The Consumer Protection Act (CPA) seeks to empower consumers in their purchases. However, few people, if any, use it.
Many will be surprised to learn that the Law provides for guarantees on the proper functioning of products purchased, regardless of the store’s exchange or refund policy. Indeed, if the good you buy is defective before a reasonable period of time and you have used it normally, you can ask the seller to repair the good, to exchange the good or to reimburse you (LPC, article 38). can demand this from the seller and the manufacturer of the good. In addition, the legal guarantee offered by the LPC cannot be dismissed by traders. They can only offer more favorable terms.
Despite this, the vast majority of people are unfamiliar with this tool or, even worse, choose not to use their law for fear of the opinions of others. Even if the sentiment is understandable, the effects on the relationship between the consumer and the seller are perverse. The main consequence being that we have a law that no one uses. This allows traders to abuse power asymmetry and encourages them to break the law.
Consumers are not the only ones responsible for the failure of this law. The legislators, in drafting the LPC, left the definition of what is “a reasonable period” very broad. For lawyers, this is very useful since it allows the judge to interpret what is a reasonable period. However, I will argue that for a consumer this is not helpful. On the spot, a merchant could refuse to agree with the consumer who is in his right by persisting on what is reasonable. Instinctively, a lawyer would say that the person would then have to plead their case in small claims, but in reality no one would want to go to court for a faulty toaster.
In my opinion, it is time to revisit the law to make it more useful in everyday life for consumers and not just lawyers. However, in the meantime, it is important that people educate themselves about the Fa and not be afraid to use it. The worst-case scenario is a simple refusal, while the potential benefits are not negligible.