Consumer Protection

• Know your consumer rights before shopping for Mother’s Day gifts
• Don’t be fooled by ‘was/now’ advertising, make sure discounts are genuine
• Most gift cards have a minimum three year expiry date

Consumer Protection is reminding shoppers of their rights to help them find the best gift for Mother’s Day.

Executive Director for Consumer Protection Trish Blake is encouraging online or in-store shoppers to research their options before deciding to buy.

It may be a familiar scenario for some shoppers – you spot an advert for a product at a very attractive sale price and place an order, but it’s later cancelled by the retailer claiming the item is ‘out-of-stock.’

Consumers may be left wondering whether the business is obliged to honour the discounted price, regardless of whether the item had genuinely sold-out or if a mistake had been made during the advertising process.

Keeping your wits about you following a car accident or breakdown is not always easy – you may be in shock, the traffic behind you is probably piling up and your vehicle needs to be moved off the road to somewhere safe. 

The last thing any motorist needs in a stressful situation like this is to be threatened, misled or harassed by unscrupulous tow-truck drivers looking to get their business.

• Unauthorised withdrawal of a $50,000 deposit after business sale settlement
• Business broker and his company fined a total of $7,000 plus $1,000 in costs
• Warning that violations of trust account laws will not be tolerated

A West Perth business sales agent and his company have been fined by the State Administrative Tribunal after making an unauthorised $50,000 withdrawal from the agency’s trust account.

• Terms of short-term stay contracts ruled unfair as they strongly favoured the landlord
• Renters faced heavy financial penalties for minor breaches of the unfair terms
• Holiday and short-stay accommodation providers urged to review their contracts

The Supreme Court has ordered a Perth property manager to stop using short-stay accommodation contracts which contain terms declared to be unfair under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL).

• Important travel advice for consumers with WA’s border re-opening
• Check terms and conditions such as cancellation policies before booking
• Flexible arrangements recommended even if it means paying more

With Western Australia’s border re-opening, Consumer Protection is advising holidaymakers to ‘Unpack the T&Cs’ before they make travel bookings for long-awaited trips or family reunions.

• Vehicle sold after odometer reduced by more than 150,000 kilometres
• Profit on sale doubled due to fake odometer reading
• Odometer wind backs ‘the ultimate deception’ of vehicle buyers

A dramatic reduction of a vehicle’s odometer reading prior to sale has been described by a Perth magistrate as ‘brazen and egregious’ with the seller being fined $2,000 for deception.

• Terms of short-term stay contracts ruled unfair as they strongly favoured the landlord
• Renters faced heavy financial penalties for minor breaches of the unfair terms
• Holiday and short-stay accommodation providers urged to review their contracts

The Supreme Court has ordered a Perth property manager to stop using short-stay accommodation contracts which contain terms declared to be unfair under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL).

• Email communications between home buyer and settlement agent hacked
• Request for payment with false bank account details sent to buyer
• Loss brings 2022 total for payment redirection scams to more than a million dollars

A WA woman has reported to Consumer Protection losing about $732,000 after scammers intercepted email communications between her and her settlement agent in relation to the purchase of a Beaconsfield property.

• New powers to enforce WA’s anti-ticket scalping laws
• Consumer Protection can now issue infringement notices to offenders
• Higher penalties apply if law breakers prosecuted through the courts

New regulations under WA’s ticket scalping laws will give Consumer Protection the power to issue infringement notices to people identified as re-selling concert and event tickets at a mark-up that is greater than allowed.