Under German law, I think HP would have been fine. I think the important part is that (apparently) HP made a mistake when they put out that special offer. Whether or not a customer should be able to recognize it as such is secondary.
How quickly? What if the defect with the laptop isn't readily apparent and this is because the company has intentionally crafted their product in such a way so that the defect doesn't reveal itself to the customer until after the legally mandated warranty/return period?
Then you have to ask the seller to repair it for up to 2 years (1 year the manufacturer has to prove you destroyed the device if he does not want to repair it, 2 year you have to prove that's it's a manufacturing defect)
After 3 attempts, they have to give you your money back.
If the product is actually defect, you can return it even after the 14 days are over. With electronic devices, manufacturers must provide a mandatory warranty of two years.
That depends, did you buy it online? Then you can return the laptop basically no question asked for 14 days. There are some exceptions for custom orders, but I have never seen those enforced for anything not majorly custom build.
Offline you do not have this right, but a lot of retailers still have money back/voucher guarantees for 14 days.
Take this with a grain of salt, the law is pretty old in Germany and I have heard different things why it was introduced. Also the eu directive is lot newer.
- you can try things out in a shop, you can't online
- it comes from door salesman
Which liked to pressure people into buying stuff
- was extended to support local businesses as an added cost to sell online
>Could Lands End have kept its lifetime return policy in Germany under this law?
Don't know about that policy/any details, but sure.. why not?
Laws only define a minimum, not a maximum service level
I'm not sure about Germany. In the US, probably. It's not usually laws as much as stores having very generous return policies. To be fair, this was in the UK, so customs and laws are different.
Everyone makes mistakes and that fact is recognized under German law for situations like that (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erkl%C3%A4rungsirrtum). But of course, the customer should then be reimbursed.