Cooling off period
Filed Under (Random Note) by Nic on 06-01-2008
Tagged Under : Cooling off, gym, Planet Fitness, purchasing
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No, not the time it takes someone to stop hating you or for you to calm down after a fight. I am talking about purchasing cooling off periods.
I am young and in many ways still very naive. I recently claimed (read purchased) my gym contract at Planet Fitness through my Discovery medical aid. It’s incredibly cheap if you are the principal member, which I am. But I was taken for a bit of sale.
On top of the simple contract there is this nifty little gadget that is provided to you at R99 a month. It’s a key that your personal trainer plugs your training program in to. Then you can use it to track your progress. Sounded like a great idea at the time. Then buyers remorse hit me. Big time. I came to terms with it but was then told by my wise mother that every purchase in life has a cooling off period.
We then checked through the contracts terms and conditions and guess what? There is a cooling off period of 5 days. This basically means that I am able to cancel my contract (the key thing) within five days of signing the contract. So I went back to gym today and applied to get my cash back.
A lesson learned. Cooling off periods exist and they are great.
I recently purchased an in-room “Joss” air conditioner from Bears, part of Ellerines Ltd. On using it, I found it was so noisy I could not hear my TV. I asked to return the Joss as being unsuitable for my purpose. Bears turned me down flatly. I insisted, claiming the HP Act 5 day cooling off period. Bears maintained that the HP Act no longer made such provision. I insisted that there had been breach of contract in that the goods did not fully satisfy the reason why I bought it, which was to cool my room and not fill it very unpleasant noise. I was not given prior sight of the Joss as it was “in store” but was assured that it was perfect for the job of cooling my room. After some insistence on my part, the sale contract was canceled. What was my legal position, especially regarding any cooling off period? Does the 5 day cooling off period still exist under the HP Act?
Thanks. R A Bowen
Please see my above comment.
Robert - To my knowledge it is a persons right to have that time under the act. I don’t think that it has been done away with, but I am no authority. Might actually have to do some more intricate research on this one!!