Warranty and guarantee

The consumer protection authority is responsible for monitoring compliance with information and administrative requirements concerning the handling of consumer warranty and guarantee claims. It also has wide-ranging powers to deal with unfair commercial practices in relation to warranties and guarantees. However, as a general rule, it is for the courts or the arbitration board to decide on the merits of warranty and guarantee claims by consumers, or to settle consumer disputes out of court.

In the following, the most important information on warranty and guarantee is presented to help you understand your rights and distinguish between them.

Warranty

Warranty means the seller's responsibility for defective performance. In the case of a contract between a consumer and a business, the consumer's claim for ancillary liability expires two years from the date of performance, of which the burden of proof is on the business for the first 6 months, with a special rule for the sale of goods, where the burden of proof is on the business for the first 1 year. By burden of proof we mean who “bears” the burden of proving that the defect in the goods existed at the time the goods were supplied. The defect must be notified without delay after its discovery. In the case of a contract between a consumer and a business, a defect communicated within two months of its discovery shall be deemed to have been communicated without delay.

Both warranty and guarantee claims are based on defective performance. Defective performance is when the product does not meet the quality requirements laid down by law or by the contract at the time of performance. Defective performance can only be considered to exist in the case of latent defects, and therefore warranty and guarantee claims can only be made for latent defects that were not identifiable at the time of purchase.

The consumer can claim for defective performance in two steps, with a total of four types of rights of warranty.

Step 1: As a general rule, the consumer can ask for the product to be repaired or replaced. The business must endeavour to carry out the repair or replacement within a maximum of 15 days. (As regards replacement, it should be noted that the consumer is obliged to accept only a product which is identical in terms of its characteristics, properties or other features.)

Step 2: the consumer can exercise the right of price reduction or the right of cancellation. The consumer can exercise these rights ( again at the consumer's choice) if the seller has not undertaken to repair or replace the goods or has not done so within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience to the consumer, or if the consumer's interest in repair or replacement has ceased.

Product warranty

Also worth mentioning is the product warranty, which is a direct, warranty-like responsibility of the producer to the consumer for a defect in the product (persons who are not consumers do not have this right). The consumer can only claim for repair or replacement as a product warranty. The manufacturer is under a product guarantee for two years from the date on which the product is placed on the market.

Guarantees

Guarantees are a more extensive form of liability for defective performance: a person who guarantees the performance of a contract (voluntary guarantee) or is legally obliged to do so (mandatory guarantee) is liable for defective performance during the period of the guarantee under the terms of the legal declaration or the law establishing the guarantee. The obligation to provide a guarantee is discharged if he/she proves that the cause of the defect arose after performance.

The guarantee period depends on the sale price of the product, therefore the duration of the scaled guarantee is as follows:

• two years for a sales price of HUF 10 000 but less than HUF 250 000,

• three years for a sales price of HUF 250 000 or more.

In the case of a guarantee, the burden of proof remains with the undertaking throughout the duration of the guarantee.

In the case of products covered by the mandatory guarantee, the consumer has the same basic rights as above - repair, replacement, price reduction and cancellation - but additional, specific rules have been introduced.

The business must provide the consumer with the guarantee certificate in a form which ensures that the content of the guarantee certificate is legible until the end of the guarantee period.

If the first repair of the goods shows that the goods cannot be repaired, the undertaking must replace the goods within eight days, unless the consumer has agreed otherwise.

If it is not possible to replace the goods, the undertaking must reimburse the consumer within eight days for the price indicated on the guarantee voucher or, failing this, on the proof of payment of the price of the goods presented by the consumer.

Should the goods fail again during the guarantee period after being repaired three times, the undertaking must replace the goods within eight days, unless the consumer has agreed otherwise. If it is not possible to replace the goods, the undertaking must reimburse the consumer within eight days for the price indicated on the guarantee voucher or, failing this, on the proof of payment of the price of the goods presented by the consumer.