Consumer Guarantees Act 1993

Right of redress against suppliers in respect of supply of goods - Provisions relating to rejection of goods

21: Failure of substantial character

You could also call this:

“When a product is really not what you expected or doesn't work properly”

You can consider a failure to meet a guarantee as significant in several situations. If you knew about the problem, you probably wouldn’t have bought the item. The goods might be very different from how they were described or from the sample you were shown. The items might not work properly for what they’re usually used for, or for a special use you told the seller about. If the seller told you the goods would work for a certain purpose but they don’t, and it’s not easy or quick to fix them, that’s also a big problem. Lastly, if the goods aren’t safe to use, that’s considered a major issue too.

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM312828.

Topics:
Money and consumer rights > Consumer protection
Business > Fair trading

Previous

20: Loss of right to reject goods, or

“You can't return goods if you don't follow the rules for returning them”


Next

22: Manner of rejecting goods, or

“How to tell a shop you don't want their stuff anymore”

Part 2 Right of redress against suppliers in respect of supply of goods
Provisions relating to rejection of goods

21Failure of substantial character

  1. For the purposes of section 18(3), a failure to comply with a guarantee is of a substantial character in any case where—

  2. the goods would not have been acquired by a reasonable consumer fully acquainted with the nature and extent of the failure; or
    1. the goods depart in 1 or more significant respects from the description by which they were supplied or, where they were supplied by reference to a sample or demonstration model, from the sample or demonstration model; or
      1. the goods are substantially unfit for a purpose for which goods of the type in question are commonly supplied or, where section 8(1) applies, the goods are unfit for a particular purpose made known to the supplier or represented by the supplier to be a purpose for which the goods would be fit, and the goods cannot easily and within a reasonable time be remedied to make them fit for such purpose; or
        1. the goods are not of acceptable quality within the meaning of section 7 because they are unsafe.