Consumer Protection Act Self-Assessment

1. Are your advertisements, quotes and sales claims truthful, so that nothing false, misleading or deceptive is said or implied about your goods, prices or services?

(CPA ss 29, 41)

2. Do you display a price for every item or service you advertise for sale, and charge no more than the displayed price?

A retailer must not display goods for sale without a price, and must not charge more than the displayed price (or the lowest, if several are shown). A price with an inadvertent and obvious error does not bind you once you correct it and take reasonable steps to tell customers. (CPA s23)

3. If you advertise a sale or a reduced price, is the reduction real, and is the period of the offer and any limit on stock made clear?

(CPA ss 23, 29)

4. Do you avoid high-pressure, harassing or unfairly persuasive selling, and avoid taking advantage of a consumer who cannot properly protect their own interests?

(CPA s40)

5. If you sell by direct marketing (phone, door to door, email or messaging), do you let people opt out, avoid contacting them at unreasonable times, and keep your list lawful under POPIA as well?

(CPA s11, POPIA s69)

6. Do you give consumers a five business day cooling-off period on direct-marketing sales (unless the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act applies instead), and refund within 15 business days?

The consumer may rescind a direct-marketing transaction without reason or penalty within five business days of the later of the agreement and delivery. You must refund within 15 business days of the notice, or of getting the goods back. (CPA s16)

1. Are your contracts, terms and notices written in plain language that an ordinary consumer, with average literacy and little experience of what you sell, could understand without undue effort?

The Act tests plain language against an ordinary consumer in your intended group, looking at context, layout, vocabulary, sentence structure and aids such as headings and examples. (CPA s22)

2. Are the terms that limit your liability, make the consumer take on risk, require them to indemnify you, or ask them to acknowledge a fact brought clearly to their attention before they agree?

These terms must be drawn to the consumer's attention in a conspicuous, plain way, before the transaction, with a fair chance to understand them. (CPA s49(1))

3. If an activity or facility carries an unusual risk, or a risk of serious injury or death, do you point out its nature and effect and get the consumer's signature or initials?

(CPA s49(2))

4. Have you checked your standard terms for unfair, unreasonable or unjust terms, and for terms the Act prohibits, such as ones that waive the consumer's rights under the Act?

(CPA ss 48, 51)

5. If you sell on fixed-term agreements, do you tell the consumer in good time before expiry, and avoid automatic renewal that disadvantages them?

The Act limits fixed-term consumer agreements and requires notice before expiry. Check the current maximum term and notice period. (CPA s14)

6. Do you give consumers a written record of each transaction showing your name, VAT number (if any), address, the date, a description of the items, unit prices and quantities, and the total with tax shown?

(CPA s26)

1. Do you deliver goods or perform services on the agreed date and time (or within a reasonable time if none was agreed), at the agreed place and at your own cost for delivery?

(CPA s19)

2. Do goods stay at your risk until the consumer accepts them, and can the consumer examine them on delivery?

(CPA s19)

3. Do your goods meet the standard of being safe, of good quality, free of defects and fit for their purpose?

(CPA s55)

4. If goods fail the quality standard within six months of delivery, do you repair, replace or refund at the consumer's choice, at your cost?

Within six months of delivery the consumer may return goods that fail the standard, and the supplier must repair or replace them, or refund the price, at no cost to the consumer. (CPA s56)

5. Do your price tags, labels and packaging accurately describe the goods, including any required trade description or labelling?

(CPA s24)

6. If you sell reconditioned, used or grey-market goods, do you say so clearly?

(CPA s25)

7. If you are a producer, importer, distributor or retailer, do you understand you can be liable for harm caused by unsafe goods, whether or not you were negligent, and have you checked your product liability cover?

(CPA s61)

1. When you undertake a service, do you complete it on time, give timely notice of unavoidable delays, and perform it in a manner and quality people are generally entitled to expect?

(CPA s54(1))

2. If you need goods to do the work, are they free of defects and of the expected quality, and do you return a consumer's property in at least as good a condition as you got it?

(CPA s54(1))

3. If a service falls short, do you remedy the defect or refund a reasonable part of the price, as the extent of the failure warrants?

(CPA s54(2))

4. Do you have a simple way for consumers to complain, and do you answer within a reasonable time and without retaliating against someone who asserts their rights?

(CPA ss 68, 69)