What Constitutes 'Satisfactory Quality'?

samsmoot

Under Sale of Goods regulations, what does satisfactory quality mean?


An online seller provided a refund for goods, but not for postage both ways. I thought I should also get postage costs back, and they did that for me after I emailed them.


But if they hadn't done the refund of postage I would have asserted whatever legal rights I had - and so was wondering if I had any under the circumstances, which were that the jacket I bought had a rubbish zipper. It was tiny and concealed, like a dress zipper but upside down, and with my eyesight hard to do see and do up. So small and fiddly and awkward that they really shouldn't have used it for a jacket.


Is that too subjective? Even with good eyesight the zipper was so awkward to grip and put together that I think most would have struggled with it. So it's a bad design, basically.


Theoretically, could I have won in court if I needed to have made a claim?

DoaM

Was there any mention of the zipper in the product description?

samsmoot

No mention of zipper.


It was from Beyond Retro - looked like a 'promotional' or badged item for a company. So quality at the time of making was probably not that crucial.

bris

No the zip is subjective, what you don't like others do.


Did they mention how deep the pockets were, or how big the cuffs were, no so why mention the zip.

shaun_from_Africa

samsmoot wrote: »

Under Sale of Goods regulations, what does satisfactory quality mean?

It means that the goods must be of a quality that a reasonable person would find satisfactory taking into account the price paid, the description given and the use for which they are intended.

hollydays

Why couldn't you just return it under their free returns policy?

samsmoot

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

It means that the goods must be of a quality that a reasonable person would find satisfactory taking into account the price paid, the description given and the use for which they are intended.

Thanks - yes, I did just now consider the £13 price tag and realised that for the price paid I couldn't really justify saying the jacket was unsatisfactory for the price. Had I paid £30 I think it may have been different.

samsmoot

hollydays wrote: »

Why couldn't you just return it under their free returns policy?

I thought I did but when I checked the listing (which was for a different size and was sold out) it was marked as 'SALE', and they don't do free returns on sale goods.


I'd recommend the company though - lots of nice styles at good prices, and customer service sorted me out quickly.

JJ_Egan

Sale of Goods Act no longer applies .
See stickies.