Introduction
Dogfrey Pty Ltd is a business corporation in Australia selling consumer products, including brand-new vacuum cleaners. Richard is the organization’s salesperson who engages the eighty-three-year-old June while purchasing a new vacuum cleaner. June explains the problem she faces at home and her favorable vacuum cleaner model. Richard introduces the organization’s newly imported cordless ‘Green Energy’ vacuum cleaner with a patented rechargeable lithium battery, which he assures June will solve her described dirt problem and much more.
June takes the product home, charges it overnight, and assembles it following the provided manual, after which the item fails to vacuum the intended litter before becoming faulty. Her calls for repair meet the organization’s unresponsive repair team. At the same time, Richard openly tells her that she cannot get help because the firm’s warrant, which she signed, disregards guarantees, causing the consumer notable pain.
Issues
Dogfrey Pty Ltd and Richard violate fundamental Australian consumer laws regarding benign business dealings. The following section outlines the two parties’ issues concerning the present case.
Dogfrey Pty Ltd
- Is the trader liable for supplying unsafe products to customers without testing their performance and reliability?
- Does setting selfish policies that illegally mislead consumers about the inapplicability of the automatic guarantee lead to liability issues?
Richard
- Does assuring June that the new product will meet her described problem without first testing its ability amount to salesperson dishonesty or misinformation?
- Does threatening June that there is nothing she can do after signing the sale’s warranty document amount to consumer harassment?
Law
At least four laws apply directly to the present case regarding Dogfrey Pty Ltd and Richard. The regulations include the requirement to supply safe products, the necessity concerning obligatory safety and information principles, involuntary customer guarantees, and harassment and coercion rules. These laws are discussed below, together with their components and applicability in the present case.
Supplying Safe Products
Australian consumer law wants every business operating in the country to offer consumers safe products, regardless of whether the buyer can verify such products. The decree requires businesses to apply appropriate quality control procedures to make sure merchandise meets compulsory safety levels (Commonwealth of Australia, 2023). Moreover, sellers and suppliers should ascertain that products, including practical misuse, will not cause injury when utilized sensibly. The regulation implies Dogfrey Pty Ltd’s legal obligation to have tried the new vacuum cleaner model and its patented components to ensure they work before providing them to consumers.
Mandatory Safety and Information Standards
The mandatory safety and information standards regulation operates in two obligatory ways. Safety values require sellers to ascertain products’ performance, content, and composition before selling them to consumers (Commonwealth of Australia, 2023). On the other hand, information canons are guidelines regarding data that the supplier must give to patrons when buying definite properties. The standards reiterate Dogfrey Pty Ltd’s central role in trying the new product and genuinely reporting its performance issues to clients.
Automatic Consumer Guarantees
The Australian consumer laws provide specific automatic guarantees on merchandise bought by patrons that apply regardless of a business’s local warranty provisions. Examples of such guarantees cover the problem with the product or service one sold, unfair business performances, warranties, and particular product performance assurance (Consumer Affairs Victoria, 2023). The following section expounds on the various guarantees:
- Guarantee on the problem(s) with product or service that one sold
- Consumer exhibits automatic rights to repairs, replacement or compensation, contract termination, and can claim payment for damages and loss.
- Guarantee on Unfair Business Practices
- The Australian Consumer Law safeguards consumers from organizations’ selfish policies, such as counteracting automatic guarantees.
- Guarantee on Warranties
- Laws specify businesses’ necessity to honor all extra assurances about products’ quality or how the seller will fix glitches affecting their products, including verbal agreement by salespersons.
- Specific Products’ Performance Guarantee
- Under Australian law, items sold in the Australian market come with assurances that they will deliver what they are invented to do, with the right to ascertain this law remaining with the seller.
Accordingly, the automatic consumer guarantee standards demand that businesses selling products certify that they are of satisfactory quality, equal to the delivered depiction, satisfy express warranties and are fit for their purposes. Notably, the law burdens the salesperson to ensure that the products sold to patrons reasonably fit the specified customer purpose, which is further consented to by the seller(Consumer Affairs Victoria, 2023). Therefore, the customer is legally eligible for a remedy whenever the product does not fit the specified purpose, mainly due to the salesperson’s ignorance. The kind of remedy related to this matter depends on whether the resultant issue is minor or significant.
Major Problems
These results are when the merchandise fails to perform the specific job or purpose agreed upon between the buyer and the seller at the time of buying. The problem is usually not fixable definitely and within a sensible time (Consumer Affairs Victoria, 2023). The law allows customers to reject the merchandise and receive a replacement or refund in the case of a major glitch. Moreover, buyers can maintain and repair the product with time while the seller compensates for the drop in worth.
Minor Problems
These occur when the issue relating to the sold product is fixable effortlessly and within a realistic period. Consumer Affairs Victoria (2023) states that product replacement, repair, or refund are possible solutions for minor challenges. Therefore, the seller’s liability when the item is reparable is minimal relative to when such is impossible.
When a Business Must Provide a Remedy to the Consumer
The law provides definite circumstances when a seller or supplier must offer a remedy to the buyer in case of issues affecting a sold item. Examples of these conditions include when the exchanged product is faulty, even when the purchaser realizes the faultiness after using the commodity (Commonwealth of Australia, 2021). Customers receiving products that differ from samples provided during demos and those getting items that do not match the seller’s description equally require compensation. Lastly, the law demands a remedy for the buyer when the product fails to perform the tasks described by the salesperson.
Considerations for Remedy
The Australian consumer law provides further consideration stipulating when a consumer can receive repayment or replacement for a failed product. For example, the regulation clarifies that a consumer relying on the expert or store’s knowledge or advice to choose the faulty product must be compensated, even when the recommendation is delivered in person, via phone call, message, or email (Commonwealth of Australia, 2021). Moreover, a buyer who expressly or indirectly informs the salesperson of the target product’s intended purpose and the store confirms that the item can be it before the buyer makes the purchase must be remedied.
Times When Automatic Guarantees Do Not Apply
Not all the times that the automatic guarantee and the related mandatory remediation hold. For instance, the provision does not exist for items bought through auction (Commonwealth of Australia, 2021). Equally, the considerations cease when the store can prove that the buyer ignored the salesperson’s advice.
Harassment and Coercion Law
This law prohibits using physical force or pressure to treat someone regarding the supply of commodities properly. Unwarranted pestering implies an avoidable or unnecessary statement on an individual that causes pain or intimidation feelings (Commonwealth of Australia, 2019). The law provides a fine of $1.1 million and $220,000 for a corporate body or an individual, respectively, committing the offense (Commonwealth of Australia, 2019). The regulation even covers the actions of salespersons representing themselves or their businesses.
Legal reference: Director of Consumer Affairs Victoria v Parking Patrols Vic Pty Ltd [2012] VSC 137 (Australasian Legal Information Institute, 2012). Case finds Parking Patrols (Vic) Pty Ltd and its employees violated the Fair Trading Act 1999 by issuing illegal threats to customers, similar to Richard’s case.
Application
June goes to a store and describes her requirements for a vacuum cleaner. The business’s representative said their new product would meet and exceed the requirements. June finds the vacuum’s suction is not robust enough to remove all pet hair from the floor. Therefore, the product is not appropriate for June’s stated role. The automatic consumer guarantees provision allows June to return the stuff for a full refund.
Dogfrey Pty Ltd and Richard operate in Australia and must know and abide by the existing laws. The country’s consumer law grants automatic guarantees and requires businesses to ascertain products’ performance before selling them. The parties ignore these requirements and are liable for fines and product replacement.
Conclusion
The salesperson and organization are accused of violating their obligations towards customers. The two are liable to compensate June and meet the mandatory fine for mischief and harassment. The firm should retrieve the item and refund June to buy a fitting product. The business should change the unlawful warranty policy to become compliant.
References
Australasian Legal Information Institute. (2012). Director of consumer affairs Victoria v Parking patrols Vic Pty Ltd & Anor [2012] VSC 137 (13 April 2012). Web.
Commonwealth of Australia. (2019). Sales practices: A guide for businesses and legal practitioners. Australia Consumer Law. Web.
Commonwealth of Australia. (2021). Australian consumer law. Business. Web.
Commonwealth of Australia. (2023). Product safety rules and standards. Business. Web.
Consumer Affairs Victoria. (2023). Product does not do what the salesperson said, or the consumer asked for. Australia Consumer Law. Web.