What Consumers Should Know About Household Services
What Consumers Should Know About Household Services
Household services refer to any work or services provided by individual entrepreneurs or legal entities to meet everyday consumer needs. This category covers a wide range of services — from tailoring and furniture manufacturing to appliance repair, hairdressing, and many more.
It’s important to understand that all such services are regulated by consumer protection laws.
When using these services, you are entitled to certain consumer rights, including:
- the right to freely enter into service contracts;
- the right to receive full and accurate information about the service and the service provider;
- the right to safe services;
- the freedom to choose among available services;
- the right to services of proper quality that meet mandatory standards, contract terms, and declared service information;
- the safety of manufactured or repaired items during their designated service life;
- fulfillment of warranty obligations on manufactured or repaired products, buildings (including housing), and other services, within the timeframes defined by standards;
- the obligation of the service provider to meet the deadlines specified in the contract;
- full compensation for losses (damage) caused to life, health, or property due to service defects;
- compensation for moral damages.
If you receive poor-quality service, you have the right to demand:
- free correction of service deficiencies;
- a proportionate reduction in the service fee;
- free remake of an item from the same type of material or re-provision of the service;
- reimbursement of expenses incurred for correcting deficiencies, if such a right is included in the contract.
About Deadlines
According to Article 34 of the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On Protection of Consumer Rights", the service provider must complete the work or render the service within the deadline set by the contract, unless otherwise provided by Kazakhstani law.
The contract may specify the start and end dates of the service, as well as intermediate deadlines for stages of the work. If these deadlines are violated and timely completion becomes clearly impossible, the consumer has the right to terminate the contract and claim damages.
Any deficiencies identified during the service or after its completion must be corrected within ten calendar days from the date the claim is submitted, unless a different period is specified in the contract.
If deadlines for starting or completing the service, or fixing the deficiencies, are violated, the service provider must pay a penalty of 1% of the service cost for each day of delay, unless otherwise stated in the contract or legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
If the service provider refuses to correct the issue, you have the right to submit a written complaint. If no response is received within ten calendar days, or if the provider refuses to resolve the issue or compensate for the damage caused by the defective service, and refuses to participate in pre-trial dispute resolution, you may contact: Department of Trade and Consumer Protection of East Kazakhstan Region. Phone: 8 (7232) 26-72-07 Or file a complaint through the "E-Ötinish" system.