Shoppers get their rights
Tuesday 1st September 2009, 3:00PM BST.
SHOPPERS will enjoy greater rights than ever before from today following the introduction of the most comprehensive consumer law in Jersey’s history.
All Jersey businesses must now comply with the new Supply of Goods and Services Law, which provides unprecedented protection for consumers.
The new legislation, which is based on UK law, forces firms to ensure that all goods they sell are of ‘satisfactory quality’ and services are provided with ‘reasonable care and skill’. It also covers private sales, such as the buying and selling of cars.
It is the first time that consumers in Jersey have been protected by a comprehensive law in cases where they believe they have been treated unfairly or dishonestly. Previously, lawyers have had to refer to 19th century texts to provide only a limited degree of protection for shoppers.
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This new law plus the ability to shop online at major UK retailers will help tremendously in allowing islanders to have the same level of choice as has been enjoyed in the UK for years.
All we need is a UK supermarket now to further enhance the choice – don’t think they’ll let us though.
Think twice – shop online!
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Not before time.This was simple to bring in,why
not years ago.Just the Jersey Way,talk about it
for 30 years until we are one of last countries
then and only then bring forward thinking so called into play.They will now spend years patting themselves on the back’
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As I believe has been said elsewhere, the new law does not really change very much at all.
Jersey has always had customary law which gives a remedy for unsatisfactory goods or for services carried out without reasonable care and skill. It is all in the case law!
What the new law has achieved is two fold. Firstly, it has made the largely pre-existing position accessible in the form of a coherent code and has raised awareness of the same.
Secondly, it has given the appearance of politicians doing something for a change. For the reasons set out above, this is an illusion. The legislature hasn’t really passed anything which wasn’t already there.
We now wait with “bated breath” [perhaps for another 10 years or so] to see what happens with regard to unfair contract clauses. This again is subject to case law but is not readily accessible to the man on the street. It is a pity that the recent activity did not cover this area, particularly given the extraordinary time taken, time which would almost certainly would have been much, much shorter had an item of finance industry law been under consideration.
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thats rigt (2)
it took them about 20 years to let mccdonalds in
All talk and no action is what they are good at.
philip ozoef promised us another supermarket about 4 or 5 years ago,we are still waiting….
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Forgive my cynicism, please, but does our all-singing, all-dancing new consumer protection law match up to its UK counterpart?
Or have our political masters been to Westminister and done a “pick and mix”?
As always: let the buyer beware!
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Too little – too late, after years of being ripped off i will continue to buy everything that i can from off Island !!!
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I agree with ‘Happy at Last’ # 2. This legislation is long over due. Now the States need to ensure the Trading Standards Department have the where with all to police this law and bring offenders to book.
In the U.K. Trading Standards Officers often bring prosecutions against people who sell bogus
and defective goods……let’s see what happens in Jersey.
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Only 30 years too late. Why is it Jersey can be fairly up to date on certain issues, especially if it is to do with finance, for example, but lag way behind on basic things like consumer protection and human rights?
Indeed Keith buying on line can save a packet and why is that one has to ask? More and more people are buying online to help make ends meet in an ever increasingly costly island to live in. Someone must be making a good profit out of these high prices over here, luckily for the customer they now have the ability to cut out the expensive middleman and shop direct.
The tired, lame, old excuse of “economies of scale…” just makes me laugh.
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Supermarkets Supermarkets and much more, is this only a dream.
keep shopping on line.
Buy everything off the island until they keep their promise and give us some real choice.
I don’t believe it.
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You have to shake your head with disbelief.
I visited town for the first time in six months today & it truly resembles a “GHETTO”.
How these shops are surviving with there designer labels and ridiculous prices is beyond me.
That said,there seemed to be a lot of shops closing down.Perhaps they havent realised the 1980,s is long gone when designer goods were fashionable.
As for the subject of GST set to double, just who will be buying local???
Jerseys on a “slow” mission of destruction.
Does anyone care to save her???
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With the greatest respect the so-called T. S. Dept is another example of the toothless bulldog!
their answer to everything is Caveat Emptor, so they admit they have no powers.
Perhaps someone should approach the UK Gov. about all those companies in Jersey that defraud the UK
customs and excise by charging VAT and using it to boost their profit margins!!!
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About time something was done about these so called buy one get one free as well.
many times i have been charged for both items till i pull the staff up about it,only to be told sorry and given my money back.
not good enough as if this happens in uk you are given your money back also the items as well.
but here they use the dubious excuse that the shelf stackers are to blame for putting items in wrong place,or the office have put wrong bar code on.they would never get away with this practice in uk as it is misleading the customer. but hey this is jersey where anything is fair game.
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Mogit # 11. Are Trading Standards personnel properly qualified officers, who are members of the Trading Standards Institute?
Will the new legislation create criminal offences as exist in the U.K.?
If the Trading Standards Department don’t use their new powers – presuming they have any – then what is the point of Trading Standards?
I am going to use Google to see if I can get a briefing on the new law…let’s hope it gives Trading Standards some teeth.
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“…if this happens in uk you are given your money back also the items as well.”
Tell me where, Bella, I will go and stock up!
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uk 20% cheaper than jersey before vat so shop in jersey … not me check it out its called the internet
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Are congratulations in order?
It has taken the mighty power of the States 20 years or so to effectively rubber stamp UK leglislation again.
It will not take them nearly so long for GST to be increased to UK levels (or above) and in the nature of Jersey history of independence they will not allow any exemptions. What a proud day that will be for Jersey politicians…
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#rozel(14)
AS the supermarkets are to blame and should update their offers and change if incorrect they have a legal duty to customers to compensate if they display offers that no longer exist.many times over the years when i have bought offers in the uk that finished a day before but had,nt been changed or was a mistake they always gave you your money back plus the item,as they were in the wrong and you could take them to the trading standards.
morrisons always did this when they were here even if you bought the items weeks ago all you needed was your shopping list.
only last week while waiting at a till a lady had bought some flowers the week before with buy one get one free and when she got home found she had paid £3.99 twice.
i told her to pull them up about,she said she did,nt want to make a fuss about it.this seems to be the norm here people are not making enough fuss just moan about it and do nothing.
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magnoila man(5) buyer beware, does” caveat emptor” still stand in jersey, maybe clown advocate can tell us please.
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DB at 18; please excuse the essay but, if interested:
Under the old customary law, the following provide examples of the terms which were implied into contracts:
1. A contractor is obliged to do work undertaken in good time, to do it well and to use materials with reasonable care: Osmand v. Wessex Roof (Jersey) (Royal Ct.), 1991 JLR N–6
2. A purchaser of an item such as a secondhand car or a horse may not complain of defects discoverable by reasonably careful inquiry: Newman (née Prince) v. Marks (née Parris) (Royal Ct.), 1985–86 JLR 388. This left the seller responsible for any defect which is not reasonably discoverable. In the context of a secondhand car, if the apparently sound engine were to go “bang” at a later date, there would normally be redress against the vendor.
Under the new statute terms are implied regarding which include:
• a presumption that goods are of satisfactory quality if they meet the standard that a reasonable person would regard as satisfactory, taking account of any description of the goods, the price for them (if relevant) and all other relevant circumstances;
• If the seller supplies goods under a contract of sale of goods in the course of a business or privately, the seller warrants that the goods supplied under the contract are of satisfactory quality except in the case where any matter making the quality of goods unsatisfactory is such that, where, the buyer examines the goods before the contract is made, that the examination ought to reveal; or
• Under a contract of sale of goods by description, the seller warrants that the goods will correspond with the description.
• the person warrants that the goods supplied under the relevant contract of sale of goods are reasonably fit for that purpose, whether or not that is a purpose for which such goods are commonly supplied, except if the circumstances show that the buyer does not rely, or that it is unreasonable for the buyer to rely, on the skill or judgment of the person in respect of that fitness.
• If the seller sells goods under a contract of sale of goods otherwise than in the course of a business, the seller warrants that the seller has disclosed to the buyer all defects in the goods that render the goods not of satisfactory quality, being defects of which the seller is aware.
• In a contract for the supply of a service, if the supplier is acting in the course of a business, the supplier warrants that he or she will carry out the service with reasonable care and skill.
The term “caveat emptor” only ever existed in Jersey Law where the buyer could and should have satisfied himself as to any defect on a reasonable inspection and, even then, generally only in a private context.
One thing worth noting is the matter of what is called a guarantee. Retailers will use the guarantee as a selling point but will subsequently use it to escape liability for defective goods. As an example, a quality car will usually come with a 3 year warranty but, in order to be fit for purpose, should last somewhat longer than 3 years. The fact that the warranty expires after 3 years does not mean that the dealer can avoid responsibility for a major defect. Of course, this does happen and it is to be hoped that the public will now be more aware that this is not correct and that there is comeback!
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many thanks, clown advocate.
interesting about the warranty, you would think that you would have to follow the service history, as opposed to not servicing it.(a motor car)
also someone thrashing what has been sold to them and asking for their money back.
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The matter of how someone has treated goods which then prove defective wwould indeed be relevant to whether the seller was under any obligation to repair or replace.
the point is that a guarantee cannot be used to limit libaility. It exists in addition to the rights which a consumer has at law.
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“…if this happens in uk you are given your money back also the items as well.”
Only in Tesco’s I believe.
Was in Jersey for our usual 2 week holiday and we stayed in a hotel just bed and breakfast so had to buy food we usually go half board we found the food to be really expensive,thought the price of bread was a joke at home we can pay anything from 50p to £1.25 for a large wholemeal loaf depend on brand even from the bakery outlets,we found M&S being the cheapest while we were in Jersey to be honest I don’t shop for food from M&S at home too expensive. As for tourism loses I believe the Hotels are overpriced I love Jersey but ……….
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As a priority for our government,take GST off shipping and transport costs now, on goods shipped from the UK.This is unfair to consumers and especially small retailers, whose added shipping costs on small scale pallet loads of goods to this captive island economy,effectively negates much of the savings on VAT.Shipping and transport does not “add value” to imported goods, which we entirely depend on, as an island with no choice but to ship and endure extra transport charges.GST on shipping and transport must be removed and levied only on the basic cost of goods, which would still attract GST and save Customs and Excise officers considerable extra paperwork in levying GST charges on those transport costs.
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