Thandeka received a Christmas gift from her family early, but it wasn’t something she wanted or would use.
She decided to return it to the store, but the store refused to exchange it for her without proof of purchase.
Thandeka thought this was illegal and wanted help on the matter.
As a Scorpion Legal Protection member, she was able to get legal advice.
What does the law say?
The Consumer Protection Act (CPA) states that there are only three situations, in which you are legally entitled to return goods.
These include:
)Goods returned within six months of purchase due to a problem with quality.
) If the product is bought through direct marketing, as there is a five-day cooling-off period.
) If there is a supplier error, you can return the items within 10 business days.
The law doesn’t provide for returning unwanted gifts.
This is dependent on the store’s return policy.
There are stores that accept returns, but only if you have proof of purchase.
The CPA doesn’t specify that you must have a slip, but because of the high crime rate in Mzansi and the CPA’s implied warranty is only for six months, it forces stores to ask for proof of purchase.
If you don’t have the original slip, you can provide a credit card slip or an affidavit.
How to return unwanted items
)Find out what the store’s return policy is. Whether they want the product in its original packaging, require proof of purchase, accept money-back returns or only do exchanges.
) Have your proof of purchase in hand, either in the form of the store slip, a credit card slip or an affidavit.
) Ensure that the product was not used, or have proof that the product is faulty or is of bad quality.
What else can I do?
If the store doesn’t want to exchange the unwanted product and you don’t want to keep it, there are other options you can try:
) Sell it – there are various platforms where you can sell unwanted articles.
) Re-gift it – think about who would like this article and gift it to them on their birthday.
) Give it to charity – they could sell it to raise money.
Scorpion members can get advice and paralegal assistance on such matters.
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