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Under EU rules, a trader must repair, replace, reduce the price or give you a refund if goods you bought turn out to be faulty or do not look or work as advertised.
All goods bought in the EU have a free two-year guarantee. That includes purchases from shops or online.
The two year guarantee is your minimum right and rules in your country may apply extra protection.
Faulty goods and those who are not working or as sold or advertised, must be replaced or repaired under this guarantee. You may also be willing to accept a reduction in price. You should be offered the options when purchasing. You will only be entitled to a full or part refund of the costs if it is not possible to replace or repair the item.
Small irregularities such as scratches on a CD case may not result in a refund.
The two-year guarantee period starts as soon as you receive your goods. In some EU countries you must inform the seller of the fault within two months of discovering it otherwise you may lose your right to the guarantee.
Within six months from receipt of the goods, you just need to show the trader that they are faulty or not as advertised. But, after six months in most EU countries you also need to prove yourself that the defect already existed on receipt of the goods, for example, by showing that the defect is due to the poor quality of materials used.
The guarantee period is put ´on hold´ for the time it takes for the article to be repaired or replaced. If replaced, the remaining guarantee period is valid for the new article, with the provision that if that happens to be less than 6 months, you still can claim if the fault manifests within 6 months of receipt of replacement article, as then it´s presumed the fault was already present at time of sale, see the paragraph above.
The trader is always liable for remedying the defect and in some EU countries you also have the right to request a remedy from the producer.
All businesses and business providers must by law have a complaints book ‘libro de reclamaciones’. Forms should be filled out in triplicate.
In Spain their are consumer offices linked to most town hall OMIC. You can take your complaint there.
Note* If you bought a good or a service online or outside of a shop (by telephone, mail order, from a door-to-door salesperson), you also have the right to cancel and return your order within 14 days, for any reason and with no justification.
Thank you to the EU for this edited version.
From our library:
Consumer Law in Spain dates from 2007, with most recent update June 2018, articles 120 and 123 deal with guarantee, repairs and replacement of consumer goods.
