Everything must go. Yours for only €89.99. Sale now on. No refunds. Break it, it’s yours. The management does not accept any responsibility. No exchange, no return. Car parked at your own risk. This does not affect your statutory rights.

Retailers love a good sign. But while many of the signs we see in shops every day are legal and above board, others are more dubious or downright illegal.

A souped-up Consumer Protection Act became law in 2007, and toughened the regulations governing the goods retailers sell, the claims they make about those goods, the services they provide and the prices they charge. This legislation covers almost every piece of communication, from television ads to the price tags on the shelves and the hastily scrawled notes propped up by the cash registrars.

Despite the rules, problems persist. In the weeks after Christmas, one of the most frequent signs that will appear in Irish shops will be “No refunds on sale items” or “Credit notes only on returned sale stock”. While it is understandable that retailers – anxious to be shot of old products – would rather you didn’t return goods, signs of this nature are in breach of the law.

When you buy something – and it doesn’t matter if you pay full price or get 98 per cent off – you have a right to expect it to be of an acceptable standard, fit for its intended purpose and as advertised. If your hard-won sale item does not comply with any of these three rules, you are entitled to get the product repaired or replaced, or to get a refund. No matter what the sign says. If the sign adds the post-script “this does not affect your statutory rights”, then the retailer is in the clear. Once the product is of “merchantable quality”, fit for purpose and as described, you have no right to go looking for a refund or an exchange.

Service providers also like telling you that nothing is their fault. Playgrounds might warn you that you will have no recourse to the law if your kids are injured, while some dry cleaners put up signs warning you that you leave your clothes with them in at your peril.

A dry cleaner is legally obliged to carry out the service you are paying them for with reasonable skill, care and diligence. If they destroy that nice frock you wore only once because the person managing the machines went out for a cigarette break and left it lying in harsh chemicals too long, they have to make things right – either financially or by fixing the problem. Similarly, if they break loose buttons or tear something, you have a right to redress.

You might not get the full price back, but if the offer they make is not reasonable, you can go to the Small Claims Court. The rules change if you leave a delicate item in and the dry cleaner expresses concern and asks you to sign a waiver – so don’t sign anything without giving it serious thought first.

A slippery slope

Signs expressing the owner’s

reluctance to accept responsibility for accidents on their premises are common, but they are also unlawful. If there is a big pool of water on the ground in a shop and you slip on it, then the shop is at fault, no matter what their signs say, and if the playground swing comes loose and your child loses a tooth, the playground is at fault.

There are circumstances in which businesses can absolve themselves of responsibility. There are no regulations governing car parks, for example. By parking in a car park, you enter a private contract with the owner, and you agree to their conditions. If they have a sign up that tells you that all cars are parked at the owners’ risk, then whatever happens to your car is none of their concern.

Similarly if you leave your coat in the cloakroom in a nightclub and come back hours later to find it has been stolen, there is very little you can do once they have a visible sign along the lines of: “No responsibility taken for lost or stolen items.”

You might argue the toss on the grounds that you have paid for a service that they have failed to deliver, but the sign absolves them. Under the law they have told you unambiguously about the terms and conditions of the contract, and you have accepted them. They have said they are not providing security for your jacket, only somewhere to put it, so if anything happens to it it’s your look-out. In the absence of the sign you could argue that it is their responsibility as they have not warned you otherwise, but there is no guarantee that such a line would work.

Beware sleight of hand
Pricing signs and sales signs are where many sleights of hand are tried, even though the law here is strict. A sign that screams "special offer" at you is breaking the rules, because it does not make it clear what is so special about the offer. At the very least it must tell you what the price is now, what the price will be when the deal ends, and when the deal will end.

The rules on sale items are also clear – kind of. Under the Consumer Protection Act, if a retailer has crossed out one price and replaced it with a cheaper one, then whatever they are selling must have been on sale at the higher price “for a reasonable time”. While there is no definition of what “reasonable time” is, the NCA guidelines recommend that the product should have been on sale at the higher price for 28 consecutive days in the three months before it was discounted.

The “break it, it’s yours” line is only ever seen in small shops, and it is a legally grey area. If you break something in a shop and it is a genuine accident, they would struggle to make you pay for it, and in absolutely no circumstances can they demand you pay for the item before you leave the shop, and never the full retail price.

If they can prove you were negligent in handling the goods then the law may compel you to make restitution, but this would be capped by the court at the replacement cost and not the retail cost. It isn’t worth the hassle, however, so it is probably best to take care not to break anything.

The price tag
The most ubiquitous sign in any shop is the price tag, and this is where much confusion is to be found. There is a common assumption that we are entitled to get a product at whatever price it is marked at, even if it is wildly below the true price. This is not the case.

The price is viewed in law as an “invitation to treat” – effectively the retailer is asking you to offer that price for their product. When you do, the retailer can choose to accept it or not. If the shop notices the mistake before cash changes hands, then no contract is in place and they can simply take it off you despite your howls of protest. If they don’t notice the mistake and the sale goes through, however, then the transaction stands.