You break it, you buy it? NOT according to the law in South Africa
While the phrase is widely known, is it a lawful practice? Consumer journalist Wendy Knowler breaks it down.
Photo: Pixabay/Hans
Anele and The Club (on 947) speak to consumer journalist Wendy Knowler.
Listen below.
Producer Ryan and his wife picked up a heater over the weekend.
However, their daughter mistakenly knocked it over and it broke before they could pay.
While Ryan wanted to go ahead and still buy the heater, his wife said absolutely NOT.
She wanted him to swap the broken heater for a new one before checking out.
While the phrase ‘you break it, you buy it’ is widely known, are you lawfully liable?
According to the Consumer Protection Act, no, unless you did it on purpose.
“Under a section called the Consumer’s Right to Examine Goods, a consumer is not responsible… unless the loss or damage is the result of negligence, recklessness or malicious behaviour.”
- Wendy Knowler, Consumer journalist
But what exactly constitutes gross negligence?
“I would say, if you walked into a store wearing a giant backpack and it knocks things off… completely unsupervised kids knock some things over… they could say that was negligent. It’s really on a case-by-case basis.”
- Wendy Knowler, Consumer journalist
The price of the goods could also determine the case. There is a difference between a R27 glass and a R6000 camera lens.
Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the interview.