Credit Notes
If a consumer complaint is valid, a credit note has little or no basis in law. It is not an adequate remedy unless the consumer voluntarily accepts it. If a trader concedes that the consumer is entitled to a credit note, the consumer may insist on cash and is perfectly entitled to reject the credit note.
A credit note may of course be given if it is acceptable to the consumer. It is also sometimes given as a matter of goodwill when the trader does not accept that the consumer has a valid complaint. (In such circumstances a trader may need to make it clear that the credit note is not an admission of liability). When a complaint is valid, however, the trader may not insist on a credit note.