Delaware Consumer Protection Laws: Lemon Law, Refunds, Repairs and Scams

Delaware's lemon law covers passenger motor vehicles bought or leased in Delaware or registered by the Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles (excluding motor home living quarters). A reasonable number of repair attempts is presumed if, within the warranty term or one year from delivery, whichever is earlier, substantially the same defect was repaired four or more times and still exists, or the vehicle was out of service for repairs more than 30 calendar days in total. The presumption applies only if the manufacturer received direct written notice and a chance to repair. If the defect is not fixed, the manufacturer must replace the vehicle with a comparable new one acceptable to the consumer or repurchase it and refund the full purchase price and related costs, minus a limited allowance for use; the consumer has an unqualified right to choose a refund instead of a replacement.

In a door-to-door sale of consumer goods or services of $25 or more (made somewhere other than the seller's place of business), the buyer may cancel before midnight of the third business day after the transaction. The seller must give a contract or receipt with a bold notice of the right to cancel and two copies of a "Notice of Cancellation" form, in the same language as the sales pitch. After cancellation, payments and trade-ins must be returned within ten business days. Failing to follow these rules is an unlawful practice under the Consumer Fraud Act.

Delaware's Consumer Fraud Act (6 Del. C. § 2511 et seq.) prohibits deception, fraud, false pretense, false promise, misrepresentation, unfair practices, and concealment of material facts in the sale, lease or advertisement of merchandise, and the Deceptive Trade Practices Act (6 Del. C. § 2531 et seq.) prohibits misleading business practices. Any victim of a Consumer Fraud Act violation has a private cause of action and may sue without prior action by the Attorney General.

Before starting work, an auto repair shop must give the customer a written statement with the estimated completion date, the estimated price for parts and labor, and any estimated surcharge, unless the customer waives a written estimate, in which case the shop must give an oral estimate and keep a signed written record. The shop may not charge more than the estimate by 20% or $50, whichever is less, without the customer's consent, and may not charge for repairs the customer did not authorize. The shop must offer to return replaced parts, except parts returned to the manufacturer and hazardous or recyclable items.

Anyone selling third-party gift cards must post a conspicuous notice where the cards are displayed or sold, warning buyers about prepaid card scams and telling them what to do if they suspect they are a scam target.

Credit services organizations may not charge or receive payment before completing all promised services unless they have posted a surety bond or set up a surety account in a Delaware federally insured institution. They may not guarantee to "erase bad credit" unless they disclose this is possible only for inaccurate or obsolete information, and they must register, give a disclosure statement and use a written contract. Debt-management service providers are regulated separately under Delaware's Debt-Management Services chapter.

A business that owns or licenses computerized personal information must notify affected Delaware residents of a breach of security without unreasonable delay and no later than 60 days after determining the breach, unless an appropriate investigation reasonably finds the breach is unlikely to cause harm. Shorter federal deadlines and law-enforcement delays apply. Businesses that maintain data for someone else must notify the owner immediately.

File a Consumer Complaint Form with the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Unit, or call 800-220-5424 or email consumer.protection@delaware.gov for help. An intake investigator gathers information; possible law violations go to a supervisor for review, while contract disputes are usually handled through informal mediation by phone or letter. If mediation fails and no law was broken, the consumer may need to contact an attorney.

1) Written notice: the presumption that the manufacturer had a reasonable number of repair attempts (4 or more repairs of the same problem, or more than 30 calendar days out of service, within the warranty term or 1 year after delivery, whichever is earlier) does not apply unless the manufacturer has received prior direct written notice from or on behalf of the consumer and has had an opportunity to repair the problem. 2) Final repair attempt: no separate final-repair step is described beyond that opportunity to repair. 3) Arbitration: Delaware has no state-run lemon law arbitration program. If the manufacturer has an informal dispute program certified by the Division of Consumer Protection, the consumer must use it first before the lemon law remedies are available; if the program is not certified, the consumer may go directly to the lemon law remedies. A certified program must hold hearings in Delaware and generally decide within 65 days after the consumer starts the process by written notice. 4) Deadline: the lemon law chapter does not state a separate deadline to file a claim or lawsuit. In a court action the court may award the consumer costs and reasonable attorney's fees.