Expired goods must be replaced by store employees before it opens, otherwise it will be considered a direct violation of consumer law.
Myself the buyer has the right to bring expired goods for verification and then, if there is a positive result, provide it to consumer protection organizations as direct evidence of the store's fault.
What should I do if I find an expired product?
Firstly, make sure it really overdue, since many buyers, due to their physiological characteristics, cannot see the numbers on the label and believe that the product has already expired.
After the check has been completed, you need to find a store consultant and ask him a leading question: why did you not replace the expired product with a new one.
If this does not happen, you can call the administrator and ask him the same question as the consultant.
Store employees cannot argue with a customer if product expiration date really expired. They are required to replace the item in the standard order and put in its place new version, previously by looking at the date.
If employees ignore the request of the buyer, you can file complaint to the organization for consumer protection with a request to investigate the illegal actions of the store.
After the evidence of the guilt of the employees is proven, an internal audit will begin, based on the conclusions of which the fate of the trading platform will be decided.
What evidence is needed?
Before starting to check the store, the person will be asked how he understood that the goods were expired, what actions he took and what evidence he has.
Here it is necessary to clearly and briefly decompose everything, and at the end to provide direct evidence of the sellers' guilt:
- Receipt of purchased products. After a person has purchased an expired product, he can easily take a photo of the date of manufacture and expiration date of the item and the check that the cashier gave him. Or you can provide a hard copy of the check, which serves as direct evidence that cannot be challenged;
- Recording conversations with consultants. If a person managed to record his dialogue with store employees, this will be another bonus in his evidence box. The record must pass an identification check by an expert and then it can be attached to the case. But this will be done only if the record contains the words of employees like “we will not do anything”, “let it remain as it was”, “we are not solving anything here”. Otherwise, the audio material will be invalid;
- eyewitness testimony. The buyer may bring witnesses with him or take from them an affidavit written in their own handwriting about the incident. Concrete details should appear in the testimony: the name of the witness, what he did in the store, whether he could clearly see the crime, a description of the defendants and their words;
- Product. If a person brings an item that he bought to a consumer protection organization, and the date of manufacture and expiration date, as well as the signs of the store, will be visible on it, there is no way to avoid it.
In addition to all this, employees of the organization can themselves collect the evidence base:
- Ask store employees, leadership and casual witnesses. The key in this case are those employees and people who were on the territory of the store at the time of the crime and saw everything. There is also responsibility for false testimony, which must be remembered;
- Seize security cameras. The store has more than 100 outdoor and indoor video surveillance cameras, which clearly show who, where and when. If the store management refuses to provide materials, they can be convicted of a crime without even collecting evidence.
Despite the richness of this process, it is not easy and relaxed, but rather difficult and responsible.
Both the consumer himself and the organization, according to his rights, must maintain composure and not lead to provocations of the trading platform.
A responsibility
If a the fault of the store employees will be proven, she will be punished in the form a fine from 3 to 15 thousand rubles, correctional labor or probation.
In addition, the store management has the right to dismiss its employees under the article for unworthy provision of their services.
In its turn trading floor also bears responsibility for the incident and may be imposed a fine in the form of 30 - 75 thousand rubles.
If the organization for the protection of consumer rights during the internal audit reveals more violations, it will be obliged to attract the store and for them, as was the case with expired goods.
This situation teaches the store to hire diligent employees, and the employees themselves - to perform their duties with high quality, so that later they would not be ashamed of them.
But not everyone follows the law: unscrupulous sellers change labels, color meat, and use old canned food to make salads for the culinary department.
Olga Svistunova
goes shopping with a magnifying glass
Find out what to do if you find an expired item and how to get the store to remove it.
Look at the calendar
On any food product, the date of manufacture and the expiration date must be indicated - this is the period after which the product cannot be eaten. If the cheese is good before December 1, it should not be on the counter by December 2. All dates must be legible, if the numbers are blurry - this is a violation.
Return to store
If you find a delay, according to the law, you have four ways:
- Request a replacement for a product with a normal expiration date.
- Ask for a discount.
- Return the delay and get the money back.
- Or go to court.
If the check could not be saved, you can still prove the purchase: in almost every store, the checkout areas are monitored by video cameras. Ask to see these records. Remember who could see you buying: perhaps the guy from the next entrance was in line behind you.
Attract Volunteers
If complaints do not help and you keep running into delays, write to the volunteers about it. These active guys go shopping, look for low-quality goods, and then force the stores to exchange expired products for fresh ones.
This movement forced several large retail chains to answer for the delay: Billa will return the money for the expired product or exchange it for a fresh one,
Editorial
If you find or buy expired products
Despite the fact that expired goods should not lie on store shelves, in practice, no one is immune from this. In supermarkets, products with an expiring shelf life, as a rule, are put in a prominent place, and then they may not be removed in time.
Don't put up with being lied to retail chains by selling expired goods. If you are faced with fraud, it is in your power to punish an unscrupulous seller. This is the only way to teach sellers to respect buyers.
If you find an expired product in the store
It is, of course, the easiest way to silently move away from the counter, on which the expired goods lie - and the nerves are intact, and time is saved! But it means going along with it and putting those who buy the product without considering the expiration date in trouble. We must take an active civic stand on this issue.
If you find an expired product, tell either the seller or the store manager about it. True, it is possible that, having removed the expired product from the shelf at your signal, they will immediately put it back after you leave. And it happens that the dates are interrupted, prolonging the expiration date. Therefore, do not hesitate to demand the Book of Complaints and Suggestions. Be sure to indicate there the fact of the presence of expired goods on store shelves. This record will not be fixed, as they say, in the table. Special bodies controlling activities trade enterprises, monitor the contents of the complaint book.
What to do if you are sold an expired product
If, through inattention, you nevertheless bought a product that can no longer be consumed, you should not be inactive. The Consumer Protection Act describes how to deal with situations where a customer is the victim of a sly trade relationship. Knowledge of consumer rights will allow not to scandal, but to confidently argue your position.
1. Make it a rule to take a receipt with your purchase. With this document, it is much easier to prove that you bought this product in this store. And they bought it today, not a month ago.
2. If you don’t have a receipt, then you can prove that you came to the store and bought goods here, a recording from a surveillance camera can. Today, many entrepreneurs install such a security system at retail outlets. Require a review of the record to convince store employees that you made a purchase here. Witnesses can also come to your aid, if any. Indeed, according to Art. 25 of the Law, the consumer's lack of a receipt or other document that confirms the payment for the goods does not deprive him of the opportunity to refer to the testimony of witnesses.
3. Approach the seller and show the bad purchase. If you are a regular customer in this store, say that you come here for shopping every day, and this situation is extremely unpleasant for you. As a rule, customers are always met halfway and return the money or change the product even without a receipt. This technique works especially well with "spectators". If there are a lot of people in the store, then the sellers, not wanting to earn a bad reputation for their point of sale, immediately apologize, say that there was a misunderstanding that will not happen again, and solve your problem.
4. If the seller does not want to talk to you and take back the goods, refer to the manual. Threaten that if the damaged product is not exchanged for you, you will take it to Rospotrebnadzor. Shop owners are afraid of sanitary control checks, as they can always find violations at the outlet.
5. If the conversation with the store administration does not give results, do so - contact Rospotrebnadzor. Write a statement that on such and such a date in such and such a store you purchased certain products, and later found that they were expired. Describe in detail when you came to the store, with whom you talked, what results you achieved. Attach the purchase receipt and the expired product to the application. Rospotrebnadzor will be required to take action on your letter. Phones of regional departments of Rospotrebnadzor, as a rule, are placed in stores at information stands. You can also write a letter to Rospotrebnadzor with a complaint about the store on the official website supervisory authority.
In addition, on " hotline» Rospotrebnadzor will tell you what to do in a particular situation, for example, if the consumer is not satisfied with the quality of the purchased product or the service provided. The hotline phone is 8 800 100 0004, it works every weekday from 1000 to 1700, a break from 1200 to 1245 (Moscow time). The call is free from any locality in Russia. "Hot lines" also work in the regional divisions of Rospotrebnadzor.
Returned from the store and found that you bought an expired product? Sobesednik.ru knows what to do.
This situation is familiar to almost everyone. Of course, before buying, be sure to check the expiration date. But often we go to the store in a hurry or tired after work. Alas, attention in this case is scattered. It also happens that they looked at the date on one jar or package, but took several pieces without checking them. And one was out of date.
Of course, the store has no right to keep on the shelves in trading floor, let alone sell expired goods. And yet it happens - after all, products with an expiring shelf life are trying to be put forward so that they can be taken sooner. And they can just forget to clean it in time. If you notice such a product on the shelf - just tell one of the sellers on the trading floor to remove it. If you accidentally bought this product, you have every right to return it.
You have the Consumer Protection Act on your side. It says: in case of defects in the product, the consumer has the right to demand a replacement of the product of the same brand or a refund.
The situation will be resolved quite simply if you have a check (therefore, it is better not to throw out checks immediately). In this case, it is enough to bring the expired product and a receipt for it to the store, and you will be required to exchange the product or return the money. If reputation is important to the store, then there should be no problems at all in this case.
But if you have already thrown out the check, then it will be more difficult to return the money, although it is possible. The receipt is only needed to confirm that you actually made a purchase in this store on a given day. But other evidence is also possible.
According to Article 25 of the Law "On Protection of Consumer Rights", the lack of a consumer product, cash receipt or other document confirming payment for the goods does not deprive him of the opportunity to refer to witness testimony. So if you went to the store with someone - it can help prove you right. In addition, the fact of purchase must be recorded by surveillance cameras - and you can demand to verify this. True, most likely the sellers will not agree to this and will either exchange the goods for you without proof, or refuse to do so in principle.
Usually stores do replace expired products, as it is completely unprofitable for them to publicize the fact that they sell expired goods. But if you are flatly refused to return the money or exchange the goods, you can take the following steps:
Leave a note about the incident in the book of complaints and suggestions.
Compile in writing and submit to the store a claim for the quality of the product, which has expired. The claim is drawn up in an arbitrary form, but from its content it should be clear who requires replacement, which product and for what reason.
Claim rules:
Title (claim or statement);
Information about who the claim is addressed to (indicate the legal name of the store and the full name of its director) and from whom the claim is filed (name, contact phone number, postal address);
Information about the product: name of the product, its cost, date of purchase, expiration date of the product indicated on the package;
The essence of the claims to the goods (in any form);
Requirements for the seller, indicating the numbers of articles of the Law "On Protection of Consumer Rights", confirming the legitimacy of your requirements;
If you claim damages (for example, for treatment for poisoning), documents confirming the amount of damages must be attached to the claim;
List of documents attached to the claim (copy of a sales or cash receipt, etc.).
Name, signature of the applicant and date.
The claim must be prepared in duplicate, one of which is given to the seller, administrator or other authorized person. On the second copy, you must put a mark on the acceptance of the claim: the signature of the person who accepted the claim, its transcript, the date of acceptance, seal or stamp legal entity(or IP).
You can use the hotline of Rospotrebnadzor, where they will tell you what to do in a particular situation. Hotline phone: 8-800-100-0004 is open every weekday from 10.00 to 17.00. The call is free from any locality in Russia.
You can write a letter to Rospotrebnadzor with a complaint about the store on the official website of the supervisory authority. It is better if you take a picture of the expired product and attach the photo to the letter. If your camera can set the date - use it.
Sale of goods after the expiration date is prohibited. About
this is clearly stated in paragraph 5 of article 5 of the Law of the Russian Federation "On the protection of the rights
consumers." Therefore, they should be withdrawn from commercial circulation. AT
in accordance with paragraph 2 of article 3 of the Law of the Russian Federation of 02.01.2000. N 29-FZ "On the quality and safety of food products" food products, materials and products, the expiration date of which has expired, are recognized as low-quality and dangerous and are not subject to sale.
By virtue of p.p. 1, 2, Article 503 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the buyer to whom the goods of inadequate quality are sold, if its shortcomings were not specified by the seller, at his choice, has the right to demand:
replacement of low-quality goods with goods of good quality;
proportional reduction of the purchase price;
immediate gratuitous elimination of defects in the goods;
reimbursement of expenses for the elimination of defects in the goods.
In case of detection of defects in the goods, the properties of which do not allow them to be eliminated (food products, household chemicals, etc.),
the buyer, at his option, has the right to demand a replacement of such goods
goods of good quality or a commensurate reduction in the purchase price.
Based on p.p. 4, 5, article 5 of the Law "On Protection of Consumer Rights" dated DD.MM.YYYY No. (as amended by DD.MM.YYYY) for food, perfumes and cosmetics, medicines, household chemicals and other similar goods (work) the manufacturer (executor) is obliged to establish an expiration date - the period after which the goods (work) are considered unsuitable for their intended use.
Sale
goods (performance of work) after the expiration date, and
also goods (performance of work) for which a deadline must be set
suitability, but it is not installed, is prohibited.
By virtue of paragraph 1 of Article 13 of this Law, for violation of consumer rights, the manufacturer (performer, seller, authorized organization or authorized individual entrepreneur, importer) is liable under the law or the contract.
In accordance with Article 15 of the same Law, moral damage caused
to the consumer as a result of a violation by the manufacturer (performer, seller,
authorized body or authorized individual
entrepreneur, importer) consumer rights provided for by laws and
legal acts Russian Federation governing relations in the field
protection of consumer rights, is subject to compensation by the tortfeasor in case of
presence of his guilt. The amount of compensation for non-pecuniary damage is determined by the court and
does not depend on the amount of compensation for property damage.
Compensation for moral damage is carried out regardless of compensation for property damage and losses incurred by the consumer.
According to Article 1099 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the grounds and amount of compensation to a citizen for moral damage are determined by the rules provided for by this Chapter and Article 151 of this Code.
Moral damage caused by actions (inaction) that violate the property rights of a citizen is subject to compensation in cases provided for by law.
According to Article 151 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, if a citizen has suffered moral harm (physical or moral suffering) by actions that violate his personal non-property rights or encroach on non-material benefits belonging to the citizen, as well as in other cases provided for by law, the court may impose on the violator the duty monetary compensation said harm.
