Amendment 11 seeks to protect the consumer if a faulty installation puts them at risk by giving them an immediate right to a full refund without having to accept a repair first. The amendment is about domestic situations and people’s homes. It is about permitting the consumer in certain circumstances, where there is a risk to them, not to have to go through one repair before they have a right to a full refund.
There will be circumstances where it is not appropriate to have a repair done first. When I mentioned to a colleague who was here earlier the example of an attempt to install a dishwasher where a trader has caused enormous flooding, she said, “Oh, you mean they shouldn’t have the chance to come back and flood it a second time?”. I thought that my noble friend Lady Drake got it in one.
Other examples might be an electrician who has come to install a new shower and wires it up to an electric light bulb rather than to the mains, which could produce interesting results, or a gas engineer who has made a complete mess of a new boiler installation and caused a gas leak. Such instances will leave the consumer thinking, “I actually don’t want these people back. They don’t know what they’re doing. I want them out of my house before they do any more damage and I want my money back so that I can get someone trustworthy in here to install something”.
Under the Bill as it is, the trader can say, “No, sorry, you can’t have your money back. I’ve got to come back and mend it and you’ve got to give me the chance to sort it out”. There will undoubtedly be times when that is not appropriate. The amendment would provide great clarity for both parties and allow a customer to say, where there is a risk, “I’m sorry, as a consumer I don’t trust you. I don’t want you back in my house and I want my money back”.
I know that the Minister in the Commons was sympathetic when this issue was discussed there, but she argued that the amendment was unnecessary because, in those circumstances, the consumer retains the option to seek damages for the unsatisfactory goods or installation and the trader cannot enforce the right to repair. However, that option of seeking damages is not what this Bill is about. It would involve the consumer instigating legal action; it is complicated; it is a little frightening; it is expensive and uncertain; and, in particular, it is quite lengthy. If it involved your shower or dishwasher, and you needed it the next day, being told that you can go to court does not quite answer the point.
Consumers share our approach to this issue. We know that, in a survey, four out of 10 people thought that consumers should not have to give the trader the chance to sort out the problem. Given that the Bill tries to make this very clear, and if it is the consumer’s expectation, it would be much better that we keep it
out of the courts. We should make it clear that where someone has put a resident a risk, they should be able to have a full refund rather than have to go to court.
The Bill allows that right to reject under Clause 24 only after the consumer has given the trader one shot at repair or replacement. The amendment would change that. We are talking only about residential premises and those areas of risk. I beg to move.
5.15 pm