Regarding the perfect tender rule, which statement is FALSE?

• A. A seller who has not made a perfect tender of the goods has a chance to cure the tender if there is time left on the contract.
• B. The perfect tender rule does not apply to an installment contract.
• C. If the seller tendered nonconforming goods under a reasonable understanding that the buyer would accept the replacement goods, the buyer must allow for cure of the defective tender.
• D. Once a buyer has accepted the goods, the buyer cannot revoke his acceptance and return the goods.

Answer: (D)

The key idea tested is how the perfect tender rule interacts with warnings to cure, the special treatment of installment contracts, and the possibility of revoking acceptance. Under the UCC, unless a contract is an installment contract, a seller must deliver conforming goods; if a tender is nonconforming, the seller has a chance to cure as long as there is time left in the contract to supply conforming goods. This is why the statement about curing when time remains is correct.

Installment contracts carve out a specific exception: the perfect tender rule doesn’t operate identically for each installment. A buyer may reject an installment if the nonconformity substantially impairs the value of that installment or if it cannot be cured, which shows why strict perfect tender doesn’t apply in the same way to installments. That aligns with the idea that the rule doesn’t apply identically to installment contracts.

If the seller delivers nonconforming goods but does so with a reasonable belief that the buyer would accept replacement goods, the buyer is generally required to allow a cure. The seller’s initial nonconforming tender isn’t automatically a dead end; the contract allows for curing the defect after reasonable time or assurances of cure.

The statement about not being able to revoke acceptance once it has occurred is not correct. A buyer can revoke acceptance if the nonconformity substantially impairs value and was not discoverable before acceptance, and the revocation must occur within a reasonable time after discovery. Once revoked, the buyer can return the goods.