We bought an appliance (washing machine) for our household based on an online order. We did not extend the warranty period, so the normal two-year warranty applies. After a year and a half, the washing machine broke down. After the tedious process of reporting the fault through the seller’s call centre, we contacted a service person who diagnosed the problem and ordered a replacement electronic control panel for the washing machine as they didn’t have one in stock. It is now the 25th day since the fault was reported and the control panel has not yet been delivered. We regularly contact the service person every third day, but the answer is still the same – the panel has not arrived yet. We have small children and the fourth week without a washing machine is difficult for us, we take the laundry to our parents or ask our neighbours for help. What rights do we have if the control panel is not delivered within 30 days of the complaint? Can we ask the retailer to deliver a new washing machine on the 31st day? Or should we buy a new washing machine ourselves and ask for a refund for the broken one? And are we entitled to compensation for not being able to do laundry for a month?
You bought the washing machine for your household, so you have the status of a consumer and you enjoy all the rights that are currently regulated, in particular, by Slovak Act No. 250/2007 Coll. on Consumer Protection. Section 18 of the act clearly states that the processing of a complaint may not take longer than 30 days from the date of the complaint. It also stipulates that after the expiry of the period for processing the complaint, the consumer has the right to withdraw from the contract or to exchange the product for a new one.
This means that if the control panel is not delivered to you within 30 days and the service person does not come to install it successfully within those 30 days, you have two options. You can ask the retailer to deliver a new washing machine immediately on the 31st day, or you can inform the retailer that you are withdrawing from the contract. If you decide to cancel the contract, you can also ask for the faulty product to be taken away and for your money to be refunded. Your decision may depend on whether it would be quicker to have the faulty washing machine replaced by a new one from the original supplier, or to buy a new washing machine from another supplier. If you don’t have enough money at the moment to buy a new washing machine, and you don’t want to buy a washing machine on instalments or take out any other type of consumer credit, it may be better for you to insist that the retailer provides you with a new washing machine. As a reminder, if the original retailer provides you with a new washing machine in place of the faulty one, a new warranty period will start for that product.
We recommend that you inform the retailer in writing of your choice – i.e. whether you want the faulty washing machine replaced with a new one, or whether you want to cancel the contract and ask for a refund. Communication by e-mail is sufficient.
As far as the right to compensation is concerned, the Slovak Consumer Protection Act only gives you an express right to compensation for damage caused by a defective product. This is damage to the injured party’s health or life, or damage to something other than the defective product. However, the damage must have been caused by the defective product. Put simply, if the washing machine exploded and caused the damage, you would be entitled to compensation. However, in our opinion, you are not entitled to compensation for the cost incurred by not being able to use the washing machine (for example, the cost of dry cleaning or washing your clothes in a public laundry), nor are you entitled to reasonable compensation for the inconvenience of not being able to wash your clothes. This is because the law does not provide for such a claim and the general principles of damages cannot apply because the supplier has not breached any contractual or legal obligation.
The situation would have been different if the retailer failed to respond in any way after 30 days. That is, they would not resolve the complaint either by repairing the product or by responding to your choice, either by replacing the product with a new one or by refunding your money and taking away the defective product. In such a case, it would be in breach of its obligations and, if it had caused damage, it would be liable for that damage. So, if you continued to take your washing to the dry cleaner because of their inaction, you would be entitled to compensation. However, you would not be entitled to reasonable compensation for the inconvenience caused. The law does not give you such a right.
Currently, a completely new Slovak Consumer Protection Act is being drafted. It is a new comprehensive regulation of consumer rights, which also comprehensively amends the Slovak Civil Code and other laws related to consumer rights, such as the Slovak Advertising Act, the Slovak Banking Act, the Slovak Consumer Credit Act and the Slovak E-commerce Act. Based on this new law, the entire regulation of liability for defects in relation to consumers has already been transferred to the Slovak Civil Code, specifically to the amended the sections on Special Provisions for Consumer Sales Contracts (Sections 612 – 626). The proposed new wording of Section 623(1) is very important here: “The buyer has the right to choose whether the defect is to be remedied by replacing the goods or repairing them. The buyer may not choose a method of remedying the defect which is not possible or which would cause the seller disproportionately high costs compared to the other method of remedying the defect, taking into account all the circumstances, in particular the value the thing would have had without the defect, the seriousness of the defect and whether the other method of remedying the defect would cause the buyer considerable inconvenience”.
Put simply, when the new law comes into force (it is not yet clear when this will be, it has been proposed for 1 March 2024, but the bill is only at first reading stage), you will no longer have to wait to see if the seller can remedy the defect within 30 days under the warranty. You should have the right to decide immediately to exchange the defective product for a new one. However, this is not without its limits – you should probably not have the right to exchange for minor defects, as this would involve disproportionate costs for the seller. However, we believe that in cases such as yours, where the washing machine simply doesn’t wash (for example, it wouldn’t just be the washing machine door that doesn’t fit, causing a small leak), you should be able to have the product replaced or repaired immediately, rather than after thirty days. This may be more acceptable in your situation as you would not have to wait 30 days for the washing machine to be repaired. It is yet to be seen what the final wording of the new Slovak Consumer Protection Act is going to be and when it comes into force.
