A reader wrote to us regarding a smartphone case:

I bought a smartphone case at a phone-accessories store in a shopping mall in Bolesławiec. It was an accessory for a phone that had been given as a gift to a man, so the color matched the gender of the person receiving the gift. It turned out that the gift was defective (the case, that is)—just ordinary junk.

The woman went to the store with the receipt to file a complaint about the product:

The lady offered to exchange it for another case because... there are no refunds. The replacement cases offered were a different type, and in red and gold. For a man?

But the lady would not return my money because she could not...

The complainant added:

An attempt to contact the owner was impossible—the gentleman does not answer the phone. I was left with a defective product that is fit only for the trash.

We asked the district consumer ombudsman what could be done in such a situation. Waldemar Sawicki:

The product should be claimed under the statutory warranty for non-conformity with the contract. The legal basis is Article 556 et seq. of the Civil Code, i.e. the so-called statutory warranty for defects.

Pursuant to Article 560 §1 of the Civil Code: “If the item sold has a defect, the buyer may submit a statement requesting a price reduction or withdrawal from the contract, unless the seller immediately and without excessive inconvenience to the buyer replaces the defective item with one free from defects or removes the defect. This restriction does not apply if the item has already been replaced or repaired by the seller, or if the seller has failed to fulfill the obligation to replace the item with one free from defects or to remove the defect.”

The ombudsman adds:

Under the applicable law, the seller has 14 days to consider the complaint and a further “appropriate” period to resolve it. For everyday-use items, this is generally understood to mean an additional 14 days.

It is obvious that these time limits do not bind the seller when it comes to resolving the matter sooner, which can lead to a positive future response from customers. If the seller recognizes the complaint as justified, a little goodwill may allow the matter to be settled “on the spot,” for example by exchanging the product for a fully functional one (the same model), if it is in stock, or by refunding its price.

In the case described, the seller proposed other solutions, which the customer was not required to accept—and did not accept. As a result, the complaint procedure described in the aforementioned provisions of the Civil Code was initiated.