After sale guarantee: legal and commercial guarantees

According to the law on legal guarantee, the consumer has the right to buy a product in conformity to the contract or to the features and technical qualities promised by the seller. Non conformity to the contract or lack of essential features promised are considered defects of conformity and are covered by the 24 month guarantee from the purchase date.

In case of non conformity to the information received and in case of defect or breakdown, the consumer has the right to get the product REPAIRED or SUBSITUTED ( if the consumer wants to) and if this is impossible to have a price REDUCTION or a TOTAL REFUND of the price paid. The consumer can activate the guarantee up to 60 days from the discovery of the non conformity.

It is the seller that shall offer the best solution to the consumer and not the producer. This means that we can easily ask for help to the shop where the product has been bought and ask the seller to take care of the matter.

The commercial guarantee of the producer does not substitute but accompanies the legal guarantee: therefore messages like “ the product can be substituted only up to XXX days after the purchase, after that period only the producer is liable” have to be ignored. It is the seller who has to take the products and solve problem. After that he can avail himself again the producer.

It is fundamentally important to keep the fiscal bill which states the place and date of the purchase, because it will have to be given to the seller in case of problems.

The guarantee rules apply also to second hand items, if the sale happens between a professional seller and a consumer. The limit is 12 months and not 24.

How to prove the existence of a defect of conformity?

To prove that the product has a defect of conformity there are simple rules to follow:

- the objective inability of the product ( to the normal use, guaranteed by other products of the same type)

- lack of common features, compared to same other products

- a particular behaviour of the seller before the purchase ( promises and declarations to convince the consumer to buy)

- the expectations the consumer explained to the seller ( related to the particular use the consumer wanted to do of the product)

- the qualities of the sample product