We intend through this article to expose some considerations related to the guarantee and post-sale services of consumer goods that consumers demand from sellers.
Traditionally, the sale and purchase of personal property has been a one-way contract. This means that it refers to an economic relationship that is consumed in a single act (the exchange of the good for the price), so that once this exchange has been carried out, the interested parties do not have to keep in touch or maintain a lasting contractual relationship. Classical Civil Law has always used this scheme of sale and purchase, and has only slightly qualified it by introducing in the contract of sale, some accessory obligations for the parties that survive some time later.
These are called "sanitation" obligations, intended on the one hand to compel the seller to be responsible for the hidden defects that the good sold had and that appeared within six months of the sale, and on the other hand to be responsible for the loss of the property of the property once sold, but because of a right on it that existed prior to the sale.
As can be seen, classical Civil Law created norms that were not intended to be applied to situations such as those found today in consumer contracts. These are situations of mass trafficking, in which a company can carry out thousands of purchases in a short time, and in which there is no prior or subsequent social relationship between buyer and seller. To this we must add that the goods that are sold are increasingly complex, incorporate more sophisticated components and are more complicated to use.
These circumstances would invite in itself to reflect on the adequacy of the classic rules of sale to face the purchases that consumers often make, but there are other even more important factors that force the extension of the relationship between consumer - buyer and businessman - seller, after the sale has been exchanged.
Economic growth in first-world countries has long been based on domestic demand. However, on many occasions, the goods that are offered have high prices that, combined with the technical complexity of the property itself, can discourage those who want to purchase it. This is where the law is forced to intervene to provide security.
What kind of security? Link the seller or manufacturer to the contract beyond the delivery of the good, in rigid terms, so that potential buyers think that if there is a problem with what they have bought, they can go to the seller to take charge of the solution. The primary function of the Guarantee and After-Sales Service Standards offered by sellers and manufacturers is to increase the feeling of security that consumers experience when buying a good, so that they do not shy away from doing so due to the risks that may entail if the intended result is not achieved.
This sense of security supports the growth in demand for high-priced complex industrial goods.
Both the Insurance and the Guarantee are institutions that are articulated on the same ideas: risk, loss, damage and coverage.
The guarantee rules and the after-sales service contracts must contemplate the following eventualities: define what risks it refers to (personal accident, damages, death, theft, among others), in what terms the insurer assumes that risk (duration of the insurance, notification of the accident, among others.) and what negative consequences of the risk the insurer is obliged to alleviate for the benefit of the insured (fixing compensation, reparation obligations, others).
The risk is defined by the malfunction of the property, there are deadlines and conditions that must be met in order for the guarantor to be responsible for the solution, and his obligations as the person responsible must be clearly defined.
The guarantee rules therefore work like insurance, and they say to the buyer: "You can buy safely, that if something goes wrong, someone will take responsibility." But at the same time they say to the guarantor, who can be the seller or the manufacturer: "do not sell yourself, or do not manufacture anything, because if something goes wrong you are going to have to take responsibility." In conclusion, they try to create a safe and demanding market.
Bibliography Consulted
Law No. 59/87, Cuban Civil Code.
Resolution 247/03. Dictated by the Ministry of Internal Trade, approving and putting into effect the «General Indications for Warranty and Post-sale Services for Household, Electronic, Minor Appliances and others».
Law 03/23. "Law on Guarantees in the Sale of Consumer Goods" issued by the Spanish State.
