Apply consumer goods standards and remedies
Connect quality, purpose and description to the Consumer Rights Act's staged remedies.
Section 3.2.2 · Consumer goods/service terms and remedies
Exam scope and assessment notes
A Level · section 3.2.2. Original educational scenarios about the law of England and Wales, checked on 14 October 2026. Model answers are formative reasoning, not advice about a real dispute, Cambridge marks or predicted grades. Read the exact statute, case and exam-year source where a rule is disputed or changes. A larger annotated authority bank, full unseen papers and specialist law-teacher review remain outstanding.
Before you begin
- Read a short source carefully and separate its rule from the facts
- Explain which element a fact supports and what is still uncertain
Work on paper. Try each question before revealing help, and explain why your method works.
Quick readiness check
What should a legal problem answer connect?
What you will learn
- Apply CRA sections 9, 10 and 11
- Distinguish short-term rejection, repair/replacement and final remedies
Identify the covered supply and breach
A trader supplies goods to a consumer acting wholly or mainly outside their trade or business. Section 9 requires satisfactory quality judged by a reasonable person with relevant factors such as description and price. Disclosed faults and qualifying prior examination affect the rule. Section 10 concerns a particular purpose made known where reliance is relevant; section 11 concerns conformity with description. A goods problem can engage more than one standard.
Use the actual defect and facts: a kettle unable to boil water raises quality and ordinary-use concerns; a specially requested compatible device may raise particular-purpose reliance. CRA goods remedies should not be confused with a general right to change one's mind or with the distinct distance-selling cancellation scheme.
Choose the stage and remedy
Sections 20 and 22 generally provide a 30-day short-term rejection period starting after the relevant delivery, ownership/possession and installation conditions; perishable goods and repair-related pauses can alter the period. Later faults do not automatically eliminate all rights. Section 23 provides repair or replacement, subject to impossibility and disproportionate cost, within a reasonable time without significant inconvenience and at the trader's expense.
Section 24 permits appropriate price reduction or final rejection under specified conditions, including failure after one repair or replacement, unavailability of both, or failure to provide the remedy in the required time without significant inconvenience. A final rejection refund can be reduced for use in qualifying circumstances; special rules include motor vehicles. Check the exact section rather than promising an unconditional full refund for every defect at any time.
Sources for this lesson
Pause and explain
Does expiry of the short-term rejection period automatically remove every CRA remedy?
Worked example
A new kettle supplied by a trader to a household cannot boil water, and the consumer rejects it ten days after qualifying delivery. Explain the route.
Show the worked solution
- Identify trader/consumer supply.
- Connect the defect to satisfactory quality.
- Apply the short-term rejection period and notification.
Answer The facts support a section 9 defect and timely short-term rejection, assuming the statutory starting conditions and rejection requirements are met. The consumer need not automatically accept an endless repair sequence before using that timely right.
Try a topic test
Choose Easy, Normal or Difficult. Save your answers and open worked review after finishing.
Test this topic →From guided practice to a new situation
Write your answer and reasoning first. Use a hint only if you are stuck. The model solution is for self-checking; your written work is not automatically marked.
Guided: Link the kettle's defect to the standard and remedy.
Give me a hint
Separate breach from timing.
Compare my reasoning
- Identify inability to perform ordinary use.
- Apply satisfactory quality.
- Locate rejection within the relevant period.
The kettle's inability to boil supports a satisfactory-quality breach. Rejection after ten days can use the short-term route if the relevant supply, timing and notice conditions are met; breach and remedy must each be explained.
Look for these in your work
- Uses defect
- Uses quality
- Checks timing
Independent: Goods remain defective after one completed repair. Identify the next statutory question.
Give me a hint
Do not demand unlimited attempts.
Compare my reasoning
- Confirm continued non-conformity.
- Apply section 24's qualifying conditions.
- Examine price reduction or final rejection and refund rules.
Continued non-conformity after one completed repair can trigger section 24's price-reduction or final-rejection route. The chosen remedy and any lawful deduction for use still need the precise facts and statutory rules.
Look for these in your work
- Uses failed repair
- Uses final route
- Preserves refund limits
Application: A consumer simply prefers another colour although conforming goods were bought in a shop. Can the faulty-goods scheme alone prove a refund right?
Give me a hint
Establish breach before selecting its remedy.
Compare my reasoning
- No quality, purpose or description breach is stated.
- The faulty-goods scheme needs relevant non-conformity.
- Check separate contract policies or other rights if applicable.
A change of preference alone does not establish a CRA faulty-goods remedy. Any return entitlement would need a separate contractual policy or another applicable legal basis, rather than an invented defect.
Look for these in your work
- Identifies no breach
- Separates preference
- Checks separate basis
Common mistakes
- Treating 30 days as the lifetime of all rights
- Merging faulty-goods and change-of-mind rules
- Promising every final refund without deductions
What can you explain now?
Does expiry of the short-term rejection period automatically remove every CRA remedy?
Compare with the explanation
No
Repair/replacement and qualifying final remedies remain distinct statutory routes.
After trying it yourself, choose your next review. This is your self-assessment.
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Make it stick
Does expiry of the short-term rejection period automatically remove every CRA remedy?
If you needed the solution, close it and solve the problem again from a blank page. A correct answer is stronger when you can explain the reason for each step.