Letters of the month: Courier fees, damaged roof, and fridge issues

Do not knock

Could you please tell me who’s allowed or not allowed to knock on my door if I have a ‘Do Not Knock’ sticker?

- PETER GOODHALL

OUR EXPERTS SAY

The ‘Do Not Knock’ notice applies to all salespeople who have not been invited to your house. If they ignore the notice and you ask them to leave, they can’t enter your property to try to sell you something again for 2 years, and if they do, they can be fined. Other door knockers, such as those promoting a religion or charity or a real estate agent can knock, but you still have the right to ask them to leave if you don’t want them at your house. Your ‘Do Not Knock’ notice must be displayed somewhere visible, such as on the gate or front door.

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Foreign plug

I bought an electric dog blanket via a New Zealand electrical retailer online. It’s turned up with an American plug on it. The supplier has agreed to a refund. However, I would have to pay the shipping costs for the return. Is it legal to sell a product in New Zealand that doesn’t comply with our electrical requirements?

- LORRAINE WOOD

OUR EXPERTS SAY

A New Zealand retailer should not be selling electrical goods without the appropriate plug. It’s in breach of the Electricity (Safety) Regulations 2010. We suggest you ask for a chargeback on your credit card.

UPDATE

Lorraine pointed this out to the company and was told to keep the blanket and given a full refund.

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Courier fees

I recently bought a top box for a motorcycle from a motorcycle parts and accessories retailer online. The box has turned out to be faulty. I can’t close the lid fully, which in turn stops the box from locking to prevent theft of the items inside. Who should pay the courier fees to return the faulty item?

- KARL OLIVER

OUR EXPERTS SAY

If there is a fault, the shop may point to its warranty, where it’s usually your responsibility to return the faulty item to base. Some companies may send a pre-pay courier ticket if there’s a significant cost in sending back the item. Under the Consumer Guarantees Act (CGA), if there is an issue, and the company won’t pay for the return until the item has been assessed, then send it back via track and trace and keep a copy of the receipt. Once the parcel has arrived, and if it’s a CGA issue, the problem should be remedied (repaired, replaced or refunded) and the cost of sending the box back reimbursed.

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Damaged roof

My painter has damaged my roof. I’ve paid three-quarters of the painting invoice but have withheld the rest until the roof is fixed. He’s said he’ll fix it and has asked for his invoice to be paid in full but, nearly 6 weeks later, can’t give me a fix date. I’m worried, coming into winter. At this stage, I want to organise a fix myself, but I have a few questions. Am I within my rights to withhold some payment until the damage is fixed? What is considered a reasonable time to give him to fix the damage? Can I legally arrange a fix and deduct it from what we owe him?

- A MEMBER

OUR EXPERTS SAY

It’s certainly a good idea to withhold payment of some of the money until the roof is fixed. You would only be justified in holding back an amount that would be consistent with what’s needed for the repairs. We’d suggest that, if it’s been 6 weeks, the painter has already had a reasonable time to at least have arranged the repairs and even have them finished. As long as you’ve given him an opportunity to do the repairs, then you’re entitled to have someone else do the work and to pay the repairer from the money owed to the painter.

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Locked out

My daughter was recently locked out of her house in a big storm, with a napping toddler inside. Her door’s digital lock, purchased in March 2023 with a 2-year warranty, had malfunctioned. Replacing the batteries and resetting did not fix the problem. Could you please advise me of the expected lifetime of a digital door lock?

- PETER WANNAN

OUR EXPERTS SAY

We’d probably expect around 5 to 10 years from a digital door lock, although this is relatively new technology. Less than 5 years would be problematic, as in this case. The lock does not meet the requirements of the Consumer Guarantees Act, and your daughter is within her rights to ask the retailer for a replacement, despite the 2-year warranty having run out. This should include payment for installation.

UPDATE

The lock was replaced, including installation.

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Fridge issues

Over the past week or so, we’ve been having issues with our Bosch side by side fridge freezer ice dispenser and the rubber seal. The ice dispenser works only intermittently, and the rubber seal appears to be coming off the doors. This is just 3 years old and already having issues. It’s outside the warranty period of 2 years. What are my options?

- A MEMBER

OUR EXPERTS SAY

The first step would be to contact the retailer that sold you the fridge. Tell it what the problems are and ask it to arrange an inspection (it may get you to contact the manufacturer’s agents directly, but it’s still important to let the retailer know about the problems at this stage). Even though the warranty has expired, you could expect any work required to be done at no cost to you under the Consumer Guarantees Act, as 3 years is far too early to start having problems with a fridge.

UPDATE

The ice dispenser and the rubber seal were replaced free of charge.

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International driver’s licence

We have made it a practice for many years when renting a car internationally to supplement our driver’s licence with an AA-provided international driver’s licence. This is essentially a multi-language authorisation. Today, when going online to search for international driver’s licence, I found a website in Singapore providing them. Do you think they’re legit?

- MICHAEL DONN

OUR EXPERTS SAY

We wouldn’t bother with any other website than the AA. The international driving permit is a document that allows you to drive overseas, but there is only one place to go online in New Zealand to get one, which is the AA.

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Broken toy

My 12-year-old son used a combination of vouchers and cash to purchase a remote-control car from a toy shop. Part of it broke after 2 hours use. Just driving it around the house / on the lawn / in the garden. I returned it and asked for a replacement or a refund. The retail manager said she would have to get in touch with the supplier first before deciding what to do, and I left the toy with her. How long should I wait for a resolution? When the manager saw that the payment was made with vouchers, she said something about that “being tricky”. If the retailer refunds me, by what method do they have to do that?

- DIANA DUDER

OUR EXPERTS SAY

The retailer’s responsibility is to provide a remedy within a reasonable time, failing which you can reject the goods and demand a refund. It shouldn’t matter what its supplier says – the retailer’s liability doesn’t depend on its arrangement with suppliers. The payment of a refund shouldn’t be tricky. If the retailer can’t pay a refund as a combination of cash and voucher, it should simply provide the entire refund in cash.

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Second owner warranties

It appears warranties only apply to the original purchaser of a product. Is there a logical reason for this? It seems unfair to me as the product failure covered under warranties isn’t something the user does wrong anyway. I’m looking at buying a one-year-old ride-on lawn mower but am worried about the lack of warranty. Is there any way to still claim under the warranty if you’re a second owner?

- LEANNE CARTER

OUR EXPERTS SAY

Some warranties are transferable to subsequent purchasers of a product while some only apply to the original purchaser. We’re not sure there’s a logical reason for this beyond the desire of the warrantor (usually the manufacturer) to limit its potential liability. It’s worth checking to see whether the warranty for the particular lawn mower you are looking at is transferable if the product is resold. Where warranties are transferable, the warrantor often requires that it be notified about the resale and given the new owner’s details. If a warranty is not transferable, there’s no way to claim under it if you’re not the original purchaser.

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Gouged floor

In late 2023 I bought several large items from an appliance store in Masterton. The fridge-freezer’s compressor failed after a few months, so they brought around a temporary replacement. Unfortunately, the store only sent one person who decided not to take the faulty fridge right away and moved it to a spare bedroom by “walking it” across the polished floor, instead of using a sack barrow. This left scratches, gouges and indents in my floor. He said the store would fix it. Months went by with the store saying it would look into it. Finally, the store said I had to get my insurance company to talk to their insurance company. My insurance company said it couldn’t do this until I’d lodged a claim and paid the excess, which might subsequently be reimbursed. Surely the store should simply send someone around to fix the floor? Why should I have to go to the trouble and expense of lodging a claim for something that was no fault of my own?

- ADRIENNE SUTCLIFFE

OUR EXPERTS SAY

The store’s obliged to repair the damage it did or to have someone else do it on their behalf. We agree you should not have to make a claim to your insurer before it does that – if you were not insured, it would still be obliged to do the repairs, and making a claim will, of course, have a cost. However, where insurers insist on this process you have limited options. You could a) take a claim against the store to the Disputes Tribunal, b) as the store has not remedied the failure within reasonable time, you could find someone else to fix the floor and recover the cost from the store or c) you could make an insurance claim and ask the store to agree to cover expenses incurred (excess, loss of no-claims discount). We suggest you send our reply to the store and ask it to reconsider its response.