Sale Of Goods Act Partial Refund Rules

chateauneufdupape

Are there any established rules to calculate partial refunds? I have a 14 month old laptop that has been returned and they have offered me a partial refund of 80% of the original value. Is this good, bad or average?

vuvuzela

Well that would suggest that they see its lifespan as being 5 * 14 months, so 5 years and 10 months. I would say that was a bit optimistic and in your favour. Personally for 20% of the cost having used it for over a year I would be happy to take the refund.

PHYTHIAN

Don't think there are any 'hard and fast' rules about partial refunds, just goes by what you could 'reasonably' expect .If you have had use of it for 14 months then 80% refund seems more than fair tbh although it depends on the price / quality of the laptop.

eg If it is a £1000 laptop, I could reasonably expect it to last 5 years. Therefore the laptop is worth 20% (£200) of its initial for each year of its 'expected' life.

If it is a £200 laptop I might expect it to last 3 years. So it would be worth 33%(£67) of its initial value for each year.

moonrakerz

PHYTHIAN wrote: »

eg If it is a £1000 laptop, I could reasonably expect it to last 5 years.

Unfortunately the Sale of Goods Act doesn't.
If it lasted 10 years I assume you would go back and offer the retailer another £1000 :rotfl:

PHYTHIAN wrote: »

Therefore the laptop is worth 20% (£200) of its initial for each year of its 'expected' life.
If it is a £200 laptop I might expect it to last 3 years. So it would be worth 33%(£67) of its initial value for each year.

Could you show us where the LAW says this please ?

I DO WISH people would read SoGA and not just make things up or repeat other incorrect advice given on this site !!

George_Michael

I DO WISH people would read SoGA and not just make things up or repeat other incorrect advice given on this site !!

And I wish people wouldn't make selective cuts from other posts and only quote half of a paragraph.

I could reasonably expect it to last 5 years. Therefore the laptop is worth 20% (£200) of its initial for each year of its 'expected' life.

If you had included the bit that I've highlighted in bold, it's then clear that Phythian was stating their opinion that they would expect a laptop that cost £1000 to last at least 5 years, and they were not stating this was a term of the SOGA.

fluffnutter

I think 80% of original price for a laptop that's been used for 14 months is a good deal. Plus laptops have been coming down steadily in price for years now, so 80% of a price over 12 months ago would certainly buy you the same spec (if not better) now.

Who's the company btw? It seems a good deal to me. Name and praise them!

moonrakerz

George_Michael wrote: »

If you had included the bit that I've highlighted in bold, it's then clear that Phythian was stating their opinion that they would expect a laptop that cost £1000 to last at least 5 years, and they were not stating this was a term of the SOGA.

You and Phythian can expect anything you want, the Law doesn't. That was what I said and THAT is what the Law says too ! I am afraid that your "opinion" just doesn't count in a Court of Law.

Statements such as the one I commented on originally, are just NOT what the Law says, OR implies, and just gives people completely the wrong impression of SoGA.

squeaky

Hi guys,

This question comes up quite often.

Can anyone point to a definition that lays out the law in terms readable by the layman, describing what is and isn't assessed, and which areas are ultimately argued in court and where "reasonable usage / refund" etc are explained?

It would be handy to have a FAQ on this for the sticky.

George_Michael

You and Phythian can expect anything you want, the Law doesn't

Wrong I'm afraid.
The law expects exactly the same as me and Pythian, and that is that the goods supplied are of a satisfactory quality and that they meet the standard that a reasonable person would class as satisfactory taking into account the price of the item concerned. (and this is almost word for word what is stated in the SOGA)

I think that most reasonable people would expect a £1000 laptop to have a usable life of at least 5 years.

SOGA.
For the purposes of this Act, goods are of satisfactory quality if they meet the standard that a reasonable person would regard as satisfactory, taking account of any description of the goods, the price (if relevant) and all the other relevant circumstances.

You and Phythian can expect anything you want, the Law doesn't. That was what I said and THAT is what the Law says too

So what does the law say then, and could you post a link to the legislation that shows this.

squeaky

I think that's where the confusion / debate arises here.

One person's reasonable is another person's unreasonable.

In SOGA I haven't been able to find anything that says depreciation should be scaled at this rate, or usage estimated at this percentage... so these things seem inevitably to come down to a matter of opinion. (If it is there somewhere - then my apologies for not finding it.)

And ultimately the validity of that opinion in that particlar case about that particular item is only likely to be decided in court. Yes/no?

George_Michael

And ultimately the validity of that opinion in that particlar case about that particular item is only likely to be decided in court. Yes/no?

Yes, if it ever got that far, I would assume that it would be the judge who decides the figure to be deducted for use the buyer has already had from the goods.