SOMETHING WE ALL NEED TO KNOW!!!! So here goes: Eight CPA “Hidden Gems”. 1. This is for anyone who has ever taken time off work or made special plans to be at home for a delivery of furniture and they either didn’t pitch up at all, or got there hours late. So remember this, if you’ve ordered something for Christmas which is too big to transport home yourself: According to the CPA, the supplier must deliver the goods or the service you’ve bought at the agreed time, at the agreed address. If they fail to do so, the consumer has the right to cancel the agreement without penalty. Another thing - the supplier must give the consumer a reasonable opportunity to examine the goods to see if they’re satisfied. No drop and run. 2. This is a scenario which makes many consumers livid. They see something advertised at a special price in a newspaper or flyer; they make a special trip to the store to buy it and they’re told sorry, there was a mistake with the price. It’s actually a lot more. The Act gives companies an “out” in the case of genuine mistakes, as long as they take steps to rectify them, by putting up prominent signs in-store and that sort of thing, but Consumer Goods and Services Ombud Neville Melville goes one step further - he is of the view that stores should compensate customers for wasted trips by means of cash or vouchers. Give that a try if it happens to you, and let me know how the store manager responds. 3. It relates to the 3Rs. If you agree to have your broken item repaired, within the 6-month CPA warranty period, and it breaks again in any way within three months of it being returned to you, the store can’t force you to accept another repair. Cellphone outlets do this all the time, but by law the consumer gets to choose a refund or replacement at that point. In other words, suppliers only get one bite at the repair cherry when it comes to the CPA 6-month warranty period. 4. If you make a holiday booking - accommodation or travel - or you place an order for something and pay a deposit, the supplier may not impose any cancellation penalty when refunding payment, if you, or the person who stood to benefit from the booking you made and paid for - a family member for example - is hospitalised, or, heaven forbid, dies.Unfortunately many suppliers completely disregard this provision in the Act, Mango airlines, for example. 5. You know those signs you sometimes see in shops: “Nice to look at, lovely to hold, if you break it, consider it sold”? Well, such a policy is illegal in terms of the CPA. A customer is entitled to examine goods, as the Act puts it, and can only be held responsible for breakages if they were grossly negligent. Letting your small kids run wild in a shop with breakables could be considered gross negligence, if you ask me…
Posted on: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 10:33:52 +0000
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