Guides / Major and minor failures
Major and minor failures: repair, replace or refund
Whether you can insist on a refund depends on one question: is the failure major?
In short
- Whether you can insist on a refund depends on one question: is the failure major?
- A major failure: you can reject the goods and ask for a refund or a replacement of the same type, or keep them and claim compensation for the drop in value.
- A minor failure: the business can choose to repair the goods within a reasonable time, or to replace or refund them.
- Several minor failures, taken together, can amount to a major failure.
When a failure is major
A failure with goods is major if, for example:1
- a reasonable consumer who knew about the problem would not have bought the goods;
- the goods are substantially unfit for their normal purpose, or for a purpose you made known, and cannot easily be fixed within a reasonable time;
- the goods are significantly different from the description, sample or demonstration model;
- the goods are unsafe.
Several minor failures, taken together, can amount to a major failure.2
What a major failure gives you
You choose. You can reject the goods and ask for a refund or a replacement of the same type, or keep them and claim compensation for the drop in value.3 You must return rejected goods, unless they cannot be returned without significant cost, in which case the business must collect them within a reasonable time at its own expense.4 A refund must be money, not a credit note. The right to reject ends after a reasonable period, depending on the type of goods and how long they would normally last.5
What a minor failure gives you
The business can choose to repair the goods within a reasonable time, or to replace or refund them. If it refuses or takes too long, you can have them repaired elsewhere and recover the reasonable cost, or reject them.6
Other loss
For either kind of failure, you can also claim other loss that was reasonably foreseeable, such as the cost of hiring a replacement or damage the faulty goods caused.6
Services
The same idea applies to services: for a major failure you can end the contract and get a refund for any part not yet provided or used, or claim compensation for the drop in value.7
When to get help
If the business says the failure is minor and you think it is major, the answer often depends on facts that need to be set out carefully.
The law
- ACL s 260.
- ACL s 260(2).
- ACL s 259(3); s 263(4).
- ACL s 263(2), (3), (5).
- ACL s 262(1)(a), (2).
- ACL s 259(2) (minor failure); s 259(4) (other loss).
- ACL ss 267(3), 268, 269(3).
Last reviewed: November 2026. This page is general information about Victorian and Commonwealth law as at November 2026. It is not legal advice about your circumstances.
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