Story 1 How To Sue Seller In Court?

What If Newly Bought Device Breaks Down?

One day, after coming home late from her night job, Lily decided to take out the leftovers from the fridge for reheating. When she opened the fridge, she was greeted with a putrid smell. The old fridge had broken down again and the food was inedible.

After a night of sleepless hunger, Lily decided to buy a new fridge. It was time to repay her friend anyways for letting her sleep on the sofa for a year.

Taking out the wallet where she kept all her money, Lily scavenged together 2,000 Yuan and headed to the nearest shopping mall. It was her lucky day. It was Big off Day and everything was 50% off. That meant Lily could get the fridge for only 700 Yuan instead of the 1,400 Yuan that she was prepared to pay. What a great deal!

Du was more than delighted when she saw Lily take home the new fridge. She, also was annoyed about food going bad in the old fridge but couldn't afford a new one.

Two months later, on a quiet and peaceful night, a loud bang woke both of them up. It was from the new fridge. A huge crack had appeared on the side.

The first thing Lily did the next morning was to call the shopping mall. A technician from the refrigerator company was sent over to check on the fridge. "This is a rather unusual case. This is probably caused by inappropriate storage. Your air conditioner is aimed directly at the fridge, and the cold wind lowers the surface temperature of the fridge. In the morning, sunlight shines directly onto the fridge, and that combined with the air conditioner heats up the surface. Daily expansion and contraction caused this crack."

"This is completely ridiculous. You must be kidding me, right? How did you say this without laughing?" Lily replied.

"This is my professional analysis. Please sign on this paper to prove that I have checked the refrigerator."

"That's not professional at all. Either you fix this crack or replace the fridge."

"Repair costs would be 500 Yuan. The fridge shall be returned to you in less than 10 working days."

"500 Yuan? This is a rip-off. You have to fix it for free."

"Your inappropriate use caused this problem, not our company. Why should we pay for your error?"

"Never have I seen such a terrible company. What kind of customer service is this? I am going to sue you and this is going to ruin your company's reputation."

"Good luck with that. You have to prove that the product we sold you was defective in the first place."

What can you do when this happens to you?

Law in a Minute

To help you understand what is going on, let's first go through the normal procedures of taking a case to court.

Collecting sufficient evidence (which must be authentic, lawful and relevant) is a necessary step in winning a lawsuit. The general rule of evidence adopted in China is "he who asserts must prove." You, as the plaintiff, shall have to provide evidence corresponding to the facts on which the claim is based. If there is no evidence or insutfficient evidence to support the claim, the party with the burden of proof shall have to bear the unfavourable consequences of losing the lawsuit.

Prior to the implementation of the Consumer Protection Law ("Consumer Law"), Lily, as the plaintiff, has to prove the following facts according to the general rules of evidence:

1. The occurrence of infringement: The vendor sells a defective refrigerator.

2. The result of the infringing behaviour: The refrigerator is defective.

3. The causation relationship between the infringing behaviour and the result: Lily now has a defective refrigerator due to the vendor's infringing behaviour.

4. The infringer is at fault: The vendor sells the goods intentionally or out of negligence.

If Lily cannot effectively prove the above facts, she has no hope of winning.

However, I think we would all agree that this is impossible to prove. That is when the Consumer Law comes in handy. When the vendor supplies durable goods, such as motor vehicles, computers, televisions, refrigerators, air conditioners and washing machines, and the consumer finds defects within six months of the goods being delivered, the burden of proof falls on the vendor.

This is a reversion of burden of proof under the Consumer Law, purposefully drafted to protect consumers' interests when they are infringed.

Therefore, as Lily found the defect within six months after purchasing the refrigerator, the burden falls on the shopping mall vendor to prove that the refrigerator is free of defects when it was sold to Lily. All Lily has to do is provide the receipt or invoice that she received when she bought the fridge.

If the company loses the case, it shall have to replace or repair the defective fridge without any additional costs.