Consumer Guarantees Act NZ: Your Rights, Guarantees, and Remedies

The Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 sets out the standards that goods and services bought from a New Zealand business must meet, and it gives you a remedy when they do not. It automatically applies to purchases for personal or household use from a trader, in a shop or online, without you having to ask for it or pay extra for it.

This is general information about New Zealand consumer law, not legal advice. For your situation, consult a lawyer or your local Community Law centre.

What the Consumer Guarantees Act covers

The CGA applies to goods and services you buy for personal, domestic, or household use from a business trading in New Zealand, including a purchase made online. It does not apply to a private sale between two individuals, such as a secondhand item bought directly from its previous owner rather than a dealer, and it generally does not apply to goods or services bought for resale or for use in a business, unless the business agreed in writing that the CGA would still apply.

The guarantees goods must meet

Goods you buy from a trader must be of acceptable quality: they must do what goods of that type are normally made to do, look acceptable, be free of defects, be safe, and last a reasonable time given the price and nature of the item. Goods must also be fit for any particular purpose you told the seller about, match their description, including a description used in advertising or online, and, if no price was agreed beforehand, be sold at a reasonable price.

The guarantees services must meet

A service, such as a repair, installation, or professional job, must be carried out with reasonable care and skill, be fit for any particular purpose you made known to the supplier, and be completed within a reasonable time. If you and the supplier did not fix a price in advance, the charge must be reasonable.

Getting a fault fixed: who chooses the remedy

The CGA splits remedies into two tiers depending on how serious the failure is.

For a failure that can be fixed and is not serious, the supplier chooses whether to repair the goods or service, replace the goods, or refund you, and must do so at no cost within a reasonable time. If the supplier will not fix the problem within a reasonable time, you can generally get it fixed elsewhere and recover a reasonable cost, or treat the goods as if the fault could not be fixed.

For a failure that cannot be fixed, or is of a substantial character, you choose the remedy, not the supplier. You can reject the goods and get a refund or a replacement, or keep the goods and claim compensation for the difference between what you paid and their reduced value. Either way, you can also claim compensation for other reasonably foreseeable losses the failure caused, such as damage the faulty item caused to something else.

Your rights cannot be waived

A business cannot exclude or limit its obligations under the CGA for a purchase the Act covers. A 'no refunds' sign, a store policy with its own return conditions, or a manufacturer's warranty that tries to replace your CGA rights with a narrower set of terms does not override the Act, and a business that tries to contract out of the CGA in this way can itself commit an offence under the Fair Trading Act. The only exception is a purchase for business use, where both parties can agree in writing that the CGA will not apply.

If the supplier will not sort it out

Start by putting your complaint to the business in writing and asking for a specific remedy. The CGA is self enforcing, meaning you take your own action rather than relying on a regulator to prosecute the trader on your behalf. If the business will not resolve a valid claim, you can take it to the Disputes Tribunal for a low cost, binding decision.

Related consumer law

The CGA is about a fault in the product or service itself. If the problem is instead that you were misled or given false information, see our guide to the Fair Trading Act. If you are not sure which law fits your situation, see Consumer Guarantees Act vs Fair Trading Act. For the full picture of New Zealand consumer law, visit the consumer law hub.