Consumer Protection

When we hear about a tragedy – from a bush fire or floods to someone badly injured by a coward’s punch or deaths in a terrorist attack – it’s normal to want to help those affected and giving or collecting money may seem the most practical way to do so. But cautionary tales from donors and collectors highlight the importance of our charity licensing laws.

Consumer Protection is here to help people navigate the correct way to safely go about helping those in need.

With Acting Commissioner for Consumer Protection David Hillyard

The Department of Commerce Bond Administrator figures showed 10 per cent of all residential rental bond lodgements were made late in January this year.

A bond is money paid by the tenant and held in trust for the duration of a tenancy. The Residential Tenancies Act 1987 (the Act) requires that bonds must be lodged  by the landlord or property manager with the Bond Administrator as soon as practicable, and in any event within 14 days of receiving it. 

With Acting Commissioner for Consumer Protection David Hillyard

If you’re a parent or carer, it’s highly likely you’ve heard all about, or seen too much of, ‘fidget spinners’. Alternatively, you may have noticed the novelty items for sale online or at stalls in shopping centres and we know there are also promotional giveaways where you get them for free. For anyone who isn’t sure what they are, the small devices have a circle in the centre and either two or three outer points you spin while holding middle.

Buying a second-hand car can be a smart way to save money, but it’s important to be aware of the hidden risks that can come with used vehicles.

Most people assume a vehicle's odometer is a reliable measure of how far it has travelled, but this may not always be the case. Misrepresenting the number of kilometres a vehicle has travelled to attract a higher price is a calculated deception that takes advantage of an unsuspecting buyer and is a serious breach of consumer law.

A backyard motor vehicle dealer in Rivervale has been fined $8,000 and ordered to pay costs of $756 after pleading guilty in the Perth Magistrates Court on 19 October 2018 to buying and selling vehicles without a licence.

John Salehi had purchased 13 vehicles and sold 12 of them from August 2016 to August 2017 in breach of the Motor Vehicle Dealers Act.

Commissioner for Consumer Protection David Hillyard said backyard car dealers are jeopardising consumers’ rights.

A Shenton Park property manager has been reprimanded and fined $13,000 by the State Administrative Tribunal for making unauthorised withdrawals from a real estate agency’s trust account.

Rhonda Denise Reid, who was a Director of the Nedlands agency, also failed to act fairly and honestly by making 13 unauthorised withdrawals totalling $36,290 between May 2014 and June 2016 without the knowledge of the agency’s licensee. Ms Reid’s registration had already expired so an order for her licence to be disqualified could not also be made.

An illegal motor vehicle dealer has been fined $25,000 and ordered to pay costs of $916 after being convicted in the Perth Magistrates Court of buying and selling vehicles without a licence.

A wedding photographer/videographer has been fined $4,500 by the Perth Magistrates Court and ordered to pay $5,650 in compensation to three consumers for supplying promised photo and video packages either too late or not at all.

With Commissioner for Consumer Protection David Hillyard 

In the past few weeks, several major retailers have announced closures and subsequent closing down sales.

Many of us find the promise of major sale savings too tempting to pass up, and while they can be a great opportunity to bag a bargain, it’s important to consider what it means when it comes to warranties and guarantees, or your return, replacement or refund rights. 

These days, it pays to be extra vigilant on social media. Like-harvesting, or like-farming as it is also called, is a scam perpetuated throughout Facebook and features bogus pages designed to do nothing more than “harvest” your likes.

The content pulls at your heartstrings or offers big prizes leading you to like, share and comment. Recently, a fake Virgin Australia page offering a trip to Hawaii collected several hundred thousand likes this way before being shut down.