Can I Get a Refund for Faulty Goods?

Who this guide is for

You bought goods from a business (a shop, a website, by phone or on the doorstep) and they are faulty, not as described or do not do what they should. It also covers a service a business did for you (for example a builder, a garage or a hairdresser) and digital content you paid for (for example apps, downloads, games and software). It covers the whole UK: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The rules are the same in all four, except how long you have to take a claim to court, which is marked for each nation.

What this guide does not cover

• Flight delays and cancellations: see our flight delay guide. Package holidays: see our package holiday guide.
• Gas and electricity bills and supply: see our energy bills guide.
• How to make a court claim, step by step: see our small claims guide.
• Goods bought on hire purchase or conditional sale, and claims against a private seller for untrue statements: ask the consumer helpline.
• Goods bought for your business, and chargeback (asking your bank to reverse a payment): ask your bank or the consumer helpline.
• Buying from a business in an EU country: GOV.UK points to the UK International Consumer Centre.

At a glance

• Goods from a business must be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose and as described.
• For 30 days after you get them, you can reject faulty goods for a full refund.
• After that, the business gets one go at a repair or a replacement. If that fails, you can ask for a price reduction or reject the goods for a refund.
• A fault that shows up within 6 months of delivery is taken to have been there from the start, unless the business proves otherwise.
• From a private seller, the goods only have to match their description and the seller must have the right to sell them.
• Changing your mind is not a fault. In a shop there is no legal right to a refund for that. Online, phone and mail order sales give you 14 days to cancel.
• A service must be done with reasonable care and skill. If it is not, you can ask the business to put it right at its own cost, then for a price reduction (up to the full price) if it cannot or does not.
• Faulty digital content: you can ask for a repair or replacement, then a price reduction. There is no 30-day right to reject it.

What the rules depend on

1. Did you buy from a business or a private person? A business: the Consumer Rights Act 2015 applies (this guide). A private person: see "Bought from a private seller".
2. When did you get the goods? Within the last 30 days: you can reject them for a full refund. Later than that: the business can repair or replace first.
3. Is it faulty, or have you changed your mind? Faulty: this guide. Changed your mind: in a shop there is no legal right to a refund; online, phone and mail order sales give you 14 days to cancel (see "Changed your mind").
4. Has there already been a repair or a replacement? If one repair or one replacement has not fixed it, you can ask for a price reduction or reject the goods. If not, the business can normally repair or replace first.
5. When did the fault show up? Within 6 months of delivery: the business has to prove it was not there from the start. After 6 months: you have to show it was.

What the goods must be

• When a business sells goods to you as a consumer, they must be of satisfactory quality, fit for their purpose and as described.
• You are a consumer if you are buying wholly or mainly for yourself, not for your trade, business or profession. If the business says you were buying for business, it has to prove it.
• Second-hand goods from a business are covered. Second-hand goods bought at a public auction you could attend in person are mostly not covered.
• You do not have the right to a refund for a fault you knew about when you bought the goods.

In the first 30 days: the short-term right to reject

• You can reject faulty goods and get a full refund. You do not have to accept a repair or replacement instead.
• The 30 days start the day after you get the goods (delivered to you, or taken home from the shop), or the day after the business finished installing them if it had to install them. The last day is 30 days after the day you got them: goods you got on 1 March can be rejected up to and including 31 March.
• The 30 days stop running while you wait for a repair or replacement, so the real last day can be later.
• Goods that would perish sooner (for example food or flowers) get a shorter period.

After 30 days: repair or replacement

• You can ask for a repair or a replacement. The business must do it within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience to you, and pay the costs, including labour, materials and postage.
• You cannot insist on a repair or a replacement if it is impossible, or if it would cost the business far more than the other one.
• Once you have asked for or agreed to a repair or a replacement, you must give the business a reasonable time to do it before you ask for something else, unless waiting would cause you significant inconvenience.
• A warranty or guarantee does not replace these rights. You have the same right to a free repair or replacement whether you have one or not, or if it has run out.

If the repair or replacement does not work: price reduction or final right to reject

• You can choose either to keep the goods with a price reduction, or to reject them for a refund (the final right to reject), if:
  • after one repair or one replacement, the goods are still faulty; or
  • repair and replacement are both impossible or disproportionate; or
  • you asked for a repair or replacement and the business did not do it within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience to you.
• With the final right to reject, the refund can be reduced to take account of the use you have had of the goods. There is no reduction in the first 6 months after you got them (counting from the day after delivery, or after installation if later). The exception is a motor vehicle: for a car, van or motorbike the business can make a deduction for use even in the first 6 months.
• The 30-day right to reject is always a full refund.

The first 6 months and after

• If you ask for a repair, a replacement, a price reduction or the final right to reject, a fault that shows up within 6 months of delivery is taken to have been there from the start, unless the business proves it was not.
• After 6 months, the business can ask you to show that the goods were faulty when you got them.

Getting your refund

• The refund must be paid without undue delay and within 14 days of the business agreeing you are entitled to it.
• It must be paid the same way you paid, unless you agree otherwise, and the business cannot charge a fee for it.
• The business can ask for proof you bought from it. A receipt, a bank statement or the packaging can be enough.

Changed your mind (not faulty)

• In a shop, you have no legal right to a refund because you have changed your mind, for example it is the wrong size or colour. The shop's own returns policy may still let you return it.
• Bought online, by phone or by mail order from a business: you can cancel without giving a reason. The right starts when the contract is made, so you can cancel before the goods arrive.
• The cancellation period ends 14 days after the day the goods are delivered to you. If an order comes on different days, it runs from the day the last item arrives.
• If the business did not tell you about your right to cancel, the period is longer: up to 12 months more.
• After you cancel, send the goods back within 14 days of telling the business (unless it offered to collect them).
• Who pays to send it back: you pay the direct cost of returning the goods only if the business told you before you bought that you would have to. Otherwise the business pays.
• The business must refund you within 14 days of getting the goods back, including the cost of standard delivery (not the extra for a more expensive delivery option). It cannot deduct fees unless the goods have been used or damaged.
• Some goods cannot be cancelled this way. This guide does not list them: ask the consumer helpline. You can use the free cancellation letter.

Bought from a private seller

• The Consumer Rights Act 2015 only covers buying from a business.
• From a private seller, the Sale of Goods Act 1979 says the goods must match their description and the seller must have the right to sell them. The rules on satisfactory quality and fitness only apply when the seller sells in the course of a business.
• If you are not sure whether the seller was really a business, ask the consumer helpline.

Paid by credit card: section 75

• Under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 you can claim against the credit provider as well as the seller when the seller breaks the contract (for example faulty goods). This applies if the cash price of the single item was more than £100 and not more than £30,000.
• It covers credit cards, and can cover point-of-sale loans, some store cards and catalogue accounts. It does not cover goods paid for wholly by debit card or bank transfer.
• The limits are per item: several items that each cost £100 or less do not count because the total is more than £100 (unless they were sold as a set).
• If the credit provider turns your claim down, you can complain to it and then to the Financial Ombudsman Service. You can use the free section 75 letter.

Services (for example a builder, a garage repair or a hairdresser)

• When a business does a job for you, the law (Consumer Rights Act 2015) says it must:
  • do it with reasonable care and skill
  • stick to what it said or wrote about itself or the job, if you took that into account when deciding to go ahead (or when making a later decision about the job)
  • charge a reasonable price, if no price was agreed in advance
  • finish in a reasonable time, if no time was agreed.
• If the work is not done with reasonable care and skill, or does not match what was said: you can ask the business to put it right (redo the work). It must do this within a reasonable time, without causing you significant inconvenience, and at its own cost.
• If putting it right is impossible, or the business does not do it in a reasonable time or without significant inconvenience: you can ask for a price reduction. This can be up to the full price. A refund must be paid within 14 days of the business agreeing, by the same payment method, with no fee.
• These rights sit alongside your other rights, for example to end the contract or claim for your losses if the business breaks it. You cannot be paid twice for the same loss.
• A business cannot use its terms to take away your right to reasonable care and skill, or to stop you getting your money back where that is the right remedy.

Digital content (apps, downloads, games, software)

• Digital content you pay for must be of satisfactory quality, fit for any purpose you told the seller about, and as described. This also covers free content that comes with something you paid for.
• If it is faulty: ask for a repair or a replacement. It must be done within a reasonable time, without significant inconvenience, at the seller's cost.
• If neither is possible, or the seller does not do it in a reasonable time or without significant inconvenience: you can ask for a price reduction, up to the full price, refunded within 14 days.
• There is no right to reject digital content and get your money back in the first 30 days, as there is for goods. If the content came on a physical item (for example a disc), the rules for goods apply instead.
• A fault that shows within 6 months of getting the content is treated as being there from the start, unless the seller shows otherwise.
• If digital content damages your device or your other digital content, and that would not have happened if the business had used reasonable care and skill, the business must repair the damage or pay you compensation. This applies to free content too, if you got it under a contract (for example by accepting the terms).

If the business still says no

• Put your complaint in writing: what you bought, when, what is wrong and what you want (a refund, repair, replacement or price reduction). You can use the free faulty goods letter.
• In England and Wales, before going to court, the court's rules on pre-action conduct expect a letter before claim: concise details of the claim, what you want and how you worked out any amount. The business should reply within a reasonable time: 14 days in a straightforward case. You can use the free letter before claim.
• If it still refuses, you can take it to court: see our small claims guide for your nation.

Deadlines

• 30 days to use the short-term right to reject (paused while you wait for a repair or replacement; shorter for perishable goods).
• 6 months from delivery: the point after which you may have to show the fault was there from the start.
• Online, phone or mail order (changed your mind): you can cancel from when you order until 14 days after delivery (longer if you were not told about the right), then 14 days to send the goods back.
• England, Wales and Northern Ireland: you have up to 6 years to make a claim for faulty goods, a poor service or faulty digital content. This guide does not cover exactly when the 6 years start or what can change them: ask the consumer helpline.

Scotland: the time limit

In Scotland you have up to 5 years to make a claim for faulty goods, a poor service or faulty digital content, not 6. This guide does not cover exactly when the 5 years start or what can change them: ask Advice Direct Scotland.

Money figures

• Section 75: the single item must have a cash price of more than £100 and not more than £30,000.
• This guide gives no other amounts. What a price reduction or a deduction for use should be depends on the goods and how you have used them.

Where to go for help

Traps

• Your rights are against the business that sold you the goods.
• If you or someone else tries to repair the goods and damages them, you may lose the right to a full refund (you may still have the right to a repair, replacement or partial refund).
• The 30 days count from the day after you got the goods, not from the day you ordered or paid.
• Agreeing to a repair means giving the business a reasonable time to do it before you ask for a refund.
• A private sale is not covered by the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
• Paying by debit card does not give you section 75.