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Consumer Affairs

Solutions provided by Charter UK enable companies worldwide

Consumer Affairs

Consumer affairs are an important thing to keep in mind as the consumer is what is keeping your business afloat.

So, what exactly is involved with consumer affairs?

The consumer, of course, is your customer. Everybody is a customer to someone. You do not want to be mislead and you want to trust what you are hearing from the salesman, either at a lending company or a carpet shop, you want the truth about the product you will be buying.

According to the consumer affairs act, a salesman must not only tell the truth, but must not avoid telling the truth. For example, you (the consumer) have been misled or deceived if the information you receive about goods or a service gives you a false impression.

Consumer affairs lists a few examples, one of them being:

A real estate agent takes you to look at a plot of land. You like the plot and tell the agent that you would put a shed on the spot where you are standing. When you buy the plot you find that the spot where you want to put the shed belongs to your neighbours.

The real estate agent allowed you to be misled by not telling you that the land you were standing on was not part of the plot.

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs administers the Fair Trading Act. This means that consumer affairs have the responsibility to report to Government on the need for changes to the current law and other policy matters. The Minister also has the power to order compulsory recall of goods which fail to meet a product safety standard or which may cause injury.

If you have suffered a loss as a result of being misled you may take your own action to seek compensation. You may wish to take action through a claim to the Disputes Tribunal.

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs provides information for retailers, manufacturers, importers and service providers, to help achieve a fair and informed marketplace.

In March 2001 a check of NZ Internet sites by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs found that nearly half of the 66 internet trading sites visited did not display information on returns and refunds. Thirty-eight percent did not provide a physical address, and fifteen percent did not have a phone number. Only half the sites carried a privacy policy on the protection of the personal details of customers. Seventeen percent of the sites did not list the costs of postage and packaging separately.

These are some of the points you will need to be aware of for your business when checking Consumer Affairs.