The fundamental distinction between the guarantee and the guarantee is derived from the Civil Code. Both institutions differ in responsibility for goods.
The seller is legally liable for non-compliance with the contract and the manufacturer is liable only if a guarantee document is attached to his product.
In the case of warranty, it is up to the Buyer to choose whether the Seller should fix the item or replace it with a new one, and this choice is binding on the Seller. If repair or exchange of goods is impossible or too costly, the Buyer shall be entitled to demand reimbursement of the price for the goods. However, it should be borne in mind that a claim for refund is granted to the Buyer only if the Seller fails to repair the items or replace them with a new one.
The guarantee takes into account both physical defects (non-compliance with the contract) and legal ones (goods do not belong to the Seller).
According to the Civil Code, the Seller is responsible to the Buyer for the defects of the thing that was sold. The liability of the warranty is absolute, not dependent on the Seller's fault, or even his knowledge of the defect of things.
Furthermore, it is not even dependent on the Buyer's injury due to the conclusion of a contract or the performance of a sale contract. A sufficient reason for this responsibility is the existence of a defect in things. In addition, there are no conditions in the regime of liability under the warranty to exempt the Seller from liability.
The guarantee takes into account both physical defects (non-compliance with the contract) and legal ones (goods do not belong to the Seller).
The failure is understood to be a failure to comply with the sales contract. The defect of a sold item may consist in the charge of property or other rights to persons third or on the existence of any other restriction on the use or disposition of things. In the case of the sale of rights, the defect may consist in the absence of the seller's rights to the sold item.
As a result of the introduction of Chapter 5a of the Consumer Rights Act, the Civil Code on the warranty no longer applies to contracts concluded by traders with consumers for the sale of movable goods, water, gas or electricity if offered for sale in a given volume or quantity.
On the other hand, the guarantee is a guarantee of the quality of the product. For liability under the guarantee, it does not matter whether the manufacturer was the Seller. It is provided by the manufacturer voluntarily, usually with the release of the goods. The guarantee shall be a written document setting the period within which the quality guarantee is valid and the conditions necessary to take it into account.
The guarantee document should contain at least the data necessary for the recovery of claims under the guarantee, in particular the name and name of the manufacturer or his representative in Poland, the duration of the guarantee and its territorial scope of guarantee protection.
In practice, the conclusion of a guarantee agreement is achieved by the acceptance by the Buyer of a guarantee document containing a declaration of the will of the guarantor. The legal provisions lay down the conditions for how the guarantor’s will is expressed.
Where the Buyer receives a guarantee document from the Seller and is not granted by the Seller only by the manufacturer, the Seller acts in such a situation as a messenger of the guarantor, because he does not make his own declaration of will, but only transmits a declaration of will of the guarantor.
The guarantee agreement is unilaterally mandatory. Such an agreement implies an obligation of the Buyer’s right to demand the contract.
Benefits from the guarantor are an accessory commitment to the obligations of the parties to the sale agreement. The performance of the guarantee obligation (e.g. the exchange of goods into a new one) does not affect the content of the relationship resulting from the sale contract, nor does it create a new legal relationship.
The rights of the buyer as defined in the contract and the corresponding obligations of the guarantor shall arise only if the sold item does not have the characteristics specified in the guarantee declaration.
For the liability of the guarantor is not a relative lack of such properties at the time of the issue of the item, but the occurrence of a lack of such properties during the duration of the guarantee. The term of the guarantee shall, in the absence of a different provision in the contract, be two years from the date of issue to the Buyer.
The obligations of the guarantor shall consist in particular of the reimbursement of the price paid, the exchange of goods for a new one or its repair and the provision of other services.
In the event of doubts arising out of the warranty agreement of the obligations of the guarantor, in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Code, it is understood that the guarantor is obliged to remove the physical defect of the item or to provide the item free of defects. The guarantee benefits are chosen by the guarantor, not the Buyer.
The provisions on guarantees are of a dispositive nature, meaning that their application may be excluded from the provisions of the guarantee agreement.
It should be remembered that the Buyer may exercise his warranty rights for physical defects of the thing, regardless of the rights arising from the guarantee.
The seller shall be responsible for the goods by two years from the date of issue to the consumer. If the consumer submits a complaint within a year, it is presumed that the thing had a defect on the date of acquisition and the buyer does not have to prove the existence of fault. It is the Seller who should demonstrate that the product's defects were created during misuse to free himself from liability.
In the case of a guarantee, it shall be granted for a limited period by the manufacturer. With the warranty possible request of the Buyer is specified by the manufacturer in the warranty document, while with the warranty the Customer decides which authorization will benefit from free repair or replacement of the goods into a new one. Where the Seller will not be able to meet two above benefits, the Buyer has the right to request a reduction in the price or refund for the goods.