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.

An unlicensed motor vehicle dealer has been fined $5,000 and ordered to pay costs of $514 by the Perth Magistrates Court after pleading guilty on 18 January 2019.

Paul Anh Ngoc Nguyen of Bassendean had purchased 35 motor vehicles and sold 37 between November 2016 and July 2018 without a licence, in breach of the Motor Vehicle Dealers Act.

Commissioner for Consumer Protection David Hillyard said unlicensed dealing created an uneven playing field for the industry and threatened consumers’ rights.

The New Year is off to a bad start for scam losses with 86 victims in WA losing $1.81 million in the first month of 2019.

This follows the release last week of the 2018 annual scam report which showed 569 victims losing a total of $10.7 million over the year, a substantial increase from the previous year.

Individual losses for January 2019 reported to WA ScamNet included a romance scam victim who lost $468,500 and an investment scam victim who lost $308,442.

A Port Hedland real estate agency and its director have been fined a total of $4,000 by the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) for misconduct relating to its property management services.

The agency Real Estate Property Shop Network Pty Ltd was reprimanded and fined $3,000 for misconduct in relation to property management services, including making incorrect withdrawals from its trust account. The agency failed to exercise due skill, care and diligence in breach of the Real Estate and Business Agents Act and Codes of Conduct.

Consumer Protection and the Department of Communities are joining forces to target landlords who fail to lodge tenancy bonds that were provided through a rental assistance program.

Under the Bond Assistance Loan Scheme offered by the Department of Communities, eligible Western Australians can apply for an no interest and fee free loan to cover ingoing property costs (including all or part of the bond and up to two weeks’ rent in advance) to assist them to obtain accommodation in the private rental market.

Western Australians reported losing a total of $10.7 million to scams in 2018, a 32 per cent increase from the previous year, according to figures released by WA ScamNet.

There was also an increase in the number of victims with 569 people reporting losses to WA ScamNet in 2018, a 42 percent increase from 2017.

There was a huge hike in losses to investment scams, which topped the list of categories, followed by romance scams and ‘buying and selling’ online resulted in more people being stung.

A property developer has been fined $25,000 by the Perth Magistrates Court and ordered to pay compensation totalling $26,207 to three of his clients after pleading guilty on 25 January 2019 to accepting payment but failing to supply the goods and services.

David John Leitch Emery, formerly of Busselton but now residing in Perth, was trading as DK & IE Projects and D1 One when the breaches of the Australian Consumer Law occurred in 2015 and 2016.

An unlicensed motor vehicle dealer has been fined $5,000 and ordered to pay costs of $2,197 by the Perth Magistrates Court after pleading guilty on 23 January 2019.

Hafedh Al Anzi of Ellenbrook had purchased and sold 26 motor vehicles between June 2016 and January 2018 without a licence, in breach of the Motor Vehicle Dealers Act.

Commissioner for Consumer Protection David Hillyard said unlicensed dealing represented a real danger to the community and jeopardised consumers’ rights.

Recent reports from Perth home owners about bogus door-to-door sellers are a good reminder to make sure you know your rights when a salesperson knocks.

In the past few weeks, people have told us about visits from door-to-door water testers who give the impression they are from the Government and make false claims about water quality, but are really sellers of water filtration systems.

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.