Having a blog means information is sent to you from many sources. The following story should interest you.
So SuperCheap is a trustworthy chain of stores selling automotive products and it honors prevailing return of faulty goods laws. Think again. They do not refund money on faulty products.
A customer purchased an electrical item in a completely sealed box. When he got home he opened the box and assembled the item. He was shocked to discover that he had to go back and buy an accessory made by the item's maker in order for the machine to run. This is an offense in itself. To make things worse the product didn't work with the new add-on.
In the legal case of Fisher and Paykel versus the Australian High Court in regard to breaches of warranty obligations, the judge found against Fisher and Paykel. The judge said that items must be complete and work straight out of the box with no further purchases necessary. Furthermore, any electrical product that plugs into a household electricity supply must work for at least FOUR years. If it doesn't the customer has to be given a refund - not an exchange, a refund.
When you buy an electrical appliance from any store it is not necessary to fork out money for extra warranties supposedly covering the next four years because it is already covered by law.
Now let us get back to the real issue: SuperCheap not abiding by faulty product laws. The customer took the faulty good back to the SuperCheap store where he bought it. He informed the shop assistant, namely, "Dee" that the item was faulty and SuperCheap should not sell products that are incomplete. Dee obviously did not like the truth, so she said she had the authority to refuse a refund and in this case the faulty item was pushed back and the customer was told to go on his way. She did not even look at the receipt. This consumer now has a new machine that does not work and the money spent on the extra accessory was wasted.
Clearly, something has to be done about this. The consumer is pursuing the case through the Office of Fair Trading and the ACCC. Justice has to be done here. It may only be a minor item but it is important that stores strictly abide by existing trading laws. People put in positions of authority to oversee returned items must be taught what the laws are, They do not have the legal right to override the law as Dee did in this case.
Law by Ty Buchanan
