Consumer Rights: Refund, Replacement, Warranty 2026

Reviewed on: 2026-06-19.

Section 2(9) of the Consumer Protection Act 2019 lists six consumer rights that no contract can take away:

1. Right to safety: protection against goods or services that are hazardous to life and property.
2. Right to information: to know the quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard, and price of what you buy.
3. Right to choice: access to a variety of goods and services at competitive prices.
4. Right to be heard: your interests must receive due consideration at the appropriate forum.
5. Right to seek redressal: against unfair trade practices, restrictive trade practices, or unscrupulous exploitation.
6. Right to consumer awareness: to be educated so you can make informed choices.

These rights apply every time you buy goods or hire services for personal use. They do not apply if you bought goods for resale or for a commercial purpose (Section 2(7)).

The Act draws a precise line between the two core complaints:

Defect (Section 2(10)): any fault, imperfection, or shortcoming in the quality, quantity, potency, purity, or standard of goods, whether required by law, contract, or the seller's own claims. If a phone's battery drains in two hours though the box promises 24, that is a defect.

Deficiency (Section 2(11)): any fault, imperfection, shortcoming, or inadequacy in the quality, nature, or manner of performance of a service, including any act of negligence or omission that causes loss or injury to you. A courier that leaves your parcel with a neighbour without your consent is deficient in service.

Both defect and deficiency trigger the full remedies menu under Section 39.

Section 2(47)(viii) of the Act classifies it as an unfair trade practice if a seller refuses to:

• take back or withdraw defective goods, or
• discontinue deficient services and refund the consideration paid

…within the period stated on the bill or cash memo. If no period is stated, the seller must refund or take back within 30 days.

In plain terms: if your new appliance is defective, the seller cannot simply say “no returns after seven days” unless that limitation is clearly printed on the receipt. Even then, the commission may treat an unreasonably short window as an unfair contract (Section 2(46)).

[Buy goods or hire service]
         |
         v
  [Defect or deficiency found?]
         |
    yes  |  no --> No claim
         v
  [Notify seller in writing, keep proof]
         |
         v
  [Seller refuses within 30 days?]
         |
    yes  |  no --> Resolved
         v
  [Call NCH 1915 / file at consumerhelpline.gov.in]
         |
    resolved? -yes-> Done
         |  no
         v
  [File on e-Daakhil / e-Jagriti before commission]
         |
         v
  [Commission orders: refund / replace / repair / compensation]
         |
    not complied? --> Execution + RTI to trace file

When a commission is satisfied that a defect or deficiency is proved, it can direct the opposite party to do one or more of the following:

• Remove the defect or replace the goods with new defect-free goods.
• Return the price paid, with interest.
• Pay compensation for loss or injury, including punitive damages.
• Pay compensation in a product liability action under Chapter VI.
• Discontinue the unfair trade practice.
• Withdraw hazardous goods from sale; cease manufacture.
• Pay a class-action sum (minimum 25% of the value of defective goods sold) where consumers are not individually identifiable.
• Issue a corrective advertisement and pay costs.

You can claim any combination. A refund plus compensation for mental harassment in the same complaint is standard.

Chapter VI of the Act (Sections 82 to 87) creates strict liability in many situations, meaning you do not have to prove the manufacturer was negligent.

A product manufacturer is liable (Section 84) if:

• The product contains a manufacturing defect.
• The product is defective in design.
• There is a deviation from manufacturing specifications.
• The product does not conform to the express warranty.
• The product fails to carry adequate instructions or warnings.

Crucially, Section 84(2) says a manufacturer remains liable even if they prove they were not negligent when they made an express warranty and the product failed to conform.

A product service provider is liable (Section 85) if:

• The service was faulty, imperfect, or deficient.
• There was negligence or conscious withholding of information that caused harm.
• Adequate warnings or instructions were not given.
• The service did not conform to the terms of the contract.

A product seller (who is not also the manufacturer) is liable (Section 86) if the seller exercised substantial control over design or packaging, altered the product, made an independent express warranty that failed, or the manufacturer cannot be identified or served.

Exceptions (Section 87): No claim if you misused or modified the product, were under the influence of alcohol or an unprescribed drug, or the danger was obvious and commonly known.

You do not have to prove negligence in most product liability claims. You must show harm (personal injury, property damage, death, or mental agony under Section 2(22)) and that one of the above liability conditions exists. Pure economic loss is excluded.

Under Section 2(47)(f), giving a warranty or guarantee with “no reasonable prospect” of being honoured is an unfair trade practice. An express warranty (written or verbal) is enforceable under Sections 84(1)(d), 85(d), and 86©. A verbal promise at the point of sale that a product will last a stated period is an enforceable warranty if you can show it was made. Extended warranty plans sold at extra cost are services under the Act, so refusing to honour them is deficiency in service.

Keep the warranty card, the bill, any written communication from the seller, and screenshots of product-page claims at purchase. These are your proof.

Under the Consumer Protection (Jurisdiction of the District, State and National Commission) Rules, 2021, the monetary pecuniary limits are:

You can file in the district where you live, where you bought the goods, where the seller operates, or where the cause of action arose (Section 34(2)). This plaintiff-friendly rule means you do not have to travel to the seller's city.

Time limit: File within two years from the date the cause of action arose (Section 69). Delay can be condoned if you show sufficient reason.

See Consumer Court: Step-by-Step Filing Guide for the full procedure, fee schedule, and document checklist.

Before spending the filing fee, register your complaint on consumerhelpline.gov.in or call the National Consumer Helpline 1915 (toll-free, also reachable as 1800-11-4000). Around 70 per cent of complaints close at this mediation stage without going to a commission, because companies enrolled as convergence partners prefer to settle rather than accumulate bad SLA scores.

See NCH 1915: the consumer helpline emergency walkthrough for the full script.

Online complaints can also be filed directly via e-Jagriti or eDaakhil for digital filing before district commissions.

Yes. Section 39 lets the commission order any combination of remedies. You can claim the price paid back, interest on it, compensation for mental harassment, and costs, all in the same complaint.

Not automatically. If the policy limits returns to fewer days than the bill states, or if the goods are defective, Section 2(47)(viii) overrides a blanket no-return clause. A commission can treat an unreasonably short return window as an unfair contract under Section 2(46).

If the defect was present at manufacture (a latent defect) and appeared within a reasonable use period, a product liability claim under Section 84 may still be available. The two-year limitation (Section 69) runs from when you discovered the defect.

Under Section 86(b), the seller who altered the product is liable if that alteration was the substantial cause of harm. The manufacturer may be out, but the seller is squarely on the hook.

Yes. The 2019 Act expressly includes e-commerce and digital products. Section 2(16) defines e-commerce as buying or selling over a digital or electronic network. A streaming service that consistently underperforms its promised quality is deficient in service.

Yes. Section 2(7) Explanation (a) clarifies that goods bought for earning a livelihood by self-employment are not “commercial purpose.” A courier who buys a bike for delivery income qualifies as a consumer.

File an RTI to: Department of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Krishi Bhavan, New Delhi 110 001

• What is the current status of my complaint registered with NCH (INGRAM reference number: [X])?
• How many complaints were received against [company name] in the last 12 months and how many were resolved?
• What action has the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) taken against [company name] for misleading advertisements?
• What is the average disposal time for consumer cases at the [District/State/National] Commission in [State] for the year 2024-25?
• What is the total amount of compensation/refunds directed by NCDRC in 2024-25 and what percentage was actually recovered?

→ Use our free AI RTI Drafter to generate a complete Section 6(1) application.

• Consumer Protection Act, 2019 (No. 35 of 2019), Sections 2(9), 2(10), 2(11), 2(47), 34, 39, 47, 58, 69, 82-87: egazette.gov.in
• Consumer Protection (Jurisdiction of the District, State and National Commission) Rules, 2021: consumeraffairs.gov.in
• National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC), jurisdiction details: ncdrc.nic.in
• National Consumer Helpline (NCH), toll-free 1915 / 1800-11-4000: consumerhelpline.gov.in
• Department of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution: consumeraffairs.gov.in

By Dr. Shrawan Kumar Pathak