The legislation of the Russian Federation clearly regulates the relationship between the consumer and the seller. This applies not only to the sale of goods, but also to the provision of services or performance of work. In this case, the resolution of disputes between the consumer and the service provider will have slightly different features, but the Federal Law resolves the same disputes. For example, Art. 29 of the Law on the Protection of Consumer Rights regulates what exactly the customer (consumer) will be entitled to if any shortcomings are identified in the work performed or service provided. But here it is necessary to clearly understand not only the main points of the norm itself, but also its additional explanations, the features of the application of Art. 29 PZPP in practice.
The essence of the norm
In essence, Article 29 of the Consumer Rights Protection Law regulates how a dispute can be resolved if any shortcomings are identified in the work performed or service provided. At the same time, you should pay attention to a number of additional nuances that need to be taken into account in this situation.
Key points
Article 29 of the Consumer Rights Protection Law includes 5 main parts. The main points of this legislative norm include:
- Depending on how serious the defects were identified, the consumer has the right to demand a full refund of all costs for materials and return the deposit, reduce the cost or redo the work.
- You can demand reimbursement based on the amount agreed upon in the contract, as well as the receipts presented.
- The client can express his claims upon acceptance of the work, during its execution or after, if for objective reasons it was impossible to immediately identify shortcomings.
- It is possible not only to demand the return of all costs, but also to compensate for losses and damages if they were incurred precisely because of improper performance of work. The most important thing in this case is to prove the cause-and-effect relationship between the damage caused and the actions of the contractor.
- You can make your claims during the warranty period. If it has not been established, then as a general rule the period is determined to be 2 years, and for real estate - 5 years (defects directly in the building itself). Even if a warranty period has been established, but it is less than this period, then if a cause-and-effect relationship is proven, compensation will be possible.
- In some cases, the period for filing claims can be extended to 10 years.
All these rules are key in resolving such disputes, but at the same time they may overlap with other articles of this Federal Law. Also, first of all, you should pay attention to codified acts - the Civil Code will always be a priority if any controversial issue arises between these norms.
Additional clarifications
There is an important additional clarification on how exactly to interpret this rule for those cases where shared construction is implied. In such a situation, each participant bears equal responsibility. By signing the agreement, he automatically accepts all its terms and conditions, therefore he also becomes responsible for all problems that may arise in the future.
But at the same time, if the object was built in a way that was not provided for in the original contract, then any participant will have the right to declare their claims and demand compensation.
It is also important to note that the disputant will have to provide an appropriate conclusion that the object does not meet the required standards.
When choosing a company for expert assessment, you should pay additional attention to the availability of proper licenses. Not every office has the right to issue an expert opinion that can be accepted as confirmation in court, so you should first make sure that such a right exists.
Experts also recommend paying attention in advance to the quality of work that the customer accepts. If a work acceptance certificate is signed, it will be very difficult to prove the contractor’s guilt in order to receive compensation. This is due to the fact that at the legislative level it is clearly provided that if the customer accepted the work, then he completely agreed with it and has no claims against the contractor. The only exception can be a situation where at first glance it was impossible to evaluate something (for example, the quality of the floors in a built house). In this case, an expert opinion will also be required in the future, which will clearly indicate that the defects were caused by the fault of the contractor, and the customer was not able to immediately identify this.
A signed contract is a priority
Usually in all clarifications in legislative acts you can find a clause stating that legislation will always take precedence over the signed agreement of the parties. Indeed, this is so. But at the same time, this rule will be valid only in situations where the agreement grossly contradicts the rights (for example, it stipulates a ban on going to court).
Otherwise, the service agreement will be considered the main document in terms of resolving disputes. For example, if the contract clearly stipulates the amount of damage that can be obtained, then this point should be relied upon when stating the amount of your claims.
Article 27 of the Law on Protection of Consumer Rights. Deadlines for completing work (rendering services)
- The contractor is obliged to carry out the work (provision of services) within the period established by the rules for the performance of certain types of work (provision of certain types of services) or the contract for the performance of work (provision of services). The contract for the performance of work (provision of services) may provide for a period for performing the work (provision of a service), if it is not provided for by the specified rules, as well as a period of shorter duration than the period established by the specified rules.
- The period for performing work (providing a service) may be determined by the date (period) by which the work (providing the service) must be completed and/or the date (period) by which the contractor must begin performing the work (providing the service).
- If the work (provision of services) is carried out in parts (delivery of periodicals, technical maintenance) during the validity period of the contract for the performance of work (provision of services), appropriate deadlines (periods) for the performance of such work (provision of services) must be provided. By agreement of the parties, the contract may also stipulate deadlines for completing individual stages of work (interim deadlines).
Settlement of disputes
If any points of this rule have been violated, the customer has every right to demand that the situation be resolved in accordance with the provided possibilities. But at the same time, it is important to understand exactly how and where to go if your rights are violated. Even if the parties independently decided to resolve the dispute peacefully, it will be necessary to sign another agreement. It will be impossible to attach oral agreements to the case, therefore, if any new controversial situations arise, the parties can easily deny the fact of these agreements.
Where to go
Federal law determines that, first of all, if there are any claims, it is necessary to send the claim to the second party. To do this, it is important to clearly state your requirements, referring to the relevant clauses of the previously signed agreement.
Practice shows that the parties often try to resolve any dispute orally and move on to formalizing the problem only in exceptional cases. If you already need to move on to this, then it is important to arrange everything correctly. This is especially important if the parties to the transaction are legal entities - in this case, the preliminary filing of a claim is a mandatory requirement for subsequent appeal to the court considering economic disputes.
You can submit the appeal in person (or through an official representative if you have a power of attorney), but then you need to get a mark on acceptance of the claim on the second copy. It is also possible to do this electronically, because many modern companies correspond with clients in this way. It is possible to send a claim by official registered mail. In this case, notification of delivery will be required.
In this case, even if the other party does not provide an official response, an attempt at a peaceful settlement is still an additional advantage when considering the dispute.
If this does not bring any results, then you can send a statement of claim to the court.
It must be understood that officially the customer has every right to apply to Rospotrebnadzor, but at the same time it will not be possible to receive anything in terms of financial compensation. The reason is that the organization has the right to influence companies only by issuing fines and issuing warnings, but Rospotrebnadzor has no right to forcibly collect anything. Therefore, even if the organization is completely on the customer’s side, it will need to go to court to receive compensation.
Rules for writing requests
If we talk about a complaint sent directly to the company declared by the contractor under the contract, then the rules for drawing up a complaint will be standard for any business correspondence. In a laconic style, strictly to the point, the general concepts of the issue should be stated: the contract number, when it was signed, etc. Next, the essence of the claim itself is stated directly: which of the clauses of the agreement was violated or what defect was identified. And at the end you need to clearly indicate your requirements.
It should be remembered that this is a business message and therefore it is necessary to adhere to a business style of communication. It is also recommended to type the letter on a computer rather than write the appeal manually.
If you need to write an appeal to Rospotrebnadzor, then the rules for writing will be the same. The only exception is that it will be necessary to additionally attach a copy of the previously signed agreement.
When filing a claim in court, the rules will be slightly different. Here the main emphasis should be placed on the rules for statements of claim, and not for ordinary business letters. The main features are:
- a complete list of applications that are submitted as confirmation of correctness should be listed;
- Additionally, you need a receipt for payment of the state duty (it is then possible to include compensation for it as one of the demands);
- references must be made not only to the violated clauses of the contract, but also to legislative norms that confirm the right to demand something from the defendant.
If the plaintiff claims compensation for the damage caused, then additional conclusions of the expert commission should be provided, which will confirm that it was the actions of the defendant that provoked this harm. This is especially true in cases where it is important to establish a cause-and-effect relationship or defects in work that was performed previously. This can sometimes be quite difficult, since the defendant may argue that it was the consumer himself who caused these problems. This is why expert opinion on this issue is so important.
It is also possible to invite witnesses who can confirm that the work was performed. This is especially important when a formal agreement has not been signed (usually when carrying out minor repairs or providing services). Witnesses will also be able to confirm the fact of preliminary attempts to peacefully resolve the dispute orally. If additional legal assistance is provided by a specialist, he must emphasize that the defendant has refused to resolve the issue voluntarily.
Thus, the article clearly stipulates what exactly will be considered a violation on the part of the company that provided the services, as well as how this dispute can be resolved. At the same time, it is very important to pay attention to the process of resolving the problem and filing a claim, because the likelihood of satisfying the stated requirements will depend on this.
