Faulty office chair consumer rights

lincroft1710

ForumUser7 said:

lincroft1710 said:

Judging by another post OP made they would have been no older than 16 when they purchased the chair.

ForumUser7 said:

I think I'm category M as I'm under 21

Apologies, but how is this relevant?

A contract with a minor (person under the age of 18 years) can be voided by the minor at any time before their 18th birthday. So if you had pursued the matter before you became 18, you could have got all your money back

Grumpy_chap

lincroft1710 said:

A contract with a minor (person under the age of 18 years) can be voided by the minor at any time before their 18th birthday. So if you had pursued the matter before you became 18, you could have got all your money back

OK - I had no idea that was the case, but REALLY????
There must be some restrictions.
Otherwise, every penny chew, lego brick, Corgi car, airfix plane, and whatever else I spent pocket money on as a child I could have got a full refund just before completing my ONC...
It'd certainly have been fun trying to enforce that...

user1977

Grumpy_chap said:

lincroft1710 said:

A contract with a minor (person under the age of 18 years) can be voided by the minor at any time before their 18th birthday. So if you had pursued the matter before you became 18, you could have got all your money back

OK - I had no idea that was the case, but REALLY????
There must be some restrictions.
Otherwise, every penny chew, lego brick, Corgi car, airfix plane, and whatever else I spent pocket money on as a child I could have got a full refund just before completing my ONC...
It'd certainly have been fun trying to enforce that...

Yes, I didn't think it included "ordinary" contracts which a minor would be expected to enter into (and I don't see why a teenager can't buy a chair...).

In any event I'm not sure how likely that would be to help the OP, as they'd still have had to return the chair and persuade the retailer to give a refund.

pinkshoes

ForumUser7 said:

pinkshoes said:

Consumer rights aside... do you not have a local repair shop that could fix it? 

Lots of pop up fix it shops where people do it for free as a hobby or a small donation.

As far as I’ve found, if it was the leather that needed a repair then local shops could do it. But no where seems to fix the pistons unfortunately.

It's just a mechanism part that can be replaced. You can buy a replacement piston quite cheaply online.

In our area we have a monthly pop up shop where usually old bored retired people who are good at practical stuff help every day people fix things rather than them being thrown away. Or ask for help on social media. Lots of people willing to help with things like this if you can't manage it yourself.

There are also Youtube videos showing you how to replace them. I've fixed many things thanks to YouTube videos!

lincroft1710

ForumUser7 said:

lincroft1710 said:

ForumUser7 said:

lincroft1710 said:

Judging by another post OP made they would have been no older than 16 when they purchased the chair.

ForumUser7 said:

I think I'm category M as I'm under 21

Apologies, but how is this relevant?

A contract with a minor (person under the age of 18 years) can be voided by the minor at any time before their 18th birthday. So if you had pursued the matter before you became 18, you could have got all your money back

Grumpy_chap said:

lincroft1710 said:

A contract with a minor (person under the age of 18 years) can be voided by the minor at any time before their 18th birthday. So if you had pursued the matter before you became 18, you could have got all your money back

OK - I had no idea that was the case, but REALLY????
There must be some restrictions.
Otherwise, every penny chew, lego brick, Corgi car, airfix plane, and whatever else I spent pocket money on as a child I could have got a full refund just before completing my ONC...
It'd certainly have been fun trying to enforce that...

Wish I'd known that at the time tbh. This article says https://www.netlawman.co.uk/ia/entering-contract-minor 'That means they are able to cancel any contract at any time before reaching the age of 18 and for a reasonable period after that time.' How long would you deem a reasonable period to be in this instance please? As @grumpy_chap highlights - it will not be easy to enforce in any way shape or form, but curious to know really.

"Reasonable period" is one of the worst phrases in UK legislation, as there is no legal definition. In your case I would not get your hopes up

RefluentBeans

lincroft1710 said:

ForumUser7 said:

lincroft1710 said:

ForumUser7 said:

lincroft1710 said:

Judging by another post OP made they would have been no older than 16 when they purchased the chair.

ForumUser7 said:

I think I'm category M as I'm under 21

Apologies, but how is this relevant?

A contract with a minor (person under the age of 18 years) can be voided by the minor at any time before their 18th birthday. So if you had pursued the matter before you became 18, you could have got all your money back

Grumpy_chap said:

lincroft1710 said:

A contract with a minor (person under the age of 18 years) can be voided by the minor at any time before their 18th birthday. So if you had pursued the matter before you became 18, you could have got all your money back

OK - I had no idea that was the case, but REALLY????
There must be some restrictions.
Otherwise, every penny chew, lego brick, Corgi car, airfix plane, and whatever else I spent pocket money on as a child I could have got a full refund just before completing my ONC...
It'd certainly have been fun trying to enforce that...

Wish I'd known that at the time tbh. This article says https://www.netlawman.co.uk/ia/entering-contract-minor 'That means they are able to cancel any contract at any time before reaching the age of 18 and for a reasonable period after that time.' How long would you deem a reasonable period to be in this instance please? As @grumpy_chap highlights - it will not be easy to enforce in any way shape or form, but curious to know really.

"Reasonable period" is one of the worst phrases in UK legislation, as there is no legal definition. In your case I would not get your hopes up

It’s a general phase because different contracts should be held to different levels, and making it general means it doesn’t limit anyone’s rights but means that there isn’t an unfair burden on businesses. It basically means only a judge or court can ever make a definitive judgement, which if you’re claiming this argument is probably fair.

Interestingly, this opens up another term that a lot of contracts seem to have - one that says by ‘creating an account/placing an order you agree to be over 18’. Whilst these terms can’t takeaway the rights given to minors, I do think it’d be interesting to see how a court would interpret this. The law is there with the good intention (and as a the logical consequence that people under 18 shouldn’t be held to ‘adult’ contracts, and so have more protections for the kids) - but to what extent should companies check someone’s age? 

Okell

user1977 said:

Grumpy_chap said:

lincroft1710 said:

A contract with a minor (person under the age of 18 years) can be voided by the minor at any time before their 18th birthday. So if you had pursued the matter before you became 18, you could have got all your money back

OK - I had no idea that was the case, but REALLY????
There must be some restrictions.
Otherwise, every penny chew, lego brick, Corgi car, airfix plane, and whatever else I spent pocket money on as a child I could have got a full refund just before completing my ONC...
It'd certainly have been fun trying to enforce that...

Yes, I didn't think it included "ordinary" contracts which a minor would be expected to enter into (and I don't see why a teenager can't buy a chair...).

In any event I'm not sure how likely that would be to help the OP, as they'd still have had to return the chair and persuade the retailer to give a refund.

If I recall correctly from my university days it isn't "ordinary" contracts that minors can be held to, but contracts for "necessities".  eg food and clothing.

I don't think an office chair is a "necessity", so the OP might have been able to unwind it at the time. 

(Of course if the OP had a spinal condition necessitating a special chair that might be different)

In any case. it seems too late now for the OP to argue any points about minority contracts...