WENDY KNOWLER | Online refunds, mismatched plugs and appliance warranties

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

This is how long you have to wait before accusing an online retailer of illegally withholding your refund

Thirty days. Yes, it’s quite a long time. But that’s legally the amount of time an online retailer has to refund you if you choose to return an item — for any reason — within the seven-day cooling-off period.

That’s according to the Electronic Communications & Transactions Act. As the title implies, you do not have the benefit of that cooling-off period when you buy something in a shop. You only have the right to return in-person purchases if they become defective within six months of purchase.

Varsha Byroo bought earrings from an online jewellery store recently but was disappointed when they arrived. 

“They were too tiny for the price I paid. There was very little product detail on the site,” she said.

So always check the dimensions before buying something online. Never make assumptions.

I once bought a cake cooling rack online and what I got was more the size of a small pot stand. The dimensions were there with the product listing — I just failed to look at them. If there are no dimensions, don’t buy it.

Varsha said the company sent a courier to collect the earrings and was told on December 8 the refund would be processed “in four to seven working days”.

That promise hasn’t been met, which is not a good sign, but only after 30 days of non-delivery is the company breaking the law.

Plug mismatch presents a major problem

Norman has a problem with his electrical appliances, and it has nothing to do with load-shedding.

“My new home is fitted throughout with the new South African socket,” he told me, “but every appliance I buy is fitted with the old plug.”

Some background: SANS 164-2 was introduced as the “preferred standard” for electrical plugs and sockets by the South African National Standard for the Wiring of Premises in 2013. 

Plugs and sockets based on SANS 164-2 became available from 2020 but, as predicted, appliances fitted with the new plugs are taking quite some time to arrive on retail shelves.

Norman recently bought a vacuum cleaner and a desktop computer, both with the old plugs attached, but with no means of adapting them to his wall sockets. 

“I had to change the plug in both cases and each retailer now insists that I had voided the respective manufacturers’ warranty.”

But what else is the consumer to do? Until around 2015 the ombudsman for consumer goods and services had advised that changing the plug on an appliance qualified as tampering, and as such, in terms of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA), that invalidated any warranty.

But around that time the ombud's office had a change of heart, following the lead of consumer protection agencies in New Zealand, and now changing a plug does not automatically invalidate a warranty, not unless it can be proved that the attaching of a new plug caused the problem in question.

So Norman’s appliances have the full six-month CPA warranty, which means he has the right to a refund, repair or replacement as his remedy.

However, the retailer does have the right to send the product for technical assessment to rule out user abuse.  But “abuse” or “tampering” does not include changing the plug, not unless Norman messed with the electrics in the process.

The devil’s in the small print

The Russell Hobbs appliance warranty issue has found its way into my inbox yet again.

Imthiaaz wrote: “I purchased a Russell Hobbs iron, with the box stating it had a two-year warranty.”

The appliance has now broken, in its second year.

“But the retailer will not honour my claim, stating that the second year’s warranty would only apply if I had registered the iron on Russell Hobbs’ website soon after purchase.

“We were not informed of this at point of purchase,” he said.

Under that large-print “2-year warranty” on the box, are the following words, much smaller and fainter: “1 year retail /1 year extended warranty upon registration: visit ...”

The brand’s new boxes now state the warranty as “1 YEAR + 1 YEAR”.

Be warned: many manufacturers require consumers to register to get the benefit of their full, voluntary warranty, so that’s definitely something to ask specific questions about when buying electric or electronic goods.

The only warranty that is legally binding on a manufacturer is the six-month period after purchase, giving you an automatic right to return a defective product for your choice of a refund, replacement or repair.

After that, the manufacturer’s voluntary warranty takes over, and they get to determine the conditions, which mostly requires more of you, such as original packaging, registration on their website soon after purchase, and having to accept a repair instead of a refund or replacement.

• 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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