Consumer Protection

For many of us, summer is the season to relax and unwind but this is also the time of year when travelling tradespeople start approaching householders and businesses with ‘cheap’ deals on jobs like roof painting and bitumen laying.

Travelling salespeople often use high pressure tactics to make their deal and can charge exorbitant rates for sometimes sub-standard work, so we are reminding consumers to be aware of their right to a cooling off period when they receive an uninvited approach from a tradesperson.

A dealership which specialised in selling luxury motor vehicles on consignment and its Director have been fined a total of $90,000 by the Perth Magistrates Court for breaking laws designed to protect consumers.

As some of us get older, some of our housing needs are likely to change to suit our lifestyle but there is what appears to be a confusing array of housing options now available for retirees.

Working out what is the best choice for you can be tricky and it is important to weigh up the positives and negatives.

The Seniors Housing Advisory Centre (SHAC) operating out of Consumer Protection provides free information and advice to seniors and their families so they can make an informed choice when deciding to make a housing change.

Western Australians are being warned about the risks of attaching or hanging items around their homes, in the wake of a young man’s tragic death in Subiaco this month after a brick pier collapsed on an attached hammock.

It is WA’s second fatality in the past decade involving a hammock attached to a brick pier, prompting Building & Energy and Consumer Protection to urge caution about how and where equipment such as hammocks, swings, hanging chairs, shade-sails and basketball hoops are installed.

Western Australians are well known for their generosity but donors need to ensure that they are dealing with a licensed organisation to ensure their money reaches the intended recipients.

Always ask for identification from door-to-door charity collectors and, if you do donate to them, get a receipt. Times for door-to-door collections for a charitable purpose are between 9am and 6pm Monday to Saturday. Generally no collections are allowed on Sundays and Public Holidays.

Travel is often expensive so it’s well worth taking the time to do a bit of research before you book your trip to make sure all goes to plan and you get what you paid for.

Whether using a travel agent or booking online yourself, it is always a good idea to compare travel packages as well as the cost of individual flights, trips and hotel accommodation before you purchase anything and always read the terms and conditions.

Two clients of a WA builder have transferred a total of $72,000 to scammers believing they were paying instalments towards the construction of their homes.

The two payments of $38,000 and $34,000 were made when the consumers received emails purporting to be from their builder requesting the payments be made to a different bank account.

The emails were fake and the consumers are now attempting to recover the lost funds from their banks.

Lodging bonds late has resulted in a Busselton real estate agency being convicted and receiving a total of $3,500 in a fine and Court costs.

Geographe Real Estate Pty Ltd, trading as LJ Hooker Geographe Bay, was convicted, fined $2,000 and ordered to pay costs of $1,500 by the Busselton Magistrates Court on 6 February 2019 after pleading guilty to two charges of failing to lodge bonds with the Bond Administrator ‘as soon as practicable’ as required by the Residential Tenancies Act.

Consumer Protection has issued on-the-spot fines to four fuel retailers in Perth and Albany after they breached laws relating to fuel pricing.

Each were issued infringement notices of $1,000 with two service stations overcharging and two others displaying the wrong price prior to the 6am changeover.

An Albany fuel retailer had overcharged 2.4 cents per litre (cpl) for ULP for more than seven hours after the 6am changeover. A Perth fuel retailer had overcharged 2 cpl for ULP for more than an hour after the 6am changeover.

A Perth gutter repair and roofing business and its sole director have been ordered to pay a total of $14,400 in fines, compensation and costs at Perth Magistrates Court for taking money for services from a consumer but failing to deliver.