Exchanging Christmas gifts: These are your rights

Everybody has a story about that Christmas gift: that one that is so ugly or that you will never want or use. Why not exchange it? Or the expensive electronics that fail to emit a sound? Can you exchange it without a receipt?

Most stores will not give you too much trouble if you want to exchange a Christmas gift, especially if you do it in the week after Christmas. It will be even easier if you go to the store where the gift was bought, and even more so if you have the receipt. But who wants to ask for a receipt for a gift?

The Consumer Protection Act

Section 20 of the Consumer Protection Act gives you the right to return goods and receive a full refund if:

• the supplier has delivered goods ordered during direct marketing and you cancelled the agreement during the cooling-off period
• you did not have an opportunity to examine the goods before, and after you examined it to check the type and quality or, if it was specially made for you, if it conforms to the specifications and you reject it
• you have rejected a mixture of goods that contained goods you did not order
• the goods are not fit for the purpose you bought it (within 10 business days if you informed the store that it is not fit for purpose).

This means that you can return the electronics for another one that works.

According to Section 56, you can exchange goods that are unsafe or defective.

Goods that cannot be returned

You cannot return goods if it is prohibited by public health regulation. You can also not return goods that have been partially or entirely disassembled, physically altered, permanently installed, affixed, attached, joined or added to, blended or combined with, or embedded within, other goods or property.

Exchanges

You can usually only exchange goods if you have an invoice or receipt to prove you bought it. Fortunately, most big stores are happy to exchange goods shortly after Christmas without a receipt, unless it is something that was especially made for you.

If you want the money rather

When you return goods unopened in terms of Section 20, the store must refund you the full price paid for the goods, but the store can deduct a reasonable amount if it is in its original condition and repackaged in the original packaging for:

• use of the goods during the time it was in your possession, unless it is something usually consumed or depleted by use and it was not consumed or used or
• consumption or depletion of the goods is limited to a reasonable amount necessary to determine if the goods were acceptable
• necessary restoration costs to render the goods fit for re-stocking, unless you had to destroy the packaging to determine if the goods conformed to the description or sample if you could not examine it before delivery or were fit for the intended purpose.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.