A Lviv resident paid an entrepreneur 2,834 hryvnias but received counterfeit goods. Here’s the court's decision on the matter.

A woman ordered headphones and a power bank from an individual entrepreneur for 2,834 hryvnias. However, upon inspection of the product, she discovered that she had been sold a counterfeit. The citizen is demanding a refund of the paid amount. This is stated in the decision of the Frankivsk District Court of Lviv, published on December 16, 2024.

On December 26, 2023, the woman ordered Marshal Motif A.N.C. headphones and a 50,000 mAh power bank from an individual entrepreneur for 2,834 hryvnias. The specified product was received on January 4, 2024. After its actual inspection on January 9, 2024, it was determined that she had been sold a counterfeit of substandard quality.

The woman returned the product to the seller. However, she did not receive her money back. She repeatedly attempted to recover the funds for the specified product, including contacting the Main Department of the State Consumer Service in Kyiv, which provided a formal response on February 27, 2024, and on February 16, 2024, indicating the impossibility of conducting an unscheduled inspection of the individual entrepreneur as a business entity and recommended involving the mentioned state service as a third party in case of filing a lawsuit.

What was the court's decision?

The court granted the woman's claim. The individual entrepreneur is to refund her for the returned product of proper quality: the Marshal Motif A.N.C. headphones and the 50,000 mAh power bank, totaling 2,834 hryvnias, along with a penalty for a 120-day delay in refunding the money from June 11, 2024, to June 11, 2021, amounting to 3,400 hryvnias, bringing the total to 6,234 hryvnias.

"Upon termination of the sales contract, settlements with the consumer are made based on the value of the product at the time of purchase. The money paid for the product is returned to the consumer on the day of contract termination, and if it is impossible to return the money on that day, then at another time as agreed by the parties, but no later than seven days. Under such circumstances, the court finds the claim for recovery from the respondent in favor of the plaintiff for the amount paid on December 26, 2023, for the product - Marshal Motif A.N.C. headphones, to be justified. According to Article 12 of this Law and Article 13 of the Law of Ukraine "On Consumer Rights Protection," the consumer is entitled to a fine of one percent of the product's value for each day of delay in the return of money. Thus, the amount of the penalty to be recovered from the respondent in favor of the plaintiff totals 3,400 hryvnias and is calculated at a rate of 1% of the product's value for each day of delay in refunding the money, specifically for the period from February 11, 2024, to June 11, 2024 (120 days x 1%)," the court emphasized. | |7|