Six Months to Send It Back — and You Choose Repair, Replace or Refund

The fridge stops cooling in month four. The laptop will not charge. The vehicle you took delivery of in March develops a fault nobody can explain.

What happens next is governed by a part of the Consumer Protection Act that shops routinely describe incorrectly, and the first thing to establish is the date on your invoice — because the six-month clock that decides your position runs from delivery, not from when the fault appeared.

Inside those six months you have a right that is stronger than most people believe, and stronger than most in-store policies suggest. You may return the goods. The supplier carries the risk and the cost of that return. And the remedy is your choice, not the shop's.

What you are entitled to receive

Before the remedy, the standard. Every consumer has a right to receive goods that:

• are reasonably suitable for the purposes for which they are generally intended;
• are of good quality, in good working order and free of any defects;
• will be useable and durable for a reasonable period, having regard to the use to which they would normally be put and all the surrounding circumstances of their supply; and
• comply with any applicable standards set under the Standards Act or other public regulation.

There is an additional layer if you explained what you needed it for. Where you specifically informed the supplier of the particular purpose you wanted the goods for, and the supplier either ordinarily supplies such goods or acts in a way consistent with being knowledgeable about their use, you have a right to expect that the goods are reasonably suitable for that purpose. Telling the salesperson what you intend to do with something is not small talk; it changes the standard the goods must meet.

In deciding whether goods met the standard, everything about the supply counts — how they were marketed, packaged and displayed, any trade description or mark, the instructions and warnings given, the range of things it is reasonable to expect people to do with them, and when they were produced and supplied.

"You should have checked before you bought it" is not an answer

Two short provisions dispose of the most common pushback.

It is irrelevant whether a defect was latent or patent — hidden or obvious — and irrelevant whether you could have detected it before taking delivery. You are not required to have inspected your way out of the problem.

And a defect may not be inferred merely because better goods have since become available from the same or another producer. Your appliance is not defective for being superseded, and it is not un-defective because the newer model is better.

The six-month right, and who chooses the remedy

This is the operative provision.

Within six months after delivery, you may return goods that fail to meet the standard above — without penalty and at the supplier's risk and expense — and the supplier must, at your direction, either:

• repair or replace the failed, unsafe or defective goods; or
• refund the price you paid.

Read the phrase "at the direction of the consumer" carefully, because it is doing all the work. The supplier does not select the remedy. You do. A blanket store policy of "we only repair within the warranty period" or "no refunds" is contrary to the subsection, whatever is printed on the till slip.

"At the supplier's risk and expense" matters too. Getting a heavy or awkward item back to the store is the supplier's problem, not a cost you absorb.

If the repair fails, the repair option is gone

Suppose you chose repair — the usual choice for something expensive that you would rather keep.

If the supplier repairs the goods and, within three months after that repair, the failure or defect has not been remedied, or a further failure or defect is discovered, the supplier must replace the goods or refund you.

There is no second repair. This is the provision to quote when an item comes back from the workshop for the third time with a new symptom each visit.

Who you may go to

You do not have to chase the manufacturer.

The producer or importer, the distributor and the retailer each warrant that the goods comply with the standard. The shop that sold it to you is on that list. The only carve-out is where the goods were altered contrary to instructions, or after leaving the control of the person you are claiming against.

And your rights here sit in addition to any other warranty — the common law, any other regulation, and any express guarantee from the manufacturer or the retailer. A twelve-month manufacturer's guarantee does not replace the six-month statutory right; it runs alongside it. A shop saying "your guarantee is with the brand" has answered a different question.

Repairs carry their own warranty

Separately, where someone repairs or services something for you: a service provider warrants every new or reconditioned part installed, and the labour required to install it, for three months from installation — or longer if the supplier specifies a longer period in writing.

Two limits. That warranty is void if you subjected the part, or the item it went into, to misuse or abuse. And it does not cover ordinary wear and tear, judged against how the goods are intended to be ordinarily used.

The narrow "sold as is" exception

Goods sold in a stated condition are treated differently, but the exception is narrower than the phrase suggests. Two things must both be true:

• you were expressly informed that the particular goods were offered in a specific condition; and
• you expressly agreed to accept them in that condition, or knowingly acted in a way consistent with accepting them in it.

A sticker saying "as is" on a shelf, with nothing said and nothing agreed, does not obviously meet both limbs. And note what the exception does not switch off: the requirement that goods be useable and durable for a reasonable period, and that they comply with applicable standards, stand regardless.

Separately, this whole section does not apply to goods bought at an auction.

When defective goods cause harm

If unsafe goods injure someone or damage property, a different and stricter rule applies.

The producer or importer, distributor or retailer is liable for harm caused wholly or partly by supplying unsafe goods, by a product failure, defect or hazard, or by inadequate instructions or warnings — and this applies irrespective of whether the harm resulted from any negligence on their part. Where more than one of them is liable, the liability is joint and several, so you may pursue any of them for the whole.

A service provider who applies, supplies, installs or provides access to goods while performing services is treated as a supplier of those goods for this purpose.

There are defences — among them that the defect did not exist when that person supplied the goods, that it was wholly attributable to complying with a public regulation, or that it would be unreasonable to expect a distributor or retailer to have discovered it — and there are time limits. A harm claim is a matter for a lawyer, not a counter conversation, but it is worth knowing that negligence does not have to be proved.

What to do, in order

1. Find the invoice or proof of delivery. The six months runs from delivery. If you cannot date it, you cannot establish where you stand — our invoice generator is a reminder of what a compliant document contains, and the same fields are what you should be keeping.
2. Write down the failure, with dates and photographs. A defect described in writing on the day is worth more than one described from memory in month five.
3. Go back to the seller, not the brand. The retailer warrants compliance too.
4. State your chosen remedy in writing. Say plainly that you are exercising the six-month right and directing repair, replacement or a refund. Do not ask which one they would prefer.
5. Do not pay to return it. The return is at the supplier's risk and expense.
6. If you accepted a repair, diarise three months. A recurrence or a new defect inside that window entitles you to a replacement or a refund.
7. Escalate in writing if refused. The National Consumer Commission and the relevant ombud scheme exist for this, and a paper trail is what makes either useful.

If you are on the other side of the counter, the duties are set out in our guide to Consumer Protection Act obligations for a small business. And where a purchase has gone wrong because of a fraudulent transaction rather than a faulty product, what to do if you suspect fraud on your account is the more urgent read.

For everything else, start at our money guides.

Frequently asked questions

How long do I have to return faulty goods in South Africa? Six months after delivery. Within that period you may return goods that fail to meet the Act's quality standard, without penalty and at the supplier's risk and expense.

Can the shop insist on repairing it instead of refunding me? No. The supplier must, at the direction of the consumer, either repair or replace the goods, or refund the price paid. The choice is yours.

Do I have to pay to send it back? No. The return is at the supplier's risk and expense.

What if the repair does not fix it? If, within three months after a repair, the defect has not been remedied or a further defect is discovered, the supplier must replace the goods or refund you.

Must I deal with the manufacturer? No. The producer or importer, the distributor and the retailer each warrant that the goods comply with the standard, so the retailer is liable to you as well.

Does the manufacturer's guarantee replace this right? No. The implied warranty and the six-month return right are each in addition to any other implied or common-law warranty and any express warranty given by the producer, importer, distributor or retailer.

They say I should have noticed the fault when I bought it. It is irrelevant whether the defect was latent or patent, or whether you could have detected it before taking delivery.

What does "sold as is" actually do? It removes the general-purpose and free-of-defects requirements only where you were expressly informed the goods were offered in a specific condition and expressly agreed to accept them in it. The durability and standards requirements are not switched off.

Are auction purchases covered? No. The section giving the right to safe, good quality goods does not apply to goods bought at an auction.

Is a repair guaranteed? A service provider warrants every new or reconditioned part installed, and the labour to install it, for three months from installation, or longer if specified in writing. It is void for misuse or abuse and does not cover ordinary wear and tear.

What if the product injures someone? The producer or importer, distributor or retailer is liable for harm caused by unsafe goods, a defect, or inadequate instructions or warnings, irrespective of negligence, and where more than one is liable, the liability is joint and several.