Refunding Faulty Equipment

[JesseD]

Hi everyone

A couple of days ago I bought an electric skateboard from PC Home 24h, sold by Carscam, a local Taipei company. That company appears to buy electronic goods from China (Ali Baba etc) and then sell them locally.

It worked for less than a day and is now unable to turn on. I have contacted the company through their Facebook page, and they insist that I return it to them and they will repair it. I would like a refund, partly because I bought it largely for a trip around Taiwan in a couple of days (and they can’t repair it that fast) and partly because when they open it they will break the waterproof seal, which will probably never be as good afterwards. If it were old (even within warranty) I would accept a repair, but for a brand new product I think they should replace it or refund it.

So my question is: What rights do I have as a consumer? There are some discussion on rights to return if the customer changes their mind, including references to Article 19 of the Consumer Guarantees Act (https://law.moj.gov.tw/ENG/LawClass/LawAll.aspx?pcode=J0170001) but what if it’s faulty? Am I entitled to a refund, or do I need to accept that they repair it in their own time?

Any thoughts or experiences would be appreciated!

[keoni]

@JesseD

A couple of days ago I bought an electric skateboard from PC Home 24h, sold by Carscam

Ok, now on to the serious. Most places in Taiwan won’t refund a product after you open it. And especially not after you use it.

[JesseD]

Carscam.
Yeah I noticed that before I bought it. And I used the same joke on the 1-star Google review I just left them.
I think it’s actually ‘Cars Cam’, since they started selling camera products (for cars), but clearly they haven’t consulted a native English speaker in deciding their company name. And clearly it doesn’t affect their domestic business too much.
But my question is: What (if any) legal rights do I have for a refund on a faulty product? It stopped working within an hour of use.

[Marco]

Online purchases have the right to a 14 day return policy. Just ask PCHOME for a new one or money back.

[JesseD]

Thanks Marco. I emailed PC Home but wasn’t sure what the law was on refunds for faulty equipment was, and couldn’t find it online.

[Marco]

In-store, however, you’re on your own.

[JesseD]

To be honest I don’t have much sympathy for people who want to return things after changing their mind. So I can understand stores refusing refunds if the products are ok. But for a faulty good I think a refund should be a given, but I can’t find anywhere what the law says.
CarSCAM insists that they have a right to repair instead of replace, even if it affects the quality. So I’m hoping someone knows the law here.

[Charlie_Jack]

I’m not a Taiwan lawyer. I’m mostly just pasting some text here. I don’t know anything about online purchases, so I would advise taking @Marco’s advice. I’m just pasting this text to let the original poster know that Taiwan does appear to have laws that deal with the sale and purchase of defective things.

Immediately below is an English translation of Civil Code Article 354:

The seller of a thing shall warrant that the thing sold is, at the time when the danger passes to the buyer according to the provisions of Article 373, free from any defect in quality which may destroy or impair its value, or its fitness for ordinary efficacy, or its fitness for the efficacy of the contract of sale. However, if the extent of the impairment is of no importance, such impairment shall not be deemed to be a defect.

The seller also shall warrant that, at the time the danger passes; the thing has the guaranteed qualities.

Immediately below is an English translation of Civil Code Article 359:

When there is a defect in the thing sold for which, according to the provisions of the five preceding articles, the seller is responsible for a warranty, the buyer has the option to rescind the contract or to ask for a reduction of the price, unless in the case specified, that a rescission of the contract would constitute an obvious unfairness of the transaction the buyer is only entitled to ask for a reduction of the price.

Please note that at the beginning of the Chinese version of the Civil Code, there’s some sort of warning language in red type in Chinese, and there’s also a link to an older version of the Civil Code. However, the the old and new Chinese versions of Articles 354 and 359 appear to be identical.

I would add, as general information, that in the area of Articles 354 and 359, there also appear to be Articles that deal with the obligations of the buyer.

[JesseD]

Thanks very much Charlie Jack! That’s very helpful to know.

I would interpret “rescission of the contract” to be a refund, but time will tell. I have contacted PCHome 24h who I bought it through to ask them for a refund, since Carscam won’t give one.
I’ll post the results back here in case it’s of use to anyone else who gets something faulty from PCHome or falls for the CarScam.

[SuperS54]

@JesseD

So my question is: What rights do I have as a consumer?

@JesseD

Am I entitled to a refund, or do I need to accept that they repair it in their own time?

Go onto the PC Home website and use the return function, it’s under this link, find the product you want to return, tick the box, select a reason and it will automatically create a return label and a courier will pick it up from your address.

You need to do this within 7 days of purchase and you are supposed to have retained the original outer carton and all the product packaging.

As the device is faulty they will likely contact you by phone within a week asking what you want to do ~ they will try to push for a repair. Stick to your guns and say you don’t want the product and returned it within 7 days as per Taiwan’s consumer protection laws so give me my money back.

If you don’t have the original packaging it’s an issue and they will charge you for replacement packaging, how much you may be able to nego.

I had an issue with a Samsung Tablet I bought 2 months ago where the wifi function didn’t work correctly. Packed it all back up and returned within 7 days. They called and tried to have me accept it being sent to Samsung for repair, refused their offer. They then tried to charge 300NT as one of the warranty stickers that seal the box had been torn open rather than cut with a razor blade, no damage to the box just the sticker. Back and forth for 6 or 7 minutes, repeated to them that I was returning within 7 days as per my rights and if they wanted to charge 300NT for a sticker they’d need to send me photographs and the invoice from Samsung as I’d like to put the photo’s on Facebook, Insta, Twitter etc etc. I got a full refund with no sticker charge.

TLDR ~ Online purchases 7 day return rights no matter what the reason. Don’t bother calling etc. just click the return option in your customer center. Always keep all packaging and open carefully!

[JesseD]

Thanks SuperS54! That’s very helpful!

Fortunately, I was saving the boxes for the next move, so have them all on the balcony. The skateboard is obviously used (two minutes on Taiwan’s roads will make it look not new anymore) but I should have all the packaging. I’ll follow exactly what you did, but also accept a replacement with a new one (not a repaired one, mine or not).

Glad you got your refund in full!