You don't have to sit through three or four failed repair attempts before a store owes you a refund — if the fault qualifies as a major failure, the choice is yours from the start: repair, replacement, or a full refund. Getting this classification right is the single biggest factor in whether you walk away with your money back or get stuck in a repair loop.
What tips a fault into "major"
The ACL (and ACCC guidance interpreting it) treats a failure as major when it meets tests along these lines:
- A reasonable person wouldn't have bought the product at all, had they known about the problem beforehand.
- The product is significantly different from its description, advertising, or the sample/demonstration model shown.
- The product can't do what it's meant to do, and can't easily be fixed within a reasonable time.
- The product doesn't perform the specific purpose you told the seller about, when the seller assured you it would.
- The product is unsafe.
Separately, a minor fault that a business fails to repair within a reasonable time is treated the same way as a major failure for remedy purposes — so documentation of how long a "minor" repair has dragged on matters.
Who chooses the remedy
For a major failure with a product, the consumer — not the store — gets to choose between a refund or a replacement. For a major failure with a service, you can cancel the contract and get a refund, or keep the contract and be compensated for the drop in value.
What to say
Don't ask what the store is willing to do. State the position: this fault is a major failure under the Australian Consumer Law, and you're exercising the right to choose a refund rather than a repair.
If the retailer still won't budge
State consumer tribunals — NCAT in New South Wales, VCAT in Victoria, and their equivalents elsewhere — hear these disputes and can order retailers to pay. Getting there usually runs through your state Fair Trading office first (covered in the final guide in this series).