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A Guide For Buyers Of Vaping Products
These tell you what you are entitled to expect by law and what come back you have with the vendor.
One of the important life-lessons I have learnt is that there is always someone smarter in the room (usually my wife) and that I am frequently wrong. It’s wise to remember this before making outlandish claims or exaggerating the problem. It’s no good telling them the atomiser took your arm off if, in reality, it only removed part of one finger.
As tempting as it is to send the vendor of your malfunctioning device a photograph of you, their favourite cuddly toy and a knife this should be reserved for the last roll of the dice. A proper law-type person would probably advise you not to do this either.
As humans we tend to treat people in the way we think they have treated us rather than how they think they’ve treated us. This can come as a shock to them, especially if you leap at them first thing in the morning from behind an email. Kicking off with threats of sending Esther Rantzen round and getting that funny Matt bloke from Rogue Traders involved will just provoke their primal fight or flight response.
If you consider your average vendor to be a simple-minded village dweller then you will know that to affect the best course of action is to talk softly, move slowly and maintain eye contact at all times. You can’t shout at a couple of century’s worth of inbreeding. (Well, you can but you may as well try holding your breath and standing on one leg.)
When graduating from Vendor School all candidates have to swear an oath to uphold the vendor’s code, which includes not adding ‘special things’ to your juice and to describe everything as giving ‘the best vape experience you will ever have, like, far better than from the thing we sold you last week. Honest.’
So, before breaking out the heavy guns, write a polite email/letter to your vendor explaining the problem clearly and asking them if they can do anything to help. This gives them a chance to solve the problem and keep your business. No animal faeces.
The Consumer Contracts Regulations 2014
These regulations came into effect from June, 2014, and they apply to any goods
- A vendor can not charge you for additional items with a pre-ticked box on their website
- You can cancel your order up to 14 days after receiving all of what you ordered
- You are entitled to a full refund within 14 days of cancelling the order
What Must The Vendor Provide?
- A true description of the goods
- The total price of the goods (not the price without tax added)
- The cost of delivery
- Details about who pays the cost of returning the items if you cancel
- Details about your cancellation rights
- A standard cancellation form (although you don’t have to use it)
- Their name, address and landline phone number
*Note: If the vendor has not provided any of these then you should seriously consider not buying from them as they are acting in breech of the regulations.
- If the vendor has failed to provide all of the details given you have up to a year to cancel your order.
- The information should be provided on paper with your order and/or by email confirming your order – it can be provided over the phone if this is how you are placing your order if they don’t then you have a year in which to cancel the contract.
*Note: These regulations do not apply to vendors outside the UK
Cancelling Goods
You are entitled to a refund
- Within 14 days of the vendor receiving the returned goods, or
- Within 14 days of you providing evidence that the goods have been returned
whichever is the soonest.
The vendor can make a reasonable deduction if your handling them has reduced the value of the goods.
This means you are allowed to take it out of the box to examine it. The vendor cannot make a deduction just because you removed it from the packaging.
The vendor only has to refund the value of their standard shipping cost not the value you paid if you chose to upgrade the delivery option (e.g. to next day/Saturday delivery).
14 days is the minimum period you can have to cancel the contract, the vendor can extend this if they want to in order to give you more time.
Delivery
- The order must be delivered in the timeframe agreed with the seller.
- If no timeframe has been agreed the vendor must ensure delivery ‘without undue delay’ and within 30 days.
- The vendor is responsible for the condition of the goods and therefore has to pack them appropriately.
Returning Faulty Goods
If the goods:
- Don’t work, or
- Don’t do what they are meant to do, or
- Don’t match the description/picture
Then you are entitled to return them.
*Note: You do not have to pay for the cost of returning goods if they have been delivered and are faulty.
The Sale Of Goods Act 1979
THE GOODS MUST BE AS DESCRIBED
- In the sales blurb on the website
- As shown in the picture(s)
- As orally described by the seller
- In any advert
THE GOODS MUST BE OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY
*Note, you cannot expect a clone to be built to the same standards or perform in the same way as a genuine item – this includes threading, o-rings, insulation and build material
*Note, unless the item is described as being suitable for sub-ohm use you cannot complain if the insulator melts
Satisfactory quality covers minor and cosmetic defects as well as substantial problems. It also means that products must last a reasonable time. But it doesn’t give you any rights if a fault was obvious or pointed out to you at point of sale.
THE GOODS MUST BE FIT FOR PURPOSE
An atomiser and mod are expected to do the job of an atomiser and mod under normal conditions. If you have modified them or tried to use them under water then all bets are off.
Fit for purpose covers not only the obvious purpose of an item but any purpose you queried and were given assurances about by the trader.
If you buy something which doesn’t meet these conditions you have the potential right to return it, get a full refund, and if it will cost you more to buy similar goods elsewhere, compensation (to cover the extra cost) too.
Note however that the right to reject goods and get a full refund only lasts for a relatively short time after which a buyer is deemed to have ‘accepted’ goods. This doesn’t mean that the buyer has no legal redress against the seller, just that he/she isn’t entitled to a full refund.
Instead a buyer is first and foremost entitled to have the goods repaired or replaced. If these remedies are inappropriate, then you’re entitled to a suitable price reduction, or to return the goods and get a refund (reduced to take account of any wear and tear).
Interestingly, the act covers second-hand items and sales. But if you buy privately your only entitlement to your money back is if the goods aren’t ‘as described’.
If goods which are expected to last six months don’t, it’ll be presumed that the goods didn’t conform to the contract at the time they were bought unless the seller can prove to the contrary. This could include batteries and VV/VW devices.
In all other situations it’s for the consumer to prove their own case (that is, that the problem existed at the time of the contract). This will prove more difficult the longer you’ve had the goods. Subject to this a consumer has six years from the time they buy something in which to make a claim irrespective of how long the goods actually last.
In summary
If you need further help then call in to your local Citizens Advice Bureau or look at their website, they will help clarify your position and what you can do.
Being unaware of your rights and responsibilities may result in an unsuccessful claim – even if it amuses everyone who reads about it on the internet.
