"consumer" or not?

chasm

Hi Guys, wondering if anyone can help me with this query?
Having looked at a few consumer sites and the above stickies i can not find an answer, but going by the following statement.....

"A person comes within the legal meaning of the term 'consumer', in a situation and only in a situation, where they buy goods for their personal use or consumption from someone who sells them in the course of a business and the goods are ordinarily supplied for private use or consumption.

A person who receives goods as a gift is not considered to be a 'consumer' within the meaning of the Act and neither is someone who intends to use the goods in the course of a business. A consumer contract exists only between the buyer (the consumer) and the seller (usually a retailer)."

.....if you gave money to someone to purchase the item on their credit or debit card on your behalf, would that mean you were not the consumer as it was not purchased in your name, thus meaning should the item become faulty you would not be entitled to a repair?

Oryx

It means the contract of sale is with the person who actually paid, and they would have to tackle any repair or return issues.

BrianD

I'm not sure what the OP is trying to address but if you receive something as a gift or somebody else carried out the financial transaction on your behalf does not mean that you do not have Consumer rights. You are still consuming the product or service as an end of user.

The objective of having a receipt or proof of sale is really to add protection to both the seller and buyer - prevention of vexatious claims and to prove the item was bought.

chasm

Thanks for the replies guy,
Sorry, I'm not doing a very good job of getting my question across am I?

I'm trying to work out the exact definition of a consumer, all the places that i have read about it, it seems to be the case that you are the consumer or you receive the item as a gift, what i'm curious about(and can not find a definite answer to) is, say i ask you to buy me a fridge on your credit card and i pay you the money. I haven't received it as a gift but i don't seem to be classed as the consumer either as i purchased it through someone else... is this right?
And what If you were to refuse to give me the receipt how would i be able to exercise my right(if any) to have any fault remedied?

Oryx

The person who has to remedy a fault with a product is the person that sold it. The retailer. So if you know where the product was bought, then you have to be able to prove to that retailer that it was purchased there and the date it was bought. This protects the retailer too, as mentioned above. So that is your issue. Its not that you arent the consumer of the product or that you have no rights, its that you need to be able to show where the product came from, to exercise those rights.

Max Power1

contract of sale (and all rights associated) is between the person paying and the person selling.

If you have an issue with an item that you did not purchase, technically you have no recourse.