Q: I need to know what ‘reasonable time’ is for an electric kettle that is still under warranty to be checked for a fault and eventually repaired or replaced? The defective kettle was returned to the seller a week ago and the latter has not yet checked it, let alone repair it. What should a consumer do in such situation?

A: The Consumer Affairs Act does not specify the exact period of time a trader can take to check and repair a defective product. However, the law provides that if a significant inconvenience is caused to the consumer, the latter may refuse the remedy chosen by the trader and opt for a different one. Hence, if a seller takes too much time to check if a defective product can be repaired or not, the consumer may claim that this repair is causing him a significant inconvenience and instead ask for the product to be replaced.

If no agreement is reached, then the consumer may file a complaint with the Office for Consumer Affairs.

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