Consumer Rights Act 2015
The Consumer Rights Act 2015 is the main piece of legislation protecting consumers in the UK when buying goods, digital content, and services. It provides that goods must be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose, and as described; services must be performed with reasonable care and skill. Consumers have a short-term right to reject faulty goods within 30 days, and further rights to repair, replacement, or price reduction after that.
The Consumer Rights Act 2015 consolidated and modernised consumer law across three categories. For goods: the 30-day short-term right to reject a faulty item gives a full refund; after 30 days but within six months, the burden of proof reverses — the trader must show the fault did not exist at the time of sale; if one repair or replacement fails, the final right to reject allows a refund (though the trader can make a deduction for use after the first six months). For services: if performed with less than reasonable care and skill, you can require the trader to redo the service at no extra cost or, if that is not possible, get a price reduction. For digital content (including software and streaming): the same quality standards apply, and the trader must repair or replace defective content — this was a significant new right in 2015 that codified protection for downloaded products.