Consumer Protection has issued a Halloween warning about potentially deadly button batteries and other hazards found in some novelty items and trick-or-treat costumes.
The agency’s product safety inspectors have been out and about ahead of Halloween and have identified a number of non-compliant products.
A child safety campaign has been re-launched highlighting the dangers of portable pools with, on average, one child drowning every year in Australia and many more needing hospital treatment, some left with severe brain injuries.
The ‘Don’t Duck Out, Make it SAFE’ summer campaign involves product safety regulators throughout Australia, including Consumer Protection in WA, joining forces with the Royal Life Saving Society to raise awareness of safety measures aimed at preventing children from drowning.
The owner of a Wellard property has been fined $2,000 and ordered to pay $740 in costs for failing to lodge his tenants’ bond.
At Rockingham Magistrates Court on 26 October 2020, Anthony Gerlando Scafidi pleaded guilty to breaching the Residential Tenancies Act 1987 following a prosecution by Consumer Protection.
The law requires a security bond to be lodged with the Bond Administrator as soon as possible and no later than 14 days after receiving it. The bond is then held in trust for the duration of the tenancy.
A Mount Lawley real estate agency, its supervising director and two staff members have been reprimanded by the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) over the failure to lodge three tenancy bonds with the Bond Administrator as well as related irregularities found in the agency’s accounts.
A photographer of new-born babies was arrested and has appeared in the Perth Magistrates Court today on six charges of accepting payments from consumers but failing to supply some of the images to parents, an alleged breach of the Australian Consumer Law.
An arrest warrant was issued against Melissa Sheed of Aubin Grove after numerous attempts by Consumer Protection to serve her with a court summons failed.
Commissioner for Consumer Protection Lanie Chopping is pleased that this case is finally before the courts.
Consumer Protection is advising caution for Christmas shoppers with a wider availability of credit options including ‘buy now, pay later’ schemes and payday loans which could leave consumers drowning in debt.
The COVID-19 pandemic has seen increasing use of ‘buy now, pay later’ schemes which allow shoppers to take possession of the goods straight away while paying off the purchase price in instalments.
People who take part in gifting circles are being warned by Consumer Protection that they could be breaking the law and could face prosecution following reports of another illegal pyramid scheme being promoted in Australia and New Zealand.
Now that Cyclone Seroja has come and gone, many regional Western Australians will be assessing the damage and counting the cost of the destruction left in its wake.
One of the first steps to be taken if your property has been damaged in a natural disaster like this is to check what your insurance policy covers for storms and floods.
A producer of custom laser-cut panels, screens and gates who took consumers’ money but failed to deliver has received a $5,000 fine imposed by the Perth Magistrates Court on 16 April 2021.
A stone repair and cleaning company and its sole Director have been ordered by the Perth Magistrates Court to pay a total of $9,203 in fines, costs and consumer compensation for failing to carry out services after payments were made.
