70 - Consumer guarantees & warranties - what you must understand

Consumer Guarantees vs Warranties: Refund Policies, ACCC Enforcement, and What’s Changing in the ACL

Melissa Bush explains Australian Consumer Law consumer guarantees and how they differ from voluntary warranties, stressing guarantees apply automatically, can’t be excluded, and may outlast warranty periods. She outlines key guarantees for goods and services, who qualifies as a "consumer", and how remedies depend on minor versus major failures, including compensation for consequential loss. Using Mazda Australia’s $11.5 million penalty for wrongly insisting repairs were the only remedy, she highlights the risk of misleading representations. She lists ACCC-targeted statements found in a sweep of 2,000 retail websites (e.g., “no refunds", strict return windows, “final sale", “no returns on opened items", “out of warranty", or shifting responsibility to manufacturers), citing Koala Living penalties and proceedings against Mosaic Brands. She flags proposed ACL reforms to penalise simply refusing required remedies and provides a compliance checklist for policies, terms, signage, and staff training.

00:00 No Refunds Can Be Illegal

01:19 Show Intro and Disclaimer

02:26 Consumer Guarantees Explained

05:10 Guarantees vs Warranties

06:48 Major vs Minor Failures

08:21 Mazda Case Lessons

09:56 ACCC Targets Bad Policies

13:54 Law Reform on Enforcement

16:19 Compliance Checklist

18:23 Wrap Up and Resources