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Consumer Rights Revolution? Return goods for cash in Israel starts December 2010
Israel is slowly but surely starting to come ’round and realize the importance of the (gasp) consumer! The Knesset finally thinks it’s about time to get rid of receipts that say “2 weeks to return for store-credit only”. If you’ve ever bought anything in Israel, you’ll know that you better be 100% sure that you like it or that you can rush back to the store and hopefully find something else instead. New regulation has been passed that you now have those same 2 weeks, but this time you can get your money back.
Still lightyears behind the US’s return policy, it’s a step in the right direction.
Some notes:
- To qualify for a cash-back return, the item must be over 50 shekels
- Consumers will receive funds via the same method they paid
- Shoppers who purchase products from retail chains will be able to receive a refund at any of the chain’s stores.
- Full refunds will be given for all items returned within 14 days, with several exceptions and provisos for specific items. Shoes and clothing, for example may only be returned within 3 days of the purchase and on condition that they weren’t worn.
- All canceled deals will cost the buyer a 5% cancellation fee.
- Returning an electronic product will entail a 10% or NIS 100 cancellation fee – the lower of the two – if the original packaging was opened.
- Retailers are not required to provide refunds for purchases of lingerie, custom built furniture, food, medicine or foreign vacation package cancellations.
- The regulations also cover service plans, such as mobile phone contracts, hotel reservations and gym memberships.
- Companies will be forced to return the worth of the unused portion of the plan, but will be allowed to retain up to NIS 100 of the amount for services rendered or cancellation fees.
- Keep your receipt, but you can also show the label or tag on the item.
- The law goes into effect December 14, 2010, delayed from the intended October 2010.
The Big Felafel 
We have been waiting for this for years now. Hope this time its for real as they have been talking about it for years now.
| Posted 12 years, 5 months agoThis sounds really fair. We are just humana and as that we have the right to change our minds about everything including commodities 🙂
| Posted 12 years, 4 months agoI went into a store called Domino in Rechovot with a return and was told t I could get a credit or exchange . So I said I had heard there was a new law that you could return and receive your money back. The person waiting on me asked for the receipt and after looking at it exploded at me , since I wanted to go by t he law I was after 14 days and therefore I wan’t entitled to anything. When I protested that it wasn’t after 14 days but the 14th day . He looked at me and said I wasn’t beseder and that I didn’t get along with anyone and not to come to his store again. I left fuming walked two steps came back and unleashed the full fury of my wrath about how I couldn’t stand people who weren’t honest in their transactions. I said I never understood why everyone in stores yelled at each other but after receiving this kind of rude and unfair treatment I understood. He told me to calm down went outside to call his manager all the time picking his nose and then calmly returned and told me the rules for cash return. Only within three days and minus 10%. I received merchandise and left. Was it worth the 180 shekels I received to completely lose my temper and malign Israeli shop keepers. I t took quite a while for my blood pressure to retun to normal. There has to be a way to be assertive and respond to totally ridiculously rude behavior without becoming an animal myself.
| Posted 12 years, 3 months agoI just bought a water kettle. When I use it there is always a bad plastic taste in the water. Can I still return it?
| Posted 11 years, 5 months agoConsumers don’t have rights in Israel. The illusion of rights is passed by the Knesset in order to stimulate consumer spending. However, these rules are far from the current westernized countries policies of returns and exchanges on goods. Don’t ever expect Israel to catch up with these other developed countries, they won’t. If Israel offered the same kinds of return and exchange policies as other countries did, most of the retail stores would go out of business. The reason is because Israelis like to use their goods and return them for new goods when they get tired of them. Israelis are impulsive buyers, they buy goods they don’t need and then realize they shouldn’t have bought them. The guilt is what makes them want to return their goods. And as I mentioned above, this guilt would effectively close down the consumerism in Israel. That is why larger chains based out of the United States such as Walmart, and membership warehouses would not do well in Israel. They have opened up in the past, but they couldn’t stay open.
| Posted 8 years, 12 months agoOne example of a large membership warehouse type store in Israel was the Universe Club, it was a Costco type shopping experience but it closed pretty quickly because it dabbled with an American-style return and exchange policy
| Posted 8 years, 12 months ago