Recently, Guiyang citizen Ms. Wu complained to the Consumers Association of Baiyun District that she bought toilets and faucets for 1,600 yuan at a sanitary ware store on Longjing Road, Jinyang Ceramics and Building Materials Market. On August 19th, the operator sent a master worker to come and install it. The next day, she was stunned when she opened the door of her new home: the floor, cabinets, and wallpaper were all soaked in water, and the house was already “a golden mountain of water.” After inspection, it was found that it was caused by a break in the secondary molding part of the faucet that was installed the day before, causing a direct loss of about 20,000 yuan.
Subsequently, Ms. Wu contacted the operator to ask for compensation. However, the operator believes that the manufacturer has made it clear on the quality assurance card: “If there is an automatic leakage or accident, the factory shall replace the same model product within the warranty period, but is not responsible for other losses or expenses caused by this.” Therefore, Only agreed to compensate 500 yuan.
The staff of the Consumers Association pointed out that, according to the Consumer Rights Protection Law, “operators shall not exclude or restrict consumers’ rights, reduce or exempt operators’ responsibilities, or aggravate consumer responsibilities by means of format clauses, notices, declarations, shop notices, etc. Such provisions are unfair and unreasonable to consumers.” Therefore, the manufacturer’s own exemption clause is illegal and invalid.
**In the end, the operator admitted that the faucet sold by him did have quality problems. The mediator fully considered the actual situation at the scene and proposed that the economic loss should be borne 70% by the operator and 30% by the consumer. Ms. Wu finally received 15,000 yuan in compensation.