What is a warranty repair? This is an opportunity to repair the purchased goods for free by contacting the service department of its manufacturer or distributor. The warranty repair periods are strictly limited. What period of warranty repairs is established by Russian legislation, how to use a similar service, what to do if the deadlines were not met, you will find in this article.
Legislative regulation
What is the law for warranty repair periods? In the Russian Federation, one needs to turn to many well-known Federal Laws “On Protection of Consumer Rights” No. 2300-1 (1992). Buyers are guided by it in case of any kind of problems with purchased goods or paid services.
According to paragraph 1 of Art. 18 of this law, if the buyer and the consumer identify defects in the goods that were not agreed upon during their sale, he has every right to demand that the seller sell them free of charge within the warranty repair period.
As for the guarantee itself, then you need to be careful. It can be distributed only to the main product, and maybe to its components. This point must be clarified with the seller before the acquisition.
Reception for warranty repairs
In addition to the terms of repair under warranty, the consumer must know under what conditions the goods are accepted for warranty service:
- The buyer is in the hands of the relevant documentation confirming the purchase of this product. Including a warranty card. But what if you lost these papers? This is not a sufficient reason for refusing warranty service, if you turn to the Federal Law "On Protection of Consumer Rights".
- The goods are accepted for warranty service, if there are no signs of self-repair by the owner.
- Defects, malfunctions arose not through the fault of the buyer. If you misused the product, damaged it during transportation, this will not be a reason for delivery of it for warranty repairs.
How many days?
Now we have moved on to the main question: what is the warranty repair period? We turn again to the Law on the Protection of Consumer Rights. From its provisions (paragraph 1, Article 20), the following is clear:
- According to the general rules, the identified defects must be eliminated immediately - at the time of the buyer’s request for warranty service.
- As for the terms of repair of equipment under warranty, the minimum period here will be the one necessary for the high-quality provision of the necessary services. This is 5 minutes and a week - depending on the specific problem.
- The maximum warranty repair period is 45 days. It is this period that is determined for all existing varieties of goods, including those technically complex.
- Also, according to the terms of repair of goods under warranty, individual time frames can be set, but only on the basis of a written contract between the seller and the consumer. This may be a separate condition in the contract of sale. In this case, the limit of 45 days does not apply. The contract may establish a term either shorter or longer than this period.
Important clarifications
It is important to remember that the absence of the necessary parts and components for the repair by the service provider is not a sufficient basis for extending the warranty repair period.
As for the established time limit of 45 days, it can be extended only under one circumstance. This is the written consent of the buyer to increase the repair period. In all other cases, the service provider violates Russian law.
Legislation discrepancy
Law No. 2300-1 has a small problem. It sets the maximum warranty period for equipment repair under 45 days. But he does not specify which ones - workers, calendar ones. What is there to rely on?
Lawyers advise you to turn to Art. 190 Civil Code. It states that if there is no clarification in the document, then the term is determined as follows:
- In calendar days.
- After a period of time, which is calculated in hours, days, months, years and so on.
What do we get from this? The maximum warranty repair period for a product is 45 calendar days, unless otherwise agreed between the buyer and seller. For example, it may be said there that the largest warranty repair period is 45 specifically working days. Or the agreement may indicate a completely different, shorter or larger period.
It is worth noting that the maximum warranty period for repairing a thing or equipment can be extended even if its end falls on a weekend or holiday. Provided that the company providing services on this day does not work according to its schedule.
Providing an analogue during repair
Not all buyers are aware of the wonderful opportunity that the law provides them. For the entire period of repair work, they have the right to require the seller to transfer for temporary use a similar product, device with similar functionality to the purchase, important characteristics.
We draw your attention to the fact that the service is not provided by default, but only at the request of the buyer. He can submit a similar application to the service center within 3 days from the date of delivery of the purchase for repair (Section 2, Article 20 of the Federal Law No. 2300-1).
But it is important to remember that this possibility does not apply to all groups of goods. The list of exceptions is presented in the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation "On approval of the Rules of sale ..." No. 55 (1998). An analogue of a purchase during its warranty repair is not provided if the purchased item is a car, furniture, electrical device used for cooking, and so on.
Warranty after repair
But what is the warranty period after repair? Is there any information about this in the legislation?
In paragraph 3 of Art. 20 of the Law on Protection of Consumer Rights directly states during which period it is possible to count on the repeated elimination of malfunctions and defects in the service center if they occur.
It is important to remember that the general warranty period is extended for the period during which the product was under warranty repair. But how is this gap determined? This is the period from the moment of contacting the seller with the corresponding application for troubleshooting until the transfer of the already repaired goods back to the buyer.
In many cases, before acceptance of the goods for warranty repairs (especially complex technical devices), they are examined. In particular, it is used to determine the time of occurrence of defects, the nature of damage to the goods, the reasons for the occurrence of certain defects.
If the examination was carried out, then the warranty period will also be extended for the period during which your purchase was under examination.
Repair Document
Is there a warranty period for warranty repairs? This should be spelled out in a document that must be issued to you upon the return of a repaired purchase from the service center of the manufacturer or seller.
In particular, this paper indicates the following information:
- The date the customer contacted the service department.
- Date of receipt of equipment for repair work.
- The list of identified defects and a detailed description of the procedures for their elimination.
- Date of issue of the repaired product back to its owner.
- Information on replaced parts. Its presence is very important, because in case of repair, a new warranty period should be installed on components.
Receiving goods after repair
When you receive a refurbished purchase back at a service center, you must be very careful. It is possible that during the repair new problems and defects may occur. For example, you rented a TV because of a bad sound. The issue is resolved, but a scratch appears on the screen.
Such a case will already be considered a violation of the conditions for the temporary storage of goods that were transferred to the seller. The latter bears a certain responsibility for this. For example, it reduces the cost of the purchased TV and pays the buyer the resulting difference.
Violation of deadlines
You know now that the largest period during which the product is under warranty repair is 45 days. If the service center has violated these terms, then the consumer has every right to demand compensation from him. This is regulated by paragraph 1 of Art. 23 Federal Law "On the Protection of Consumer Rights".
The law defines specific figures: the payment of a penalty in the amount of 1% of the price of the goods for each day of delay. If the service center does not agree to repay this amount voluntarily, then the consumer has every right to recover it through the court.
Alternative solution
If the buyer does not agree to wait for payment of the penalty for the delay in warranty repair, then he can act in accordance with Art. 18 of the same Consumer Protection Act.
The article introduces the following statement:
- Return the product to the store to receive the full amount paid before.
- Exchange the product in the store for a similar one or another, with a recalculation of the cost in case of a difference.
- Demand a reduction in the cost of purchased goods - the seller must pay the difference.
To exercise the above rights, the buyer must write a written claim in the name of the seller. There are no specific examples of the document - it is compiled in free form, indicating all the requirements put forward, listing their grounds.
The law also sets deadlines for responding to a claim by the seller. This is 10 days. If after this period the seller has not taken any action, the consumer has the right to defend his interests already in court.
When purchasing certain groups of goods, it is necessary to provide warranty service - free repair of the purchase for a certain period. The maximum period for such repairs is 45 days, unless otherwise agreed upon between the seller and the buyer.