Q: About a year ago I bought a mobile phone with a one-year commercial guarantee. A few weeks before the commercial guarantee expired, the mobile blocked and stopped working.

The shop where I purchased it from gave me a very basic mobile as a loan phone. In fact, the mobile I bought cost €550 and the one I got as a replacement cost €30. This loan phone had no wifi system, so I could not access the internet from it.

I am on a contract and pay €7 a month to be able to use the internet. I accepted this mobile because I was promised that my mobile would be repaired within a week.

After two days, the shop informed me that my phone had to be sent abroad for repairs and that it might take weeks before it is repaired or replaced with a new one.

Eventually, the loan phone was replaced with a model that had wifi, but this did not work properly as it constantly switched off automatically.

Eight weeks have now passed and I still do not have my mobile back. Can I ask for a new mobile or for my money back?

A: When, as consumers, we purchase goods that within two years turn out to be not in conformity with the contract of sale, legally we have a right to request a remedy. The legal remedies available to us are either to have the goods repaired or replaced, or else a part or full refund.

In the first instance, the seller may offer to repair or replace the defective product. If these two remedies cause you a significant inconvenience, which might be your case since you spent eight weeks without your mobile and were not given a suitable loan phone, then you may ask for your money back.

My advice is to speak again to the seller and if they do not give you a reasonable date by when you can have your mobile phone repaired or give you a new one, you should file a complaint with the Office for Consumer Affairs and request a money refund.