Services must meet the agreed standards in terms of their content, performance and outcome.
Since the assessment of defects in services is based on general standards, the personal expectations of an individual consumer are of no significance. Instead, the conduct of the business in question in providing advice and information to the consumer is taken into consideration when assessing defects.
A service is defective, when
- work is not done professionally and diligently. Professionalism entails elements such as the business being able to locate a defect and, based on that, offering a suitable service for rectifying it. The business must also be able to choose an appropriate method of undertaking the work and determining whether to repair a defective part or to replace it with a new one.
Diligence includes e.g. bringing along the appropriate equipment for locating and repairing a defect when visiting a consumer's home. Diligence also involves asking the customer to provide advance information on matters significant in terms of the job at hand and ensuring that the repairs were successful.
- the consumer's interests have not been adequately taken into consideration Taking the consumer's interests into consideration refers to e.g. businesses taking steps to avoid causing unnecessary costs to the consumer.
- the durability and other attributes of work or materials do not meet the usual standards of good quality. The outcome of work must meet the usual standards of good quality. For example, in the case of renovating an apartment, this would mean that groundwork such as the cleaning and smoothing of surfaces is properly done before painting and wallpapering. If materials purchased by the consumer are used, the entrepreneur must be able to assess their usability.
- the work does not comply with the requirements set by law, decrees or the authorities, such as regulations on electrical and fire safety.
- the work does not correspond to the information provided in advance. Information provided in advance refers to all information about the service that affected the consumer's decision-making, including information provided in marketing, at the time of concluding the agreement and during delivery of the service.
- the service provider did not provide sufficient information on the most sensible way to perform the work or other significant aspects. The service provider must inform the buyer if, for instance, the result of the work will suffer if it is taken into use too early. A business must contact the consumer without delay, if
- the requested work or repair is not worth doing.
- it is uncertain whether repairs will be successful or the appliance might only be operational for a short while.
- the work will be considerably more expensive than the indicative price quoted.
Compensation for defects