Q: I recently purchased a clipper for my pet from a local pet shop. The cost was €70 and the seller wrote on the receipt “Six months guarantee”. When I opened the box I found that the manufacturer’s guarantee is for two years.

I returned to the shop and the seller phoned the product’s agent. They reluctantly agreed to change the guarantee to one year. I informed the salesperson that I was not satisfied and would take the matter up with the Office for Consumer Affairs.

Can you advise me what are my legal rights in this matter?

A: The six months/one year guarantee given to you by the seller and the product’s agent is the commercial guarantee which traders voluntarily give to customers upon purchasing specific products. The length of time of this guarantee may vary from one retailer to another, and also depends on the kind of product purchased.

Even though the manufacturer’s guarantee you found in the box was for two years, the retailer who sold you the product is not legally obliged to abide by this guarantee but he can issue a separate one if he is going to be the guarantor of the commercial guarantee he gives you.

Having said that, as a consumer you should keep in mind that the Consumer Affairs Act provides a two-year legal protection on goods purchased by consumers.

Under this law traders are liable “to provide a remedy for any lack of conformity in the goods purchased which existed at the time the goods were delivered by the trader to the consumer”.

The remedies consumers are entitled to are either to have the goods repaired free of charge or replaced. If neither of these remedies is possible, then consumers may claim a partial or full refund of the price paid for the product.