Transcript
Complaints and conciliation video two – When we assess your complaint
So, you’re stuck in a dispute with a business or landlord and have made a formal complaint to us.
Once it’s submitted, your complaint joins others waiting to be assessed. When assessing your complaint, we’ll look at the details you provided to see if:
- the issue is covered by the laws we’re responsible for, and
- we’re the best organisation to take on your complaint.
We may reach out for more information when assessing your complaint. Please be sure to reply promptly as without that information we may not be able to help you.
If we can assist with your complaint
If we can assist with your complaint, it will move into
- early intervention or
- conciliation.
Occasionally, in special circumstances, a matter may be referred for investigation.
Early Intervention
If we believe you and the business may be able to resolve the issue together, with a little prompt from us, your complaint will start with what we call “early intervention”.
Through this informal process, we encourage the business to reach out to you to resolve your issue. We’ll send an email to you and the business that explains what to do.
Coming to a mutual agreement together at this stage is the quickest and easiest way to resolve a complaint about a product or service. If you can’t resolve your complaint together at this stage, we’ll assist with conciliation.
More complex complaints will skip early intervention and move straight to the conciliation queue.
Conciliation
In this voluntary process, a conciliator works with you and the business or landlord to find a solution to your complaint together. Conciliation is most effective when both people are reasonable and willing to negotiate.
If your complaint goes into the conciliation queue, we’ll send you an email explaining the conciliation process and what to expect. Your complaint will be assigned to one of our conciliators for review, in order of priority. For example, a consumer facing eviction would be prioritised over a complaint about issues with a new television.
Please note - if you are looking for a court-enforceable outcome, or if your issue is urgent, you can apply directly to the Magistrates Court. You don’t need to wait for conciliation.
Investigation
With investigations, our focus is identifying when businesses or landlords have broken the law and getting them to follow the rules.
We may investigate if it’s a serious breach of the law, like a dealer selling unroadworthy vehicles. Or, if you’re reporting a business that has broken the law but you’re not seeking an outcome.
If we decide to investigate, an investigator will reach out to you. And if you didn’t get an outcome in conciliation, like a refund, or if you’re seeking compensation, we’ll recommend you make a claim with the Magistrates Court.
If we’re unable to assist with your complaint
If we we’re unable to assist with your complaint, we may
- refer you to another organisation that may be better able to help you, or
- suggest other ways to resolve the issue.
Referred to another organisation
If we refer you to another organisation, we’ll email to let you know why, and how to connect with them.
For example,
- if you’re a small business complaining about another business, we’ll refer you to the Small Business Development Corporation (SBDC),
- if your complaint is about a building service, we’ll refer you to Building and Energy, or
- if your complaint is about an insurance policy, we’ll refer you to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA)
There are many industry organisations available, depending on the nature of your complaint.
Other ways to resolve the issue
If we’re unable to assist, we’ll let you know by email and suggest other options that may be available.
For example, we may not be able to assist with your complaint when
- your best option is to apply to the Magistrates Court, or
- the business or landlord has already offered you a reasonable remedy, or
- Consumer Protection does not have the powers to resolve it.
Closing
Rest assured, we will keep you informed no matter which path your complaint takes.
Up next in our Complaints and Conciliation video series we explain the Early Intervention process.
For more information about the complaint process, visit our website at consumerprotection.wa.gov.au or give us a call on 1300 30 40 54.