Warranties

A warranty is a type of promise a business makes.

They might be promising that:

• the item won’t break for a certain time
• they will help to solve the problem if it does break.

Everything you buy (products and services) has to come with a type of warranty. We call these consumer guarantees.

Consumer guarantees can protect you if certain problems arise with the product or service you purchased.

Consumer guarantees can help you when a product or service:

• doesn’t work properly or isn’t safe to use
• is different to what you thought you were buying.

Some exceptions apply to these guidelines.

Consumer guarantees do not apply if you:

• changed your mind and don’t want it anymore
• picked the wrong colour, style or size
• broke the product yourself
• can’t show the business that you bought it from them (like with a receipt).

Some expensive products might also come with an extra warranty that the business gives you. If something has a warranty, the business has to help you if things go wrong.

Take a broken product back to the business that sold it to you. They will have to deal with it—they can’t just ignore you or send you to the manufacturer. If something breaks after you’ve used it a fair bit, you might still get a partial refund or repair.

You must make your claim within a reasonable time.

This could mean 2 things:

• All warranties go on for however long the product would reasonably last. If the product is expensive, you’d expect it to last a longer time. Consumer guarantees work in this way.
• Extra warranties that a business gives you will run out after a specific time. This might be 12 months from the day you buy it. If the business gave you a warranty, read the paperwork to see how long it lasts.

You might still be able to get a refund, exchange or repair if a time limit has run out. Your consumer guarantees say that a product needs to last for a reasonable time. This depends on what the product is.

Cheaper products (like small plastic toys) break easily. Others (like expensive kitchen goods) should not break down for a long time.

Don’t take the risk!

Know your warranty rights.

A while back, Dave and Frankie each wanted to buy a new TV. Dave could only afford a cheap TV for $190. Frankie had saved a lot of money, so he bought a top-of-the-range TV for $2,000.

Now, both of their TVs have broken down after a year. Dave’s TV was very cheap, so it wasn’t likely to last very long. However, Frankie’s expensive TV should have lasted for much longer than a year.

The shop promised that both TVs would last for a reasonable time. This was their consumer guarantee. A reasonable time is much shorter for a $190 TV than a $2,000 one.

The store doesn’t have to give Dave a refund or replacement for his cheap TV, but they need to give one to Frankie.