “fixed term” contracts, what it will take for you to cancel prematurely.

With contracts entered into as a result of direct marketing, such as a telesales call to get you to commit to a contract, you do have the benefit of a “cooling-off period” during which you can cancel without penalty. But even then, it’s only for five business days.

When you can and can’t insist on paying “the price you see”

Guy’s question presented a really good “wrong price” case study.

“I bought a pair of jeans for my wife from a V&A Waterfront store.

“The jeans were on sale, and had a handwritten sticker indicating a price of R2,200. But at the point of sale, the price on the shop’s system came up as R2,800,” he said.

When Guy protested, the sales assistant called the store owner, who insisted that the system price was the correct one.

“Reluctantly, I paid the higher price, as my wife had been searching for the ‘right' pair of jeans for a couple of months.

“But can a retailer legally charge a price which is different, and higher than, the price marked on the item to be sold?” he asked.

“Kindly advise whether I can rightfully request a refund of the R600 price difference.”

Yes, he can, and he should. The only time when a retailer has an “out” with respect to a wrong price, is if the price is an “obvious” mistake.

In this case, the item was marked down, by means of a handwritten sticker, to R600 below the normal price. Guy had every right to assume that the price was right — at R600 less than the “normal” price of R2,800, it was most definitely not a case of an obvious mistake which he was seeking to exploit.

Not fit for you is not the same thing as “not fit for purpose”

The Consumer Protection Act (CPA) gives consumers the right to return a product within six months of purchase if it proves to be defective or “not fit for purpose” during that time.

But many consumers confuse a product not being a good “fit” for them, with “unfit for purpose”. And sometimes, as in Rochelle’s case, it can be a bit of a grey area.

“Is it possible to return an item of clothing item having worn it once, but the fabric turns out to be of poor quality?” she wanted to know. “It creases so badly that I just can’t wear it,” she said. “It’s not linen or any other natural fabric.”

In my opinion, that’s not the sort of defect covered by the CPA.

If crease resistance is a top criteria of yours, you can do a simple fabric crease test in-store, with your hands.

Even if that garment had been defective in some way, for example dodgy stitching or fraying, she would still have had no right of return because of this: “I’ve thrown the cash slip away.”

Had Rochelle bought the garment online, she’d have had a five-day “cooling-off” period of seven days in which to return it (at her cost) for a full refund, for no particular reason — provided it was in a resaleable condition.

But her wearing it renders it no longer in a resaleable condition.

There’s lots for the rest of us to be learn from this case.

• GET IN TOUCH: You can contact Wendy Knowler for advice with your consumer issues via e-mail: consumer@knowler.co.za or on Twitter: @wendyknowler.

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