Consumer Protection

Knowing how much to pay tradespeople up front, before the job begins, starts with knowing your consumer rights around job deposits, estimates and quotes – and knowing who you’re dealing with.

Tradespeople provide all kinds of work and services including building, electrical, plumbing and gas, re-roofing, tree lopping, concreting, household repairs and other manual labour work. Most tradespeople are honest and reliable.

• Travelling conmen target WA consumers as part of international based scam
• Thirty-one reports in nine months totalling payments of over $264,000
• Commissioner for Consumer Protection says avoid these scam con artists who leave you with dodgy work

Consumer Protection is warning WA home and business owners to avoid dealing with at least eight road construction companies currently travelling around the state that offer to re-surface bitumen driveways and car parks for seemingly attractive prices, only to leave terrible bitumen work behind, in worse shape than bef

• Consumer Protection disciplines real estate agent for racist conduct
• Email accused Indian immigrants of “turning our beautiful country into filth”
• WA tenants urged to speak out and report racist behaviour

Consumer Protection Commissioner Trish Blake has promised to stand behind any tenant calling out racist behaviour within the WA real estate industry.

• $7,908.30 fine and costs for buying and selling motor vehicles without a dealer’s licence
• 21 vehicles bought and 24 sold during almost a year
• Public urged to report unlicensed motor vehicle dealers

The Armadale Courthouse has imposed a $7,500 fine on a backyard dealer who operated without a motor vehicle dealer’s licence between July 2021 and April 2022.

• 43 per cent of button battery products inspected failed to meet product safety standards
• 19 Infringement Notices issued in WA
• Button battery emergency department presentations have halved in last two years

43 per cent of inspected products containing button batteries failed to meet product safety standards in Western Australia since mandatory button battery laws came into effect last year.

• $8,000 fine for taking deposits and not completing pool repair work
• Three consumers paid deposits totalling $6,050
• Public urged to only pay small deposits or make progress payments to reduce risk

A swimming pool fibreglass repairer has been fined by the Perth Magistrates Court for breaching the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) by taking deposits from three consumers and failing to supply goods and services within a reasonable time.

• Real estate agent lost $329,500 to remote access bank scam
• Scammers posed as bank on phone and knew latest transactions in the account
• Agents urged to not give out access codes or allow remote access

Consumer Protection is warning the real estate and settlement industries to be extra vigilant to calls from their bank after scammers successfully stole $329,500 from a WA real estate agent’s trust account last week.  

• Aussie Sheds Albany owner found guilty of breaching ACL
• $158,853 worth of deposits paid for incomplete shed and patio works
• 11 consumers to receive full compensation

An Albany shed seller who took large deposits from consumers between January 2020 and 25 July 2020 and failed to deliver goods and services in a reasonable timeframe has been found guilty of breaching the Australian Consumer Law (ACL).

There’s nothing easy about losing a loved one, but we hope new WA laws will go a long way towards clearing up any confusion about what their final farewell will cost.

Funeral companies must now publicly display their prices upfront to give consumers the chance to compare costs without having to meet with a representative from the business to get this information. Consumers should now receive a full breakdown of prices and know exactly what the total cost of the funeral will be, so there are no surprises later on.

Western Australia’s rental market has never been tighter, but it doesn’t mean tenants should accept living in homes that are falling into disrepair, have mould or electrical safety issues.

So far this year, Consumer Protection has received 367 enquiries and 32 complaints about rental repair and maintenance issues, but we suspect these figures are only a small proportion of the actual number of tenants experiencing such problems currently.