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Advanced repair? Yeah, yeah!
Posted: 03/02/2010
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (“ACCC”) has accepted court enforceable undertakings from Vodafone Hutchison Australia Pty Limited (“VHA”) following an investigation by the ACCC of potential breaches of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth) (the “TPA”) in respect of the repair or replacement of faulty mobile phones.
The ACCC found that between 1 May 2008 and 8 June 2009, Hutchison (which merged with Vodafone on 9 June 2009), issued a direction in respect of mobile phones that resulted in staff representing to customers that the only remedy they had if their handset were faulty was to have the handset repaired.
Under the TPA, consumers have statutory rights that may extend beyond a manufacturer’s warranty. In certain cases, the TPA entitles a consumer to a replacement, rather than a repair, of the faulty good.
As a result of the investigation, VHA acknowledged that the representations made by Hutchison were likely to have breached sections 52 and 53(g) of the TPA and gave the following court enforceable undertakings (for a period of three years):
* extend the ‘early life failure’ period (that is, the period in which a consumer will be provided with a replacement handset) to 28 days from the date of purchase, for Nokia, Apple, INQ and BlackBerry handsets.
* provide all customers (other than those purchasing an Apple handset) who entered a service contract after 1 December 2009, with a repair warranty for the duration of the service contract.
* provide all active pre-paid customers (who purchased their handset from 1 January 2010), with a 24 month repair warranty.
* provide all active pre-paid customers (who purchased their handset before 1 January 2010), with a 12 month repair warranty.
* take all reasonable steps to provide a ‘loan phone’ to customers for the period of time that their phone is being repaired, and to complete repairs in a timely fashion.
The ACCC has said that the undertaking provided by VHA sends a clear message to other phone retailers to pay specific attention to ensuring that their repair / replacement policies comply with the TPA. In particular, the ACCC expressed the need for phone retailers to ensure consumers have access to a reasonable remedy in respect of a faulty handset for the duration of their service contract.
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