Consumer Rights Defense in Court

People who purchase products or order work or services to be performed for their personal or family needs are considered to be consumers. The law envisages extensive guarantees for protection against consumer rights infringement.

What does a consumer do in the case that they’ve been provided subpar service, been done a bad job, or been sold a defective good?

• One must contact the contractor, performer, or supplier of the low-quality good. Meanwhile, they have the right to address either the producer of the good or the store where they acquired the good.

The message must be provided in writing in the form of a claim indicating all the reasons why you believe that your consumer rights have been violated.

There's a procedure that must be observed in the claim. Firstly, the producer can satisfy the claim and apologize, which will eliminate the need to have to go to court in the first place. Secondly, if the claim procedure is observed, the court can rule for a judgement of a fine of 50% of the amount the consumer won for the producer refusing to satisfy the requirements expounded in the claim or ignoring it.

• If the producer doesn't respond to your claim or refuses to respond appropriately, you’ll have to go to court. You can go to a court relevant to the address of your residence or the supplier's residence. If the lawsuit amount is less than one billion roubles, you will not have to pay a government fee.

If the subject of the lawsuit is a low-quality product, you may need to have court merchandise expertise conducted. In the event that you win the dispute, the expenses for the expertise will be borne by the defendant.

You can also demand compensation for emotional distress in court. Courts usually charge that kind of compensation, but as small amounts.

A court ruling in your favor does not necessarily mean you will get the money. After court comes the next stage –the enforcement stage. Before that, you’ll have to receive a writ of execution in court and then either present it to the bailiff or directly to the bank where the defendant has their account.

As early as the stage of writing up the claim, it's a good idea to engage the services of a lawyer, since a claim must be written up as properly and completely as possible, as it will be what later serves as the basis of your lawsuit if you do end up having to go to court.

We conduct disputes on the side of consumers: from conducting the negotiations to writing up claims to obtaining the funds within the bounds of a writ of execution. Send us a message or give us a phone call today!