Compliance
Recent consumer protection compliance activity
29 Mar: Geraldton woman fined for failing to give information
Megan Emma Healy of Healthy Home Airconditioning, was fined $400 and ordered to pay $253 in costs in the Geraldton Magistrates Court for failing to comply with a compulsory notice to provide
information and documents, a breach of the Consumer Affairs Act.
Supposedly the woman’s father Mr Alwyn Robert Healy, was operating the business. Mr Healy, operated Perth-based Aircon Factory Direct, wasordered to pay about $16,000 in damages to several customers in the Perth Magistrates Court last year. Mr Healy is also subject to a Supreme Court undertaking. In November last year he was given a suspended jail sentence over contempt of Court for breaching the undertaking.
28 Mar: Car wrecker fined for selling parts without a licence
Nevin Inni, a Perth car wrecker, was fined $7,500 and ordered to pay costs of $535 in the Perth
Magistrates Court for selling car parts without a licence. Mr Inni purchased about 41 vehicles between February 2009 and January 2011 and placed about 400 advertisements to sell parts.
8 Mar: Company fined $2000 for receipt wording – Jisoo Holdings
Garden City Shopping Centre store Jisoo Holdings Pty Ltd and its sole director Mr Sami Zaher have been fined for stating “NO REFUNDS EXCHANGE WITHIN 7 DAYS ONLY” on receipts for ladies jewellery and accessories. Consumers are entitled to a refund if goods are faulty, and a seller cannot restrict or modify rights or specify a timeframe for the return. Fines of $1,000 for the company and $1,000 for Mr Zaher, along with an order to pay $532 in costs were handed down at Fremantle
Magistrates Court.
25 Feb: Finance broker fined over false statements
A Perth finance broker has been fined $1,000 by the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) over misrepresentations in two loan applications.
Richard Edward Trevor Lowenhoff of Jane Brook was also ordered to pay costs of $1,000 after admitting two breaches of the Finance Brokers (Code of Conduct). Regulations 2007. Control
Regulation of consumer credit became the responsibility of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) last year.
25 Jan: $15,000 fine for car hire operator
A car hire company, Pearl Court Investments Pty Ltd, trading as Action Hire Cars, has been fined $15,000 and ordered to pay $638 Court costs for operating without a motor vehicle dealer’s licence or an exemption from having to hold a dealer’s licence.
Pearl Court Investments Pty Ltd had an exemption which expired in August 2007. The company made a number of incomplete requests to renew the exemption, failing to provide necessary documents and pay the required fee.
Eventually an exemption was granted in April 2010, almost three years later. However during this period Action Hire Cars continued operating without an exemption from the Board.
During sentencing the Magistrate noted there had been ‘no deliberate disregard of the requirements of the Act’ but the period during which the operator was unlicensed was
‘significant’.
25 Jan: Landlord fined over bond breaches
A Cloverdale landlord, Siobhan Erin McLaughlin, was fined $2,000 and ordered to pay costs of $344 in the Perth Magistrates Court for breaching laws relating to a security bond payment from her tenant. Bonds must be appropriately lodged within 14 days of being received.
Ms McLaughlin had previously held a real estate licence for nine years and has been renting premises to tenants for ten years.
Ms McLaughlin was previously fined in 2008 for nine offences under the Residential Tenancies Act, one of which related to the failure to lodge bond money correctly.
21 Jan: First unlicensed car repairer fined under new laws
Aldo Gentile, owner of Morley Mechanics, was fined $2,500 and ordered to pay $346 in costs in the Perth Magistrates Court after pleading guilty to a charge of carrying out unlicensed repair work.
A number of formal warnings were issued to the business before legal proceedings were commenced. Mr Gentile lodged a licence application in September 2010.
This is the first conviction under the Motor Vehicles Repairers Act, which came into effect in July 2008.
17 Jan: Car dealer fined for having no licence
Jayde Ashleigh Grundy has been fined $5,000 and ordered to pay $417.56 Court costs after pleading guilty to unlicensed motor vehicle dealing.
Ms Grundy acquired at least 13 vehicles and supplied them to private buyers and licensed dealers, for profit, between December 2008 and June 2010.
14 Jan: Unlicensed car dealer fined in Esperance Court
An unlicensed car dealer was fined $4,000 and ordered to pay costs of $110 in the Esperance Court on 11 January 2010. Allen David Jones of Esperance was found guilty of selling 26 vehicles without a licence between November 2008 and May 2010.