The two-year legal guarantee, in practice

The shop answers, not the factory

The party liable for the fault is the seller you bought from. Not the manufacturer, not the service centre, not the brand printed on the box. It is the point that weaker shops most often try to deflect — "please contact the manufacturer" — and knowing the claim goes to whoever took your money settles most cases.

The basis is Italy’s Consumer Code, which applies where the buyer is a consumer and the seller a professional. Between two businesses the rules differ.

Two years, and the first one counts double

The guarantee covers conformity defects appearing within two years of delivery: not only breakdowns, but also an item that differs from how it was described or lacks the qualities you would expect from that kind of product.

During the first year the buyer’s position is more comfortable: a defect appearing then is presumed to have existed at delivery, and it is for the seller to prove otherwise. After that, the burden shifts to the person claiming. Which is why an intermittent problem is worth reporting the moment you see it, not when it becomes unbearable.

One detail still trips people up: the duty to report the defect within two months of discovering it was removed by the reform that took effect in 2022. If that deadline is in your head, it belongs to rules that no longer apply.

What you can ask for, and in what order

The remedies come in a hierarchy. First repair or replacement, your choice between the two, at no cost: no labour, no parts, no shipping. The seller can refuse your choice only if it is impossible or disproportionately expensive compared with the other.

If repair or replacement does not arrive within a reasonable time, does not fix the problem, or causes significant inconvenience, you move to the second group: a price reduction or termination of the contract, meaning your money back. Termination is not available for a minor defect.

The manufacturer’s warranty is a different thing

A commercial warranty — the brand’s, often one or two years, sometimes extendable for a fee — sits on top of the legal guarantee. It does not replace it and cannot limit it. If the service centre refuses, your claim against the shop is untouched.

The reverse holds too: a generous commercial warranty takes nothing away, but adds little in the first two years, because you already have that protection.

Connected products, updates and second-hand

For products with digital elements — a smartwatch, a connected TV, an appliance with its own app — conformity also covers the updates needed to keep them working, for as long as the consumer can reasonably expect. A device that stops working because the service behind it was switched off is not automatically a closed case.

For second-hand goods the period can be shortened by agreement, but not below one year, and the reduction must be agreed clearly: a line buried in the terms is not enough.

As with withdrawal, this is general information rather than advice. The thing that helps most is mundane: make the claim in writing, describe the fault in one line, and keep the proof of purchase — which can be the order confirmation email, not necessarily a paper receipt.