GuaranteesOnRecord

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What are the consumer guarantees?

34 quoted answers, each with its source

The short answer

Consumer guarantees are automatic and cannot be taken away; warranties are extra promises a business can choose to make, cannot replace, change or take away a consumer's basic rights, and the consumer guarantee of acceptable quality usually still applies after a warranty against defects expires. Businesses must not tell a consumer that a consumer guarantee does not exist, may be excluded, or may not have a particular effect, and must not mislead consumers into thinking their rights are limited to a warranty's remedies or timeframe; the mandatory warranty-against-defects information must be available with the actual product, not only on a website or in-store. A contract term is void to the extent it purports to exclude, restrict or modify the consumer guarantees, and the ACCC's guide records a July 2013 Federal Court order that Hewlett-Packard pay a $3 million civil pecuniary penalty for false or misleading representations to consumers and retailers regarding consumer guarantee rights. Consumer Affairs Victoria states that a person or business is a consumer for products or services costing up to $100,000, with a $40,000 threshold for purchases before 1 July 2021; products or services bought before 1 January 2011 are not covered by the current Australian Consumer Law, and the unfair contract terms protections also apply to small business contracts entered into or renewed after 12 November 2016.

Every part of this comes from the quotes below. How we write these.

What the rules actually say19

Quoted straight from the ACCC, the Australian Consumer Law or a state consumer regulator.

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The ACCC states that…

  • consumer guarantees are automatic.
  • consumer guarantees cannot be taken away.
  • warranties are extra promises a business can choose to make on top of the consumer guarantees.
first-party
1 quote from 1 source
Consumer guarantees are automatic and can’t be taken away. Warranties are extra promises that a business can choose to make on top of the consumer guarantees.
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The ACCC states that…

  • warranties cannot replace, change or take away a consumer's basic rights.
  • a consumer's basic rights can last longer than a business's warranty.
first-party
1 quote from 1 source
Warranties can’t replace, change or take away a consumer’s basic rights. These basic rights can last longer than a business’s warranty.
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The ACCC states that after a warranty against defects expires the consumer guarantee of acceptable quality usually still applies.

first-party
1 quote from 1 source
After the warranty expires, the consumer guarantee of acceptable quality usually still applies.
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The ACCC states that businesses must not mislead consumers into thinking their rights are limited to the remedies or timeframe set out in a warranty against defects.

first-party
1 quote from 1 source
Businesses must not mislead consumers into thinking that their rights are limited to the remedies or timeframe set out in a warranty against defects.
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The ACCC states that…

  • the mandatory warranty-against-defects information must be available with the actual product.
  • referring consumers to the mandatory warranty-against-defects information on a website is not enough.
  • referring consumers to the mandatory warranty-against-defects information in-store is not enough.
first-party
1 quote from 1 source
The mandatory information must be available with the actual product. It is not enough to refer consumers to this information on a website or in-store.
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The Australian Consumer Law provides that a contract term is void to the extent it purports to exclude, restrict or modify the consumer guarantees.

first-party
2 quotes from 1 source
64 Guarantees not to be excluded etc. by contract
A term of a contract (including a term that is not set out in the contract but is incorporated in the contract by another term of the contract) is void to the extent that the term purports to exclude, restrict or modify, or has the effect of excluding, restricting or modifying:
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The consumer threshold for acquiring goods under the Australian Consumer Law is subject to a greater amount being prescribed.

medium confidencefirst-party
3 quotes from 1 source
A person is taken to have acquired particular goods as a consumer if, and only if:
the amount paid or payable for the goods, as worked out under subsections (4) to (9), did not exceed:
if a greater amount is prescribed for the purposes of this paragraph—that greater amount; or
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Consumer Affairs Victoria states that a person or a business is considered a consumer if they buy products or services that cost up to $100,000.

first-party
2 quotes from 1 source
A person or a business is considered a consumer if they buy:
products or services that cost up to $100,000*, or any other amount set by the Australian Consumer Law in future; or
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Consumer Affairs Victoria states that businesses must not tell a consumer that a consumer guarantee…

  • does not exist.
  • may be excluded.
  • may not have a particular effect.
first-party
4 quotes from 1 source
Businesses must not tell a consumer that a consumer guarantee:
does not exist
may be excluded or
may not have a particular effect.
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Consumer Affairs Victoria states that for products or services purchased before 1 July 2021 the consumer threshold amount is $40,000.

first-party
2 quotes from 1 source
products or services that cost up to $100,000*, or any other amount set by the Australian Consumer Law in future; or
For products or services purchased before 1 July 2021 the amount is $40,000
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The ACCC's guide for businesses and legal practitioners states that the maximum civil penalty for providing false or misleading information about the existence, exclusion or effect of the consumer guarantees or remedies is…

  • $1.1 million for a body corporate.
  • $220,000 for an individual.
first-party
1 quote from 1 source
The maximum civil penalty for providing false or misleading information about the existence, exclusion or effect of the consumer guarantees or remedies is $1.1 million for a body corporate and $220,000 for an individual.

Measured finding5

Something someone actually measured, with the method attached.

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CHOICE reports that the percentage of surveyed consumers who took a consumer issue all the way to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal was…

  • 1% for products.
  • 2% for services.
1 quote from 1 source
The percentage who took a consumer issue all the way to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal was miniscule (1% for products; 2% for services).
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The Consumer Policy Research Centre reports that 80% of those surveyed for its Consumer Rights Confidence Index feel lower to mid-levels of familiarity with their consumer rights under the Australian Consumer Law.

other
1 quote from 1 source
80% of those surveyed feel lower to mid-levels of familiarity with their consumer rights under the Australian Consumer Law.
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The Consumer Policy Research Centre reports that its Consumer Rights Confidence Index 2026…

  • surveyed over 2000 people in Victoria.
  • produced a benchmark index score of 66.
other
2 quotes from 1 source
The Consumer Rights Confidence Index 2026 surveyed over 2000 people in Victoria*
The benchmark Consumer Rights Confidence Index (CRCI) score for 2026 is 66

Practical effect5

What is observed to happen in practice, as distinct from what is documented.

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The ACCC's guide for businesses and legal practitioners records that…

  • Fisher & Paykel Customer Services Pty Ltd had a civil penalty of $200,000 imposed for false or misleading representation in the course of offering an extended warranty to consumers.
  • Domestic & General Services Ltd had a civil penalty of $200,000 imposed for false or misleading representation in the course of offering an extended warranty to consumers.
first-party
1 quote from 1 source
that both Fisher & Paykel Customer Services Pty Ltd and Domestic & General Services Ltd made false or misleading representation in the course of offering an extended warranty to consumers, and imposed a civil penalty of $200,000 on each business.
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  • The ACCC's guide for businesses and legal practitioners records that in July 2013 the Federal Court ordered Hewlett-Packard to pay a $3 million civil pecuniary penalty relating to consumer guarantee rights.
  • Hewlett-Packard's civil pecuniary penalty was for making false or misleading representations to consumers and retailers regarding consumer guarantee rights.
first-party
1 quote from 1 source
In July 2013, the Federal Court ordered that Hewlett-Packard, a manufacturer and retailer of computer hardware, pay a $3 million civil pecuniary penalty for making false or misleading representations to consumers and retailers regarding consumer guarantee rights.
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The Consumer Policy Research Centre reports that 47% of those surveyed for its Consumer Rights Confidence Index had an issue or a grievance with a product or service and did not complain about it.

other
1 quote from 1 source
47% of those surveyed had an issue or a grievance with a product and/or service and did not complain about it.

Changed on2

A dated change. This is where advice quietly stops being true.

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Regarding consumer guarantee, Consumer Affairs Victoria states that the unfair contract terms protections also apply to small business contracts entered into or renewed after 12 November 2016.

first-party
1 quote from 1 source
The protections also apply to small business contracts entered into or renewed after 12 November 2016 where:
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Products and services bought before 1 January 2011 are not covered by the current Australian Consumer Law.

first-party
1 quote from 1 source
Products and services bought before 1 January 2011 aren’t covered by the current Australian Consumer Law. They may be covered by older laws.

Disputed between sources1

Sources that do not agree, presented without picking a winner.

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The ACCC's guide for businesses and legal practitioners states the maximum civil penalty for false or misleading information about the consumer guarantees is $1.1 million for a body corporate.

first-party
4 quotes from 2 sources
The maximum civil penalty for providing false or misleading information about the existence, exclusion or effect of the consumer guarantees or remedies is $1.1 million for a body corporate and $220,000 for an individual.
The maximum civil pecuniary and criminal penalties for a body corporate are the greater of:
$10 million, or
three times the value of the benefit obtained from the offence, or act or omission, by the body corporate and any related bodies corporate if the benefit obtained can be determined by the court, or

Often said, but we could not find it in the rules2

Lots of people say this. We went looking for an official source that backs it up and could not find one, so treat it as something people repeat rather than something settled.

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JB Hi-Fi salespeople told CHOICE that there is no coverage after the extra year.

1 quote from 1 source
telling us that “the manufacturer gives one year warranty and then JB gives one extra year by consumer law” and that after that period “there’s no coverage, you go by yourself to a TV mechanic”
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Kmart's consumer guarantee returns policy states that non-Kmart branded products require adequate proof of purchase.

medium confidenceother
1 quote from 1 source
Non-Kmart branded products require adequate proof of purchase, including: