Consumer Magazine

Issue 495 letters

Letters to the editor from the September 2009 issue of Consumer magazine (#495).

As seen on TV

My wife bought make-up over the phone after seeing a TV ad. It arrived and she was charged for it. A few months later more make-up arrived and she was charged again. She returned it, was refunded and asked the company not to send any more without her ordering it. Six months later more make-up arrived. We rang again and now they want to charge us for the postage. They told us the order was put on hold for six months and it was up to us to call back and keep it on hold. What can we do?
A subscriber

You seem to have a long-term agreement with the company and you’ll need to cancel this contract, preferably in writing. You could also contact your bank and see what authority – if any – you have given this company to keep debiting your account. You may have to change this.

Smoke but not enough fire

I recently bought $450 worth of firewood from Ablaze in Wellington. We tried a sample first and it was dry and burnt well. The firewood that was delivered was wet and doesn’t burn well. When I contacted Ablaze, I was told I shouldn’t have been given the sample and the person who gave it to me has since been sacked.
A subscriber

When you buy goods for personal or domestic use they must be of acceptable quality, fit for purpose and match the sample. That the employee who gave you the sample no longer works for Ablaze is irrelevant – it’s liable for its ex-employee’s mistake. You could ask Ablaze to take back the wood and reimburse you or you could settle for the value between what you have (wet wood) and the cost of the dry wood you paid for. If you don’t have any luck, you could take Ablaze to the Disputes Tribunal (go to consumer.org.nz for how to do this).

Update: After re-contacting Ablaze our member was given a partial refund and kept the wood supplied.

In hot water

We bought a new hot-water cylinder four years ago and had it installed by a local plumber. It had a 5-year warranty. It recently started leaking and needed replacing. It was sent back to the manufacturer which said it failed because it wasn’t vented or because a vent was blocked and won’t replace it. The manufacturer had a look and won’t cut it open unless we pay up to $200. The plumber says it’s correctly vented and can’t see what caused it to fail. What are our rights?
Robin Stewart

As your plumber supplied and installed your hot water cylinder, then it’s his responsibility to fix it. Under the Consumer Guarantees Act the plumber is responsible for any faulty goods he has supplied and charged you as part of the job. You could expect him to replace the hot-water cylinder for free and not charge for labour costs. The issue with the manufacturer is the plumber’s problem, not yours. Plumbers should have a supplier agreement or insurance to protect them against installing faulty products.

Invasion of the beetles

We have a problem with some insect larvae causing holes in our 10-year-old woollen carpet. Is this acceptable?
Ann Priest

Insect damage to 10-year-old treated carpet shouldn’t normally happen (it should be protected for at least 15 years). Unfortunately, Australian carpet beetles have become resistant to the chemical permethrin that has most commonly been used to treat carpet when it’s manufactured. Ironically, this resistance hasn’t occurred in the beetles’ home country. These beetles have recently become more prevalent, especially north of Taupo. If your carpet has been graded by Wools of New Zealand or the Australian Carpet Classification Scheme, you’re unlikely to have a case under the Consumer Guarantees Act. That’s because the manufacturer did take reasonable care and skill, and the resistance developed by the carpet beetle was unexpected. New insect-resistant treatments which don’t contain permethrin have been developed by AgResearch. To treat older carpets, a product called Lanacare HWE can be applied by a carpet cleaner during hot-water extraction cleaning.