Australian Consumer Law (ACL) - Questions/Answer

Answer 1

Australian Consumer Law (ACL) is a national law, which is followed in the same way nationally and in every State and Territory. This law is the principal consumer protection law in Australia. Gina purchased an expensive rug based on the information provided by the Sales Assistant of ‘The Clever Carpet Company’. The assistant stated that the rug was fully stain protected and any stain can be cleaned easily. But the rug got stained permanently by spilt coffee on second day of shop being opened and Gina was refused to return the rug. Based on the Australian Consumer Law, Gina was misled, and false claims were made by the sales assistant of the carpet company and she can be protected under the consumer laws. Under the Australian Consumer Laws, businesses are not allowed to make statements that create a false impression. The companies cannot make false claims about quality, style, model or history of product or service.  In Gina’s case, the sales assistant made a false claim about the quality of the carpet and stated that it was stain proof. The carpet company violated the law and hence is liable to replace or refund. 

Under Australian Consumer Law, products and services come with automatic guarantees.  The consumer guarantees on products and services are applicable since January 2011. Under the product’s acceptable quality, one of the conditions is that the product should meet any extra promises made about the condition, quality and performance. This has been violated by the carpet company as the sales assistant strongly stated that the rug was stain free whereas it was not. In such conditions, Gina has the right to claim for replacement or refund from the carpet company. Gina’s options to address this problem includes contacting the seller, which she has already done and was given a negative response, the next option is of contacting the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) who can help her to resolve the problem by communicating with the carpet company on behalf of Gina. In cases when the problem is not resolved by seller or ACCC consumers can take independent legal advice and take the complaint to small claims court or tribunal in the respective state or territory. Gina thus has the right to claim refund or replacement under the Australian Consumer Law as she was misled and given false impression about the carpet by the sales assistant. Gina should approach ACCC who can help her in negotiating with the carpet company as she has already been refused by the carpet company for any kind of refund or replacement. 

Gina also faced another issue wherein she contacted Fastway, a courier company to pick and deliver the new rug and gave the details over automated voice system. She made the payment for the courier through credit card over the phone after accepting the quotation provided over the phone. The courier company informed that delivery will be done in two days and tax invoice will be sent along with the parcel, but delivery was done after 5 weeks. The parcel was stored by courier company till it was delivered and Gina was charged extra $50,000 for storing the parcel. This again was an unfair practice as Gina was misled by promising her the delivery in two days also, she was not informed before the delivery about the storage charge. The terms and conditions in the tax invoice was received by her after the delivery of the parcel.