The Consumer Rights Act 2015 is the UK law that sets what you can expect when you buy goods, digital content, or services from a business, and what you can demand when something falls short. It gives you automatic quality standards that the contract cannot water down, and a structured order of remedies: reject and get a refund, ask for a repair or replacement, or claim a price reduction. It applies whenever a trader sells to a consumer, and it replaced a patchwork of older statutes including the Sale of Goods Act 1979 and the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982.1Legislation.gov.uk. Consumer Rights Act 2015
Who Is Covered
A trader is any person acting for purposes related to their business, trade, craft, or profession, whether directly or through someone acting on their behalf. A consumer is an individual acting for purposes wholly or mainly outside their own business.2Legislation.gov.uk. Consumer Rights Act 2015 – Section 2 That “wholly or mainly” wording matters. Buy a laptop mostly for personal use and dip into a bit of freelance work on it, and you still count as a consumer. Buy stock for your shop and you do not.
The Act does not cover private sales between two individuals, and it does not cover purchases you make in the course of running your business. Those fall under different rules.
Faulty Goods: The Quality Standards
Every contract for the sale of goods automatically includes a term that the goods must be of satisfactory quality, meaning the standard a reasonable person would consider acceptable given the price and any description.1Legislation.gov.uk. Consumer Rights Act 2015 The law looks at appearance and finish, freedom from minor defects, safety, and durability. A budget item is judged less harshly than a premium one, but even cheap goods must be safe and reasonably functional.
If you told the trader about a specific purpose before buying, the goods must be reasonably fit for that purpose. That protection falls away only if you did not actually rely on the trader’s judgment, or if it was unreasonable to do so.3Legislation.gov.uk. Consumer Rights Act 2015 – Section 10 Goods must also match any description you were given, whether on packaging, in an advert, or in conversation, and match any sample or display model you were shown.
These terms cannot be excluded by the contract. Wording like “sold as seen” or “no refunds” does not override your statutory rights on faulty goods.
Your Remedies for Faulty Goods
The Act sets remedies in a specific order. You start with the strongest option and move to alternatives if the first does not resolve things.
The 30-Day Right to Reject
Your first option is the short-term right to reject, which lasts 30 days. The clock starts the day after all three of these have happened: ownership or possession has passed to you, the goods have been delivered, and the trader has completed any required installation.4Legislation.gov.uk. Consumer Rights Act 2015 – Section 22 For perishable goods, the window is shorter and tracks the reasonable life of the product.
To reject, you only need to make clear to the trader that you are rejecting the goods and treating the contract as ended. There is no required form. An email, letter, or verbal statement is enough.5Legislation.gov.uk. Consumer Rights Act 2015 – Explanatory Notes – Section 20 You then make the goods available for the trader to collect, and reasonable return costs including postage fall on the trader.
The refund must arrive within 14 days of the trader accepting you are entitled to it, in the same form as your original payment unless you agree otherwise. No processing fees.5Legislation.gov.uk. Consumer Rights Act 2015 – Explanatory Notes – Section 20
One detail catches people out. If you ask for a repair or replacement during the 30-day window, the clock pauses while you wait and resumes when you get the goods back. If the item still is not right, you get at least seven more days to reject from the date the waiting period ends.4Legislation.gov.uk. Consumer Rights Act 2015 – Section 22
Repair or Replacement
After 30 days you move to the second tier: the right to request a repair or replacement. The trader must carry out whichever you choose at no cost to you, covering labour, materials, and postage, and must do so within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience.6Legislation.gov.uk. Consumer Rights Act 2015 – Section 23
You cannot insist on one remedy if it is impossible or disproportionately costly compared to the other. Once you have asked for a repair, you must give the trader a reasonable time to complete it before switching to a different remedy, unless waiting would cause you significant inconvenience.6Legislation.gov.uk. Consumer Rights Act 2015 – Section 23
Price Reduction or Final Right to Reject
If one attempt at repair or replacement fails, if the trader does not complete it in a reasonable time, or if both remedies are impossible, you reach the final tier. You choose between keeping the goods with a price reduction, or rejecting them entirely for a refund.7Legislation.gov.uk. Consumer Rights Act 2015 – Explanatory Notes – Section 24
If you exercise the final right to reject within six months of delivery, the trader must give you a full refund. After six months, the trader may apply a reasonable deduction for the use you have had. Motor vehicles are the exception: the trader can deduct for use even within the first six months.7Legislation.gov.uk. Consumer Rights Act 2015 – Explanatory Notes – Section 24
The Six-Month Presumption
If a fault appears within six months of delivery, the law presumes the goods did not conform to the contract on the day they were delivered. The trader has to prove otherwise.8Legislation.gov.uk. Consumer Rights Act 2015 – Section 19 In practice, the burden of proof sits with the business for that period.
After six months, the presumption flips. You would then need to show the defect was present or developing at the time of delivery, which can mean an independent inspection or expert report. The presumption also does not apply where it would be incompatible with the nature of the goods or the type of fault.
Digital Content
The Act treats digital content as its own category. It covers software, apps, games, e-books, streamed music, and film.9Legislation.gov.uk. Consumer Rights Act 2015 – Chapter 3 The quality standards mirror those for goods: digital content must be of satisfactory quality, fit for any particular purpose you made known, and match its description.10Legislation.gov.uk. Consumer Rights Act 2015 – Section 34
These protections apply when you pay for the content, and when it comes bundled with something you paid for, such as firmware pre-loaded on a device. If the content is genuinely free and not tied to a paid purchase, the quality standards do not apply, with one exception: the trader is still liable if free digital content damages your device or other digital content you own.
Remedies for Digital Content
The remedy structure is slightly different. You have the right to a repair or replacement, followed by the right to a price reduction if repair or replacement fails or is not completed within a reasonable time.11Legislation.gov.uk. Consumer Rights Act 2015 – Section 42 There is no short-term right to reject digital content outright. The six-month presumption applies here too.
If Digital Content Damages Your Device
If digital content supplied by a trader damages your device or corrupts other digital content you own, and reasonable care and skill would have prevented it, you can require the trader to either repair the damage or compensate you. The repair must happen within a reasonable time. Any compensation must be paid without undue delay and within 14 days of the trader agreeing you are entitled to it.12Legislation.gov.uk. Consumer Rights Act 2015 – Section 46 This applies whether or not you paid for the digital content.
Services
Every contract for a trader to supply a service automatically includes a term that the work must be performed with reasonable care and skill.13Legislation.gov.uk. Consumer Rights Act 2015 – Chapter 4 The benchmark is a competent professional in the relevant field. A plumber who leaves a joint leaking has breached that standard.
Anything the trader says or writes to you about the service, before or after the contract is made, becomes a binding term if you took it into account when deciding to go ahead or in later decisions about the work. That covers verbal promises, emails, and advertising claims.14Legislation.gov.uk. Consumer Rights Act 2015 – Section 50 Where the contract does not set a price, you must pay a reasonable price. Where it does not set a timeframe, the work must be done in a reasonable time.
Remedies for Substandard Services
If the service falls short, your first remedy is a right to repeat performance. The trader must redo the work as needed at no extra cost, within a reasonable time, and without significant inconvenience.15Legislation.gov.uk. Consumer Rights Act 2015 – Explanatory Notes – Section 55
If repeat performance is impossible, not completed in a reasonable time, or would cause significant inconvenience, you are entitled to a price reduction. The reduction should reflect the difference in value between what you paid for and what you actually received, and in the worst cases can be the full price. Any refund arising must be paid within 14 days of the trader agreeing to it, in the same form as your original payment, without any fee.16Legislation.gov.uk. Consumer Rights Act 2015 – Explanatory Notes – Section 56
Delivery and Risk
Unless you and the trader agreed a specific delivery date, the trader must deliver without undue delay, and in any event within 30 days of the contract being made.17Legislation.gov.uk. Consumer Rights Act 2015 – Section 28 If that deadline is missed, your next step depends on how important the timing was.
You can treat the contract as ended immediately if the trader has refused to deliver, if delivery by the agreed time was essential given the circumstances, or if you told the trader before the contract was made that timely delivery was essential. Otherwise, you must give the trader a further reasonable period before you can cancel.17Legislation.gov.uk. Consumer Rights Act 2015 – Section 28 Cancel, and the trader must reimburse all payments without undue delay.
Risk sits with the trader until the goods are in your physical possession or with someone you specifically nominated to receive them. A parcel damaged in transit is the trader’s problem. The trader cannot shift this liability onto you through the contract.
Contract Terms That Don’t Bind You
Part 2 of the Act regulates the terms in consumer contracts and notices. A term is unfair if it creates a significant imbalance in the parties’ rights and obligations, to the detriment of the consumer, contrary to the requirement of good faith. An unfair term does not bind you, though the rest of the contract survives if it can stand without it.18Legislation.gov.uk. Consumer Rights Act 2015 – Part 2
Written terms must be transparent and use plain, intelligible language. The Act sets out a “grey list” of terms likely to be considered unfair, including excessive cancellation charges, terms that let the trader change the contract unilaterally, automatic renewal clauses you were not properly told about, and terms limiting the trader’s liability when things go wrong.
Some terms are outright banned. A trader cannot exclude or restrict liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, whether through a contract term or a notice such as a sign in a shop.19Legislation.gov.uk. Consumer Rights Act 2015 – Section 65 Being aware of such a term does not count as voluntarily accepting the risk. Terms trying to exclude the statutory quality rights described above are also unenforceable.
Enforcing Your Rights
Start with the trader. Put your complaint in writing, reference the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and state clearly what remedy you want. Most disputes end here, because traders know the law is against them once a fault is established within the relevant windows.
If the trader refuses, alternative dispute resolution is the next step. Many industries have ombudsman schemes or mediation services, and some traders are required to tell you which ADR scheme they belong to. For claims up to £10,000 in England and Wales, or £5,000 in Scotland, the small claims track of the county court is built to handle these disputes without a solicitor.
On the public enforcement side, local trading standards authorities and the Competition and Markets Authority both have investigatory powers under the Act. Trading standards can take action against traders who persistently breach consumer rights, and the CMA can apply for court orders to stop businesses using unfair contract terms.20Legislation.gov.uk. Consumer Rights Act 2015 – Schedule 3 Problems can be reported to trading standards through the Citizens Advice consumer helpline, which acts as the gateway.