Read this draft letter, which will give you an idea of your legal rights in certain important areas. Then adapt it for your purposes in writing to the trader. Only use this approach when direct negotiations have failed.
Add your address and the date
Add the Trader's address
Dear Sir/Madam [or Manager's name if known]
Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended)
On [insert date of purchase] I purchased the following item [product name and full details, for example model number, invoice reference number, and any other information that will help the trader to identify the sale]
Unfortunately the product has not performed satisfactorily because [give as full a description as possible of the problem you have with the product]
Under the Sale of Goods Act 1979, the goods should be:-
- Of satisfactory quality
- Fit for their purpose
- As described
Therefore I reject the goods [NB: see * below], as there was an inherent fault at the time of purchase [or put here some other settlement that would be acceptable to you, for example giving the trader a chance to fix the problem, keeping the goods but having compensation for the defect].
I would appreciate a response within 14 days [or whatever is a reasonable time] outlining your proposals to resolve this matter. Otherwise I will have to consider further action, if necessary through the small claims court.
Yours faithfully/sincerely/etc.
[your name/signature]
* Note – if you have kept the goods for a reasonable length of time and used/treated them as your own then you may in law have lost the right to rejection. But this does not prejudice your right to claim compensation for the fault/problem, e.g. having the trader fix the problem, or provide financial compensation in lieu of this. Unfortunately the law does not say what a reasonable time is – that is up to a court to determine in the event of a dispute – but we would advise that anything over 2 months old is definitely into a grey area for rejection.
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