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Consumer Guarantees Act 1993

Miscellaneous provisions - General provisions

45: Liability for representations

You could also call this:

“Who is responsible when promises are made about goods you buy”

If someone sells you goods that they got from another business, any promises made by that business or their workers during the sale process give you certain rights. You can use these rights against both the seller and the business that made the promises.

You have the same rights against the seller as if they had made the promises themselves. You also have the same rights against the business that made the promises (and anyone they were working for) as if they had sold you the goods directly.

If the seller didn’t give permission for these promises to be made, they can ask the business that made them (and anyone they were working for) to pay back any money the seller loses because of this rule.

You can find more information about how this works in section 46 of this law.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM312866.

Topics:
Money and consumer rights > Consumer protection
Business > Fair trading
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“How to get money back for faulty items bought on a payment plan”

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46: Liability of assignees and creditors, or

“Who has to pay if there's a problem with something you bought”

Part 5 Miscellaneous provisions
General provisions

45Liability for representations

  1. Where goods assigned or procured to be assigned to the supplier by a person acting in trade (in this section referred to as the dealer) are supplied to a consumer, every representation made to the consumer by the dealer, or anyone acting on behalf of the dealer, in connection with or in the course of negotiations leading to the supply of the goods shall give the consumer—

  2. as against the supplier, subject to section 46, the same rights as the consumer would have had under this Act if the representation had been made by the supplier personally:
    1. as against the dealer who made the representation and any person on whose behalf the dealer was acting in making it, the same rights against any or all of them personally as the consumer would have had under this Act if that person had supplied the goods to the consumer as a result of the negotiations.

      1. Without prejudice to any other rights or remedies to which a supplier may be entitled, a supplier shall be entitled, where the representation was made without his or her express or implied authority, to be indemnified by the dealer who made the representation and by any person on whose behalf the dealer was acting in making it, against any damage suffered by the supplier through the operation of subsection (1).

      Compare
      • 1971 No 147 s 17