Bob, a private individual, visits a store in California — where Corp, the manufacturer, maintains a showroom — and proceeds to purchase a consumer goods.
Bob, after explaining his needs relevant to the purchase, is brought the product to the store front from the back, and is prompted to make a credit card payment via an otherwise unique and atypical machine.
Bob is presented a credit card machine that does not include a screen to present any terms, and he is not presented any other written or oral terms by Corp or any of its representatives. Bob pays and Corp delivers. Bob, however, does not receive an a copy of the otherwise existing owner's manual or an express warranty.
The ordinary use, however, has been defined in written statements which entered the bargain in that Bob reviewed and relied on them.
Before day 60 of the purchase, and the first successful use of the product, therein, Bob learns that the product does not fit for the ordinary purposes such products are used and/or for which he specified and therefore gave a reason to Corp. to know Bob's particular although not unordinary purpose to use the consumer goods.
Bob returns, and Corp. refuses to replace or refund.
Corp. refuses to refund or replace the item, and advises Bob that he raise his concerns with the "online sales department", and Corp., therein, informs Bob that his purchase was an online purchase and the retail store does not handle any complaints.
Paragraph (b) of Section 1791 states:
“Buyer” or “retail buyer” means any individual who buys consumer goods from a person engaged in the business of manufacturing, distributing, or selling consumer goods at retail. As used in this subdivision, “person” means any individual, partnership, corporation, limited liability company, association, or other legal entity that engages in any of these businesses. (emphasis added)
I have been looking for the relevant authority to define "at retail" for a while, but I could not find a statute that I am sure is relevant here.
I found Sales and Use Tax Law § 6007. (a)(1)A defining that:
"[R]etail sale" or "sale at retail" means a sale for a purpose other than resale in the regular course of business in the form of tangible personal property.
I am not completely sure if this would not be what governs it, but I'm also not sure it is.
I couldn't find a definition in U.C.C., neither in Magnuson-Moss.
Is there any case law on this or some other statute's definition that applies?
Authorities
§1791.1 (a)(2), (b) and (c)
"“[A] violation . . . is not willful if the defendant’s failure to replace or refund was the result of a good faith and reasonable belief the facts imposing the statutory obligation were not present[...]" (Lukather v. General Motors, LLC (2010) 181 Cal.App.4th 1041, 1051 [104 Cal.Rptr.3d 853])
”The [Song Beverly] act provides for both express and implied warranties, and while under a manufacturer’s express warranty the buyer must allow for a reasonable number of repair attempts within 30 days before seeking rescission, that is not the case for the implied warranty of merchantability’s bulwark against fundamental defects.” (Brand v. Hyundai Motor America (2014) 226 Cal.App.4th 1538, 1545 [173 Cal.Rptr.3d 454]”
“[T]he Act does not require consumers to take any affirmative steps to secure relief for the failure of a manufacturer to service or repair a vehicle to conform to applicable warranties—other than, of course, permitting the manufacturer a reasonable opportunity to repair the vehicle . . . . In reality, . . . , the manufacturer seldom on its own initiative offers the consumer the options available under the Act: a replacement vehicle or restitution. Therefore, as a practical matter, the consumer will likely request replacement or restitution. But the consumer’s request is not mandated by any provision in the Act. Rather, the consumer’s request for replacement or restitution is often prompted by the manufacturer’s unforthright approach and stonewalling of fundamental warranty problems.” (Lukather v. General Motors, LLC (2010) 181 Cal.App.4th 1041, 1050 [104 Cal.Rptr.3d 853])
