Legal guarantee - valid for two years

A consumer told me that the trader from whom he bought a watch informed him that the guarantee expired after six months. I advised him to drop me a line but he does not wish to write. This is a very important issue which I often refer to because there are rogue traders who exploit consumer ignorance regarding this issue. Indeed such rogue traders perceive this as an opportunity to exploit consumer ignorance.

Unfortunately there is too much consumer ignorance in Malta due to the simple fact that most consumers do not take an interest in consumer affairs, except when they have a personal problem.

Consequently, in this specific context, rogue traders exploit consumer ignorance. In fact there are too many consumers who are easily confused in this context. However, what makes it worse is that many traders exploit this situation accordingly.

Therefore, for the umpteenth time, I must yet again stress that the legal guarantee is obligatory and it is valid for two years, no matter what! The legal guarantee protects the consumer against a latent defect. Indeed the truth is that, after six months, the legal guarantee would still be valid for a further year and a half wherein the consumer is covered against a latent defect.

On the other hand the commercial guarantee is not obligatory. It is offered to consumers over and above the legal guarantee, which is obligatory. This is done on the basis of the principles of a liberalised marketplace wherein, on a competitive basis, traders have an opportunity to offer consumers a better service than other traders.

The problem in this context is the simple fact that, on the basis of a liberalised marketplace, unlike the legal guarantee, which is valid for two years, the validity of a commercial guarantee is not legally restricted to a specific period. Traders can offer commercial guarantees for as long or as short a period as they want to.

In the prevailing scenario there are rogue traders who offer a commercial guarantee valid for six months and mislead the consumers into believing that, after six months the trader is no longer liable. In this context, the commercial guarantee must be offered in writing. The trader must give the consumer a document outlining the terms, conditions, validity period etc. On the other hand, the legal guarantee does not come with such a document. It is simply outlined in the law. Hence it is in the interest of the consumer to retain the receipt.

Finally, as regular readers know, we have a list of suppliers who offer commercial guarantees for longer periods. We carried this list last Sunday and the companies in the list are: Aplan Ltd, Centro Casalinga, Forestals (Appliances) Ltd, Oxford House Ltd, and The Phoenix Group.