Basic consumer rights

The basic law regarding consumer rights in Turkey is the Law No. 6502 on the Protection of the Consumer. The law was adopted on 7 November 2013 and entered into force in 2014, 6 months after its adoption. In our article, we will provide information on how consumer rights can be protected in practice within the scope of the Law and the regulations issued for implementation.

First of all, we will consider the concept of consumer. consumer in law; It is defined as “a natural or legal person acting for commercial or non-professional purposes”. In other words, the consumer; A natural or legal person who buys a good or service for his own use. The condition is that the goods or services you receive are not used for commercial purposes.

Addressee and transaction are important concepts in law. The simplest business relationship is to buy a commodity and then sell it. This is a minimal two person relationship. The definition of consumer defines one of the addressees, and we reveal the other side from the expression under the title of “consumer transaction” in the Law. Those who act for commercial or professional purposes or act on behalf of them in the goods or service markets are expressed as the other addressee. A trader with a very general definition.

Here, we call all kinds of contracts and legal transactions, including contracts of work, transportation, brokerage, insurance, power of attorney, banking and similar, established between these two interlocutors, the consumer and the merchant. The subject of our article is the rights of the consumer within the scope of consumer transactions.

Well, I am a consumer, I made a consumer transaction, in this case, the Law gave the answer to the question of who is my legal addressee. The seller, the importer and the manufacturer are the addressee of the consumer as jointly responsible in the Law. In other words, when you encounter a consumer problem, you can forward your complaint and request to any of these three. We will also explain which of these depends on what kind of demands.

Now let's look at the application. You are a consumer and you have purchased a good or service. You encountered a defect (defect) in the goods or services you received, what can you do? Let's make it more concrete, you went to a store, bought a computer to use at home, and when you went home, you realized that the computer you bought was not in the features you wanted, what should you do in this case? At this point, we need to explain the concepts of breach of contract and defective goods. In the law, the bearer goods are defined as “the goods that are in violation of the contract at the time of delivery to the consumer, because they do not conform to the sample or model agreed upon by the parties, or do not have the characteristics that they should have objectively”. However, this is a general definition, if we open the definition;

Does not carry one or more of the features included in its packaging, label, introduction and user manual, internet portal or advertisements and advertisements;

Contrary to the quality declared by the seller or determined in its technical regulation;

Does not meet the intended use of the equivalent goods,

Goods that contain material, legal or economic deficiencies that reduce or eliminate the benefits reasonably expected by the consumer are considered defective.

Again, there is a breach of contract for the goods that are not delivered on time, not properly assembled and assembled incorrectly.

At home, we opened the packaging and started the device. We are waiting, it does not open, we watch the hourglass. Or it is turned on, but there is a very small shaded part on the screen. If you are wondering, you will find out the reason for this shadow by typing on Google, but you press the "g" key on the keyboard, it does not write, there is a lack of contact, you will have to press hard. Let's say you press the "g" key hard, you said it's okay, but then you noticed that the battery of the device was "depleted" after 15 minutes. Your enthusiasm has gone, hasn't it? All of these issues we mentioned are handled within the concept of defective goods. The consumer often evaluates this within the concept of "breakdown". What should we do in this situation? The law has defined time limits for you to exercise your rights. The law says; “Defects that appear within six months from the date of delivery are deemed to exist on the date of delivery.” These first six months are important because it has to do with the rights we will be using.

In case the goods are found to be defective, the consumer can use their optional rights in the Law. The elective rights of the consumer are regulated in Article 11 of the Law as follows:

-Returning from the contract by declaring that it is ready to return the sold item,

- Withholding the sold item and requesting a discount from the sales price at the defect rate,

- If it does not require an excessive cost, to request free repair of the sold item at the seller's expense,

If possible, he can use one of his optional rights to request that the sold product be replaced with a non-defective one.

The seller is obliged to fulfill this demand preferred by the consumer. Among these rights, free repair or replacement of the goods with a non-defective one can also be used against the manufacturer or importer. Seller, manufacturer and importer regarding the fulfillment of these rights I am severally liable.

I present to your attention that the rights we will use here are “optional”. So you have the right to choose or not to choose any of these rights. The addressee, ie the seller, the importer or the manufacturer, cannot force you to choose any of these rights. You just bought the computer and the computer starts later than normal, the battery is discharged in a short time or there is a stain on the screen, you sent your complaint to the seller and you said that you want to return my computer, return from the contract, get my money back, the seller insists that you send it to the service and we will fix it. The law does not allow this. No, it says you will fulfill the consumer's demand. What we see in practice is that a device with a malfunction or a fault should be sent to the service. There is no such requirement. However, it should be noted that the consumer can use these optional rights within the first six months. So the screen stain appeared in the 7th month, what can we do? In this case, we need to explain the concept of warranty period. The warranty period and the statute of limitations are set as 2 years in the Law. The law has determined the responsibility of the seller, importer and manufacturer for the defects of the goods sold for 2 years.

If we used our rights other than free repair in the first six months, it's fine. We get our fee back, we get a discount or the device is replaced with a double (same) and our loss of rights is compensated, but if we want a free repair, that is, if we send the device to the service, a different situation may arise. If the consumer has used the right to repair from the mentioned optional rights, he can also use his optional rights other than free repair in case the product fails again within the two years of the warranty period. This right can also be exercised in cases where the maximum time required for the repair of the device, which is 20 working days, is exceeded or it is understood that the repair is not possible. The seller cannot refuse the consumer's request. If this request is not fulfilled, the seller, the manufacturer and the importer are jointly and severally liable.

The maximum repair period starts from the date of notification of the defect related to the goods to the authorized service station or the seller within the warranty period, and from the date of delivery of the goods to the authorized service station outside the warranty period. Consumer failure notification; telephone, fax, e-mail, registered letter with return receipt and the like.

When we examine the responsibility of the authorized services we send for repair, if the requested repair service is not provided within the required time (20 working days) and as requested, then a defective service will occur. This time, we can claim our right that we have directed to the seller, manufacturer and importer against the service.

You have used one of your optional rights, but your addressee has not fulfilled your request, in this case, there are two places you can go: Consumer Arbitration Committee and Consumer Court. For applications, a monetary limit that changes every year is mentioned in the Law. In applications to be made to the Consumer Arbitration Committees for 2021, District Consumer Arbitration Committees will be applied for disputes with a value below 7 550 TL, and Provincial Consumer Arbitration Committees for disputes between 7 550 TL and 11 330 TL in provinces with metropolitan status. If your demands above these amounts are not fulfilled, a mediator will be sought first, and if a solution cannot be found, an application will be made to the Consumer Court.

Provincial consumer arbitration committees will be authorized within the provincial borders, and district consumer arbitration committees will be authorized within the district borders. In the districts where a consumer arbitration committee is not established, the consumer arbitration committee determined for that district by the Ministry will be in charge. Applications can be made to the consumer arbitration committee where the consumer is located or where the consumer transaction is made. If a consumer arbitration committee has not been established in the district where the application can be made, consumers will be able to go to the district governor's office and make their applications. It's even easier, you can go to your e-government page and apply to the consumer arbitration committee.

After stating these general provisions, I will give some brief information about consumer rights that I think will be useful:

Except for the warranty period of the goods, the consumer cannot be charged under any name in case of a repetition of the same fault within one year regarding the assembly, maintenance and repair services provided by the service stations.

In the event that a part of the product that is not required to be sold with a warranty certificate is replaced or sold by the service station outside the warranty period, a warranty period of not less than six months is given for the replaced or sold part.

In case one of the rights to replace the goods with a non-defective one is chosen, this request must be fulfilled within a maximum of thirty working days after it is addressed to the seller, manufacturer or importer.

In cases where the consumer chooses the right to withdraw from the contract or reduce the defect rate, the entire price paid or the amount of the discount made from the price is immediately returned to the consumer.

Unfair terms in the contracts concluded with the consumer are final.

In other words, the seller cannot put a clause like “the buyer will not use the consumer rights, the buyer will not want to change” in the sales contract with the consumer.

The seller cannot avoid the sale of the goods, which he has displayed on the showcase, on the shelf, electronically or in any clearly visible place, unless he includes a statement stating that it is not for sale.

All costs incurred due to the exercise of optional rights are borne by the party that fulfills the right chosen by the consumer. In other words, if you are going to send the device to the authorized service, the shipping costs are covered by the service.

In addition to one of these optional rights, the consumer may also demand compensation in accordance with the provisions of the Turkish Code of Obligations No. 6098 for compensation for the loss incurred due to not being able to use the goods. This claim for compensation is made to the Court.

 The receipt or invoice does not replace the warranty certificate (an issue that is not taken into account in practice, companies also accept the invoice), however, the warranty certificate for the devices you purchased should be obtained and dated, stamped and signed at the time of purchase.

 In this article, we talked about consumer rights in the most general framework. There are also special regulations in the law for residences, consumer loans, timeshare properties and vehicles. The issues mentioned in our article are situations that you will encounter frequently in your daily life. I recommend keeping this article close at hand.