Right to Repair Consultation (Option consommateurs' comments)

Issues concerning the repairability and durability of goods are among the most common problems encountered by Canadian consumers. As a consumer association, we receive hundreds of testimonials every year from consumers who inform us that a good they have purchased has developed a premature defect.

Whether it's a refrigerator that stops working the day after it's delivered, a computer that breaks down after two years or a sofa whose leather cracks within a few months, problems relating to the durability of goods are the most frequent problem reported to us via our legal information service.

In Quebec, the Consumer Protection Act stipulates that any good purchased by a consumer from a merchant must have a reasonable life1 . Although the courts have given a broad and liberal interpretation to this legal guarantee, so as to ensure that goods have an appreciable lifespan, the law can prove difficult to apply to a consumer acting alone against a merchant or manufacturer.

In addition to the issues related to the application of legal warranties under provincial law, consumers report a multitude of other obstacles to the repair and durability of goods.

These include:

• The prohibitive cost of repair. Consumers who wish to have an appliance repaired often have to pay so much that the purchase of a new item seems more attractive than the repair.
• Access to repair services and spare parts. Consumers report that they are unable to obtain replacement parts a few years after purchasing a product, or that they have to wait a long time before obtaining them.
• Appliance design. Many devices are difficult to repair, for example by using glued joints or by requiring the use of specialized tools, not commonly available, to open them.
• Programmed” obsolescence. Some consumers even accuse manufacturers of intentionally making their goods stop working prematurely in order to generate more revenue, for example by ceasing to make updates to connected devices, or by making their new devices incompatible with older ones.
• Lack of interoperability between devices. The lack of standardization of peripherals such as chargers is a major irritant for consumers.

We hope that Canada will be able to catch up by proposing concrete legislative measures that will contribute to the establishment of a genuine right to reparation in this country, a right that has long been demanded by civil society.