Consumer rights in case of poor quality work

When to go to court so as not to miss the statute of limitations?

The statute of limitations for claims due to inadequate quality of work under a contract is one year. For buildings and structures, the period is three years.

The limitation period begins from the day the company announced the defects. This rule works if the law or the contract establishes a warranty period and the customer has stated that the defects are within its limits.

The limitation period for defects discovered within the warranty period must be calculated from the moment of such discovery. The courts will not satisfy claims filed outside this period if the opponent declares this.

When there is no warranty period established for the result of the work, the customer has two years to make claims against the contractor. If the customer misses this time, he will no longer have the right to make demands on the quality of work. In cases where the work as a whole has not been delivered to the customer, and defects have been identified in any part of the work, the courts indicate that the statute of limitations on the claim has not expired.

Methods of delivering such an act to the counterparty

The classic methods of delivering a claim act can be considered sending the document by courier by hand or by mail - registered mail with notification. In the first case, the authorized person of the recipient will sign your copy indicating the date and position; in the second, the post office, having delivered the item, will provide you with a receipt and notification.

Expert opinion

Davydov Alexander Yurievich

Civil law consultant with 20 years of practice. Author of numerous articles on legal topics

We recommend that you save the confirmation of shipment for possible subsequent challenge in court. Responsibly storing outgoing correspondence should become your good habit.

If you need to deliver the claim to the addressee urgently, for example, the deadlines specified in the contract or law are expiring, then you can send the claim by email or fax, as well as by urgent telegram with notification of receipt. These options have the right to exist, but the first two listed above are indisputable from the point of view of procedural legislation.

The organization that owns the machinery, equipment and other fixed assets periodically inspects them for breakdowns. If any deficiencies are discovered, a defect report is issued.

It is necessary in order to officially record defects existing on the property of the enterprise. First, the manager issues an appropriate order, which is considered the basis for creating an inspection group.

As a rule, this commission includes company specialists from different departments.

What requirement should I make?

In the statement of claim, ask either to eliminate the defects free of charge, or to reduce the price proportionately, or to reimburse the costs of correcting the defects. The last request can be made when the customer’s right to eliminate defects is provided for in the contract. Choose one of three such requirements. You cannot ask for reimbursement of the costs of eliminating defects and at the same time claim a proportionate reduction in price.

The customer has the right to refuse to fulfill the contract and demand compensation for losses. To do this, the shortcomings must be significant and irreparable. Another option is that the contractor did not correct the deficiencies within a reasonable time.

Partial educational services

Can I claim a refund for personal training? There are still situations when a dispute arises not over quality, but over the fact that you cannot receive in full all the fitness trainer’s training sessions paid for under the subscription agreement. For example, you had an accident and strength training is contraindicated for you. Then demand a partial age of funds in proportion to the services not provided.

USEFUL : follow the link for more information about refunds for courses with our help

Is it possible to argue about the quality of works that were accepted without criticism?

Courts answer this question differently, since everything depends on the specific circumstances of the case. Some say that the customer has the right to argue about the quality of the work even after accepting the results without comments. Others do not give such a right to customers unless they prove the hidden nature of the identified deficiencies. A situation may arise when the customer, when accepting the work, does not check its actual scope and signs acts in accordance with the KS-2 form and KS-3 certificates. This deprives the customer of the right to argue over the scope of work in the future.

Sample act of downtime due to the fault of the customer

The act itself is quite simple in its composition and content, so there should not be any particular difficulties in its formation.

1. To begin with, the name of the company whose employees record the fact of downtime is written in the act.
2. Then, in the middle of the line, the name of the document is indicated, it is assigned a number and a date is given.
3. After this, the identification characteristics of the object on which the downtime occurs are indicated:
   address,
4. number,
5. belonging, etc.

Should I refuse to fulfill the contract?

The customer should refuse the contract if he decides to recover all damages caused to him by poor quality work.723–1 In this case, the customer’s refusal to perform the contract is not required.

Example: the customer filed a lawsuit against the contractor to recover the cost of poor-quality work. The appeal indicated that since the customer did not send the contractor a notice of unilateral refusal to perform the contract, the contractor has the right to continue work. The cassation did not agree. Arguments that the customer cannot demand a proportionate reduction in the cost of work without unilateral refusal to fulfill the contract contradict paragraph 1 of Article 723 of the Civil Code.

If there is no refusal to execute the contract, it continues to govern the relationship between the parties. The customer has the right to reimburse not all losses, but only the expenses incurred when independently eliminating the defects. Therefore, if the customer believes that he has suffered significant losses due to improper execution of the contract, it is better for him to refuse to fulfill the contract.

Poor quality education

You paid for music lessons. Let's look at the conflict situation using a specific example. For example, if you signed up for a guitar course, and the educational institution promised virtuoso guitar playing in three weeks. After this period, you suddenly learn that your teacher does not have the proper qualifications, he is self-taught without a special teaching diploma, so teaching him how to play professionally is a matter of chance and independent work.

Feel free to submit a complaint to this educational institution. After all, the educational service that you paid for was performed or performed poorly, and, consequently, the money was spent for a service that does not meet educational standards.

Who must prove the reasons for the occurrence of deficiencies?

Within the warranty period, there is a presumption of guilt of the contractor for shortcomings or defects in the work performed. At the same time, the plaintiff is still not relieved of the procedural obligation to prove the circumstances to which he refers as the basis for his claims.

In order for the customer to be able to prove the presence of defects at the site and justify their appearance after acceptance without comments, it is necessary to conduct a forensic examination. Any of the parties may make such a request in court. The court will grant this request if it considers it justified.

State accreditation in the field of education

There are also frequent cases when one or another person, and maybe even a whole group of workers, needs to undergo professional retraining or advanced training courses. However, when it comes to the institution where these courses are conducted, not all of the persons undergoing advanced training know that for some types of professional training it is necessary to have a certificate of state accreditation. After all, without this certificate, all these diplomas will turn out to be simple pieces of paper.

Therefore, before taking such courses, make sure that you have state accreditation on the website of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation.

How to prove losses and the reasons for their occurrence at the pre-trial stage?

Often in contracts, the parties agree to inspect the construction site jointly. To do this, representatives of the customer and contractor come and draw up a report recording the identified deficiencies. Violation of this procedure will be grounds for refusal to protect the customer’s rights.

The court will not accept as admissible evidence a report that was drawn up unilaterally without notifying the contractor about the survey. For example, the customer drew up an emergency inspection report of building structures without a contractor, and he received a notice of poor quality work a week after drawing up the report.

The court will consider an act drawn up in strict accordance with the terms of the contract to be adequate evidence of poorly performed work. If there are no such conditions in the contract, the general rules apply. For example, notify the contractor in advance of the identification of poorly performed work, the need to inspect the site and draw up a report.

Inform the contractor of the deadline by which an authorized representative of the contractor must appear at the site for inspection. In this case, the contractor will be required to provide a copy of the power of attorney confirming the authority of his representative, which the customer must keep for himself.

In the report, indicate which object was examined, who performed the work and on what basis, and what shortcomings were identified. You also need to write down the reasons for the deficiencies, the cost and timing of their elimination, and the full names of the members of the commission that drew up the act.

How to write a letter of claim correctly?

In this section we will provide the minimum necessary list of information that you need to reflect in the document:

• The first rule of business correspondence: use letterhead with all the necessary details if you are a legal entity, otherwise, indicate your full name, place of residence and passport details.

• Always begin an official document with the date, including your city if desired.
• Next, indicate the details of the party to whom you are making a claim. They include: name, legal form and legal address of the person. This information is available in the contract concluded between you. In the case of concluding a retail purchase and sale agreement, a public contract or a public offer, for example: buying bread in a store, using dry cleaning services, public transport, energy supply - the details will be on checks, receipts, and the organization’s websites.

• In the case of a written contract, indicate the initial data of the contract that you concluded with the counterparty: this is the date and number.
• The main and main part of the claim act consists of facts of deviations from the contract and legislation and the provision of evidence. Be careful here, provide a logical chain of justifications for your arguments. The success of the claim consideration depends on this part.
• Then state the essence of the requirement (replace, compensate, eliminate deficiencies, etc.).
• Attach copies of supporting documents to the act (agreement, check, receipt, examination report, work performed/services rendered, etc.).
• Complete with the signature, full name and position of the authorized person. If the claim act is drawn up in the form of a bilateral document, then it must be signed by both parties.

This is important to know: The amount of the penalty for violation of deadlines for completing work

Read about how to write a complaint regarding the quality of the delivered goods here.