Custom-made products - warranty
When manufacturing custom-made goods, the contractor is, in compliance with provision § 645 et sequentia of the Civil Code, responsible for the
defects the goods have at the time of acceptance by the buyer, and also for other defects which may appear after acceptance in the warranty period.
The contractor is responsible not only for defects of the manufactured goods, but also for the fact that the goods have the properties
stipulated by the client's order. With regard to this provision, it is suitable for the client to be able to prove adequately in what manner
they have stipulated the manufactured goods - it is up to them to prove the potential discrepancy between the order and the actual manufactured
result.
Under provision § 645 par. 2 of the Civil Code, the contractor is also responsible for the defects of the goods caused by the defectiveness of the
material supplied by the client or the ineligibility of their instructions, unless they prove that they had warned the client about the defectiveness
of the material or ineligibility of the instructions. It is therefore up to the contractor as a specialist to judge whether the customer's order is
viable, and bears responsibility for the fact that they may not have discovered its ineligibility.
In provision § 646, the Civil Code determines the duration of the warranty period for manufactured goods. The basic warranty period remains (unlike goods
sold in stores) six months.
The warranty period naturally starts from the date of acceptance of the manufactured goods. However, if the client accepted the goods later than he was obliged to,
the warranty period runs from the date he was supposed to accept the goods.
The same way as when selling goods in a store, the contractor may also in this case provide the client with a warranty exceeding the conditions of
the statutory warranty and determine its conditions and scope. Extended scope may mean both in terms of time (it is therefore possible to extend the
warranty period in the certificate of warranty), and in terms of content (it is possible to extend the rights of the client beyond the rights established
by law, as described below). In any case, this extension fully adheres to the conditions given in the certificate of warranty.
The most common case of warranty extension is the extension of the warranty period beyond the statutory six-month period. It is necessary to add
that after the expiry of the statutory warranty period, the warranty responsibility of the contractor adheres solely to the conditions determined
in the certificate of warranty and it is not possible to apply rights determined by law, if the contractor did not provide for their application in
the certificate of warranty. That means e.g. that if the contractor provides in the certificate of warranty a one-year warranty period for service
free of charge, it is not possible after the expiry of the six-month statutory warranty to demand rescission of contract, but only the provision of
service free of charge. However, if the certificate of warranty only states that the warranty lasts for a longer period than that established by
law, bud its conditions are not specified, its conditions are identical to the conditions of the statutory warranty for the extended warranty
period.
It stands to reason that the statutory warranty period and the statutory warranty conditions may be extended, but not shortened or reduced.
What are the consumer rights when claiming the custom-made goods?
In accordance with provision § 648 of the Civil Code, if there is a defect which may be removed, the client is entitled to request the removal of this defect.
If it is a defect which cannot be removed and which prevents the goods from being used properly according to the order, like goods without a defect, the
client has the right to rescind the contract (i.e. the right for a full refund of the price of the goods, eventually also the price of the material provided,
against the return of the defectively manufactured goods to the contractor). The client also has the same rights in the case when the same defect that had
been removed two times appears for the third time, as in the case when three different removable defects appear concurrently and due to which the goods may
not be properly used. If the goods show irremovable defects which, however, do not prevent from using the goods properly (e.g. minor surface damage, colour
instability etc.), the client may request an adequate discount off the price of the goods. In accordance with provision § 19 par. 3 of the Consumer Protection
Law, if the claim is not settled by the contractor within 30 days from its lodging, the client always has the same right as if it were an irremovable defect,
as described above.
It stands to reason that a claim may be lodged at the contractor only in the warranty period. It is not sufficient that the defect appeared in the warranty
period, but it is also necessary to make a claim in the period. If the conditions for claims are different in the statutory (six-month or three-year) period
and in another, extended warranty, the conditions for settling the claim always adhere to the moment of lodging the claim, not the appearance of the defect.
If the goods have previously been claimed, the period from the lodging of the claim to the settling of the claim is not counted in the warranty period.
After settling the claim, the contractor is therefore always obliged to present the client with a certificate stating when the claim was lodged and
also information about the reparation and its duration.
In accordance with provision § 509 par. 1 of the Civil Code, the client has the right for a refund of the necessary costs arising in connection with
lodging the claim. However, this right must be applied within one month of expiry of the warranty period, whereas missing this period causes the extinction of
the right for compensation of the costs and the period may not be remitted in any way.
