Redact
Professional Nice Guy
So a new act was instated near the start of the year... oh how good it would have been to have this instated back in like 2004 before all the next-gen consoles (with their abundances of failures) came along. Either way it's here and it makes purchasing anything like 1091283049182x more risk free if you understand your rights.
Either way, understanding act is always involves lots of reading and thinking, which is too hard sometimes, so I've decided to snippet the most important part for you consumers out there to understand.
So long story short, if you buy something that is faulty, even if it has no form of warranty, and the fault doesn’t appear straight away, and even if it is second hand, you could be entitled to a replacement OR compensation OR a refund, which is ENTIRELY YOUR CHOICE if the fault is some form of manufacturing fault.
First off there is a whole bunch of guarantees that pretty much everything sold has to meet:
Goods will be of acceptable quality
Goods will be fit for a particular purpose
Goods will match their description
Goods will match the sample or demonstration model
Any express warranties will be honored
Spare parts and repair facilities will be available for a reasonable time
You will have title to the goods
You will have undisturbed possession of the goods
There are no undisclosed securities on the goods
If any of these are directly broken, you are entitled to some form of compensation.
When something fails or is faulty, it gets classified as one of two things:
A major failure
or
A minor Failure
To determine which category it falls under, there's a lot of things that are not defined very well. It mainly comes down to not how badly the product failed, but how long it would take for a resolution to be reached:
A Minor failure is when a product fails and a resolution is able to be provided within "a reasonable period of time"
In this case, the seller/manufacturer can choose to offer you a refund, replacement or repair. This must be provided free of charge and within a reasonable time depending on the circumstances.
If the seller refuses to fix the problem or takes too long, you may be able to get it fixed by someone else and recover the costs from the seller.
You cannot immediately reject the goods and demand a refund - you must give the supplier a chance to fix the problem.
A major failure is when a seller/manufacturer either cannot fix said goods, cannot fix said goods within "a reasonable period of time", or if a fix is "too difficult" in some way.
If a failure is classified as a major failure, YOU CHOOSE which of the following you want:
Reject the goods and get a refund.
Reject the goods and get an identical replacement, or one of similar value if reasonable available.
Keep the goods and get a compensation for the drop in value caused by the failure.
There are A LOT of parts I have not covered in my very very VERY basic summary of only a small portion of this act, if you EVER believe that you are a victim of a breach of this act in any way, I HIGHLY advise that you read through the fine print of the act itself before you attempt to take any further action or contact consumer affairs.
I've posted this up as this applies to all 3DS's, and all future consoles you purchase until further notice.
If your stuff fails, you really should be aware of your rights as it means that you are entitled to a free and fast resolution, or compensation if not supplied, to any failures with your console due to some manufacturing fault (see RROD/YLOD)
If someone wants me to clarify something, please let me know, I've had to learn this jazz for work and it's really good to know what your rights are.
NOTE: This applies only to products manufactured sold new from 2011
References:
http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/tag/ForConsumers/
http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml?itemId=3863&Go.x=6&Go.y=11 (I RECCOMEND READING THIS)
Either way, understanding act is always involves lots of reading and thinking, which is too hard sometimes, so I've decided to snippet the most important part for you consumers out there to understand.
So long story short, if you buy something that is faulty, even if it has no form of warranty, and the fault doesn’t appear straight away, and even if it is second hand, you could be entitled to a replacement OR compensation OR a refund, which is ENTIRELY YOUR CHOICE if the fault is some form of manufacturing fault.
First off there is a whole bunch of guarantees that pretty much everything sold has to meet:
Goods will be of acceptable quality
Goods will be fit for a particular purpose
Goods will match their description
Goods will match the sample or demonstration model
Any express warranties will be honored
Spare parts and repair facilities will be available for a reasonable time
You will have title to the goods
You will have undisturbed possession of the goods
There are no undisclosed securities on the goods
If any of these are directly broken, you are entitled to some form of compensation.
When something fails or is faulty, it gets classified as one of two things:
A major failure
or
A minor Failure
To determine which category it falls under, there's a lot of things that are not defined very well. It mainly comes down to not how badly the product failed, but how long it would take for a resolution to be reached:
A Minor failure is when a product fails and a resolution is able to be provided within "a reasonable period of time"
In this case, the seller/manufacturer can choose to offer you a refund, replacement or repair. This must be provided free of charge and within a reasonable time depending on the circumstances.
If the seller refuses to fix the problem or takes too long, you may be able to get it fixed by someone else and recover the costs from the seller.
You cannot immediately reject the goods and demand a refund - you must give the supplier a chance to fix the problem.
A major failure is when a seller/manufacturer either cannot fix said goods, cannot fix said goods within "a reasonable period of time", or if a fix is "too difficult" in some way.
If a failure is classified as a major failure, YOU CHOOSE which of the following you want:
Reject the goods and get a refund.
Reject the goods and get an identical replacement, or one of similar value if reasonable available.
Keep the goods and get a compensation for the drop in value caused by the failure.
There are A LOT of parts I have not covered in my very very VERY basic summary of only a small portion of this act, if you EVER believe that you are a victim of a breach of this act in any way, I HIGHLY advise that you read through the fine print of the act itself before you attempt to take any further action or contact consumer affairs.
I've posted this up as this applies to all 3DS's, and all future consoles you purchase until further notice.
If your stuff fails, you really should be aware of your rights as it means that you are entitled to a free and fast resolution, or compensation if not supplied, to any failures with your console due to some manufacturing fault (see RROD/YLOD)
If someone wants me to clarify something, please let me know, I've had to learn this jazz for work and it's really good to know what your rights are.
NOTE: This applies only to products manufactured sold new from 2011
References:
http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/tag/ForConsumers/
http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml?itemId=3863&Go.x=6&Go.y=11 (I RECCOMEND READING THIS)
