Even though Christmas has arrived and gone by and gifts were bought and given to our loved ones, the craze for shopping continues. The days following Christmas are, in fact, often characterised by intensive bouts of shopping. Everyone loves a bargain and shop signs advertising price reductions encourage consumers to keep spending.
While bargain hunting, consumers should not forget that even though prices are reduced, their legal rights stay unchanged. In other words, if the goods purchased at a discount turn out to be faulty, the seller is obliged to provide consumers with a free remedy – unless consumers knew about the fault before purchasing the item.
When goods are sold at reduced prices because they are shop soiled, consumers should be made aware of the defects before the sale is concluded. However, even in such a situation, if a different fault develops, consumers have the same legal rights on the new fault as though the product was purchased at full price.
During sales consumers must look out for changed return policies. Should they make a wrong buying decision, they are not legally entitled to a remedy.
Hence, they must abide to the shop’s return policies. Some retailers may, in fact, decide to implement a no-returns policy during the sales period. Legally, such commercial practice is not prohibited. It is therefore worth double checking a shop’s return policy before buying anything.
Even though prices go down, legal rights remain unchanged
In situations where defective goods are returned during sales, if these were purchased at full price and cannot be repaired or replaced by the seller, the amount refunded should be the price consumers paid at the time of purchase and not the discounted price. When making such a claim, consumers need to present the proof of purchase to show the amount paid for the defective goods.
During sales, retailers must not only indicate the percentage that is off but must also clearly indicate the discounted price so consumers are well informed of the price they are asked to pay at the till. It is illegal for sellers to alter previous prices to make discounts appear much higher than they really are.
If a shop is making a comparison with previous prices, the previous price should be the last price at which the goods are available before the sales period.
It is also misleading and therefore illegal for shops to display signs advertising that all products in store have been reduced by a specific percentage, for example at 40 per cent, but in reality some items in the shop are not on sale or are not discounted as advertised.
Should consumers encounter misleading adverts or misleading commercial practices, these can be reported to the Office for Consumer Affairs within the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority so that the necessary legal action is taken.
odette.vella@mccaa.org.mt
Odette Vella is director, Information, Education and Research Directorate, Office for Consumer Affairs, Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority.