COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE (LIABILITY FOR DEFECTS, WARRANTY, COMPLAINTS)
This complaints procedure is governed by the corresponding provisions of the Civil Code, as ammended and by the Act No. 250/2007 Coll., on consumer protection and on the Ammendment of the Act of the National Council of the Slovak Republic No. 372/1990 Coll., on offences as amended in the case of liability for defects and the application of liability for defects in goods sold and services provided.
1. The seller shall be liable for defects of the goods and the buyer shall promptly file a complaint to the seller in accordance with the current complaints procedure. The warranty period for the products sold is determined by the general law – the Civil Code in force at the time of sale.
2. The current complaints procedure determins the processing of warranty claims. By sending an order to the seller, the buyer confirms that he was properly informed about the conditions and means of warranty of the goods and about filing a complaint and performance of warranty repairs in accordance with the provisions of § 18 (1) of the Act No. 250/2007 Coll., on consumer protection and on the Ammendment of the Act of the National Council of the Slovak Republic No. 372/1990 Coll., on offences as amended (hereinafter referred to as the “Act”).
3. The complaints procedure concerns the goods purchased by the buyer from the seller in form of an electronic purchase on the internet site of the seller’s electronic shop or by electronic mail or otherwise.
4. The complaints procedure in this form is valid for all retail cases, unless different warranty conditions were negotiated by a contract.
5. The buyer has right to claim warranty from the seller only for goods that show defects caused by production, delivery or the seller, for those which are subject to warranty and were purchased from the seller.
6. The buyer shall inspect the goods upon receipt of the goods. Upon discovery of a defect in the goods, he may make claims for defects discovered during this inspection. During the warranty period, the consumer has the right to have the defect rectified free of charge by presenting the goods including accessories to the seller together with the warranty certificate (if issued), proof of purchase of the goods – one of the documents is sufficient.
7. If the goods are defective, the consumer has the right to file a claim at the seller’s premises in accordance with the provisions of § 18 (2) of the Consumer Protection Act by e-mail or telephone.
8. The complaint procedure for the goods that can be objectively presented to the seller begins on the day when all of the following conditions are met:
a. The claimed product was filed by the customer to JTECHNIK, Ltd., Poľnohospodárska street, 322/20, 911 06 Trenčín, CRN 47 013 770.
b. a proof of purchase has been submitted to the address above together with the defective product – a cash receipt (invoice), a warranty certificate, if issued – one of these documents is sufficient, the name and address of the consumer, or a telephone contact, a precise description of the defect of the goods, or how the defect of the goods occurred.
9. A sample complaint protocol is available below:
The consumer fills in the columns a-g in the complaint protocol and sends it to the seller by electronic mail or post.
10. The beginning of the complaint procedure is also the day when the complaint was submitted. The buyer submits the claimed goods to the seller’s registered office or to the place specified in this complaint procedure /point 8.a./. The seller is obliged to accept the complaint in any establishment where receiving the complaint is possible, i.e. at his place of business in accordance with the provisions of § 18 (2) of the Act on Consumer Protection (hereinafter referred to as the Act)
11. In the place designated for receiving complaints, the seller is obliged to ensure the presence of a person authorized to handle complaints in accordance with provisions of § 18 (3) of the Act No. 250/2007.
12. The buyer demands responsibility for product defects from the seller without undue delay.
13. On the day of receipt of the complaint, the seller issues to the buyer a document of receipt of the complaint in written form, e.g. in the form of e-mail or in writing, in which he is obliged to accurately mark the defects of the goods in accordance with provisions of § 18 (5) of the Act 250/2007.
14. If the consumer files a complaint, the seller or an employee authorized by him or a designated person is obliged to inform the consumer about his rights according to the general regulation based on the consumer’s decision, which of these rights the consumer applies, he is obliged to determine immediately the method of handling the complaint according to Act No. 250/2007 § 2 letter m), in complex cases no later than 3 working days from the day the complaint was submitted, in justified cases, especially if a complex technical evaluation of the condition of the product or service is required, within 30 days from the day of the complaint submission. After determining the method of processing, the complaint is processed immediately, in justified cases, the complaint can be processed later; however, processing of the complaint may not take longer than 30 days from the date the complaint submission. After the expiry of the deadline for processing the complaint, the customer has the right to withdraw from the contract or has the right to an exchange of the product for a new product.
15. The buyer does not claim warranty for errors that the seller informed him/her about at the time of concluding the contract.
16. The buyer’s right to claim the warranty with the seller expires by:
a. not presenting a proof of payment (the buyer is recommended to secure and keep a copy of the proof), a delivery note or a warranty certificate /if it was issued/ – one of the listed documents or accessories is sufficient
b. expiry of the warranty period of the goods,
c. mechanical damage to the goods caused by the buyer,
d. using the goods in conditions that do not correspond with the natural environment due to their humidity, chemical and mechanical effects,
e. unprofessional handling, service, or neglect of the care of the goods,
f. damage to the goods due to excessive loading, incorrect storage, incorrect handling, or use of the goods in contrary with the conditions specified in the documentation, general principles, technical standards or safety regulations valid in the Slovak Republic,
g. damage to the goods due to unavoidable or unforeseeable events,
h. damage to the goods due to accidental destruction and accidental deterioration, other unprofessional intervention, damage during transport, damage by water, fire, static or atmospheric electricity or other force majeure, unauthorized intervention into the product.
17. The seller is obliged to handle the complaint and end the complaint procedure by the following:
a. handing over the repaired goods,
b. exchange of goods,
c. reimbursement of the purchase price of the goods,
d. paying a reasonable discount on the price of the goods,
e. a written request to take over the specified performance by the seller ,
f. justified refusal of warranty claim of the goods.
18. The seller is obliged to issue a written document to the buyer about the handling of the claim no later than 30 days from the date when the complaint was filed.
19. The warranty period is 12 months (for natural and legal persons) or 24 months (for private persons) from the date of conclusion of the purchase contract, except for products on which the warranty period is indicated by the expiration date, or the period of usability, or the period of minimum durability. The warranty period is extended by the time during which the buyer could not use the goods due to the warranty repair of the goods.
20. In case of exchange of goods for new, the buyer will receive a document on which the exchanged goods will be indicated, and any further complaints can be submitted based on the new delivery note and this complaint document. In the case of goods exchange, the warranty period starts again from the receipt of the new goods.
21. In case of a rectifiable defect, the complaint will be dealt with in the following way:
a. the seller will ensure the removal of the defect, or
b. the seller will replace the defective product with a new one, identical to the returned product
22. If it is a defect that cannot be removed, or a repetitive removable defect, or a larger number of different defects that can be removed, and which prevent the goods from being properly used as without defect, the seller will process the complaint by:
a. by cancelling the purchase contract, or at the customer’s request by exchanging the goods for other functional goods with the same or better technical parameters, or
b. if the seller is unable to exchange the goods, he will handle the complaint by issuing a credit note for the defective goods.
23. For the purposes of the complaint, the occurrence and removal of the same removable defect more than twice is considered as a repetitive removable defect.
24. For the purposes of the complaint, the occurrence and removal of more than two different removable defects is considered to be a greater number of different removable defects.
25. If the seller ends the complaint procedure as a legally justified rejection of the complaint, but according to the consumer, the product defect objectively exists and has not been removed, the Buyer can exercise his right to remove the product defect through the court.
26. The warranty does not cover improper installation, or non-compliance with the procedure specified in the instructions for assembly, maintenance and use – for products where such a procedure depends on the nature of the product.
27. Instruction for the consumer: (1) If it is a defect that can be removed, the buyer has the right to have it removed free of charge, in a timely and proper manner. The seller is obliged to remove the defect without undue delay. (2) Instead of removing the defect, the buyer may demand the replacement of the product, or if the defect concerns only a part of the product, the replacement of the part, if this does not incur disproportionate costs for the seller considering the price of the product or the severity of the defect. (3) The seller can always replace the defective product with a flawless one instead of removing the defect, if this does not cause serious difficulties for the buyer. (4) If it is a defect that cannot be removed and which prevents the product from being properly used as a defect-free product, the buyer has the right to exchange of the product or to withdraw from the contract. The same rights apply if the defects can be removed, but if the buyer cannot properly use the product due to the reappearance of the defect after repair or due to a larger number of defects. (5) If there are other non-removable defects, the buyer has the right to a reasonable discount from product price.
Alternative Dispute Resolution
a) The consumer has the right to contact the seller with a request for correction, by e-mail to: info@sklucovadlo.sk, or in writing to the address: JTECHNIK, Ltd., Poľnohospodárska street 322/20, 911 06 Trenčín, Slovakia, if he is not satisfied with how the seller processed his complaint or if he believes that the seller has violated his rights. If the seller responds negatively to this request or does not respond to it within 30 days since it has been sent, the consumer has the right to submit a proposal to initiate an alternative dispute resolution to the alternative dispute resolution entity (hereinafter referred to as the ADR entity) according to Act No. 391/2015 Coll. ADR entities are authorities and authorized legal entities according to §3 of Act No. 391/2015 Coll. The proposal can be submitted by the consumer in the manner determined according to §12 of Act No. 391/2015 Coll.
b) The consumer can also file a complaint through the alternative dispute resolution platform, which is available online at http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/index_en.htm.
c) Alternative dispute resolution can only be used by a consumer – a natural person who, when concluding and fulfilling a consumer contract, does not act within the scope of his business activity, employment or profession. Alternative dispute resolution only applies to a dispute between a consumer and a seller, resulting from a consumer contract or related to a consumer contract.
Alternative dispute resolution applies only to contracts concluded at a distance. Alternative dispute resolution does not apply to disputes where the value of the dispute does not exceed 20 EUR. The ADR entity may demand a fee payment for starting an alternative dispute resolution from the consumer, up to 5 EUR including VAT.