<&>Wellington Corpus of Spoken New Zealand English Version One <&>Copyright 1998 School of Linguistics & Applied Language Studies <&>Victoria University of Wellington <&>side two <&>0:50 ani i understand that you're holding a series of hui to talk about a new law called the consumer guarantees act tell us about that <&>1:00 tut that's right hone the new law the consumer guarantees act comes into force on the first of april this year and it's the main piece of consumer protection legislation which has recently been passed by government i also understand that this project you're involved in has a maori name that's right at the beginning when we were looking at how to get information to iwi about the new law we realised that one of the challenges for us was in engendering the interest of people in something that's got a strange title like consumer guarantees and so we needed to capture that interest and for that reason we gave it the name kia tupato <,> partly to to capture the interest but partly also because the essence of the act is about being <&>2:00 wary of sharp business practices that go on in the marketplace from time to time it's about being careful when we buy goods and services and it's about knowing our rights and remedies voc i understand this is a joint project joint with whom soon after the act was passed the head of our ministry carol stigley met with the head of te puni kokiri wira gardiner to discuss the possibility of both our ministries working together to disseminate information to iwi about the new law this voc was in line with the kaupapa of both our ministries consumer affairs is concerned with making sure that the <.>m the people are informed and that the marketplace is fair and er te puni kokiri also has a commitment to make sure that information is disseminated to iwi in an effective way and so from <&>3:00 that point a joint project team was set up and has worked to plan the delivery process mainly by er hui that've been organised around the country for this purpose now under this act what is a consumer a consumer is anybody who buys or uses goods or services now what is a good goods are simply things that we use like food clothing furniture tools all those kinds of things they're goods now this act talks about guarantees what is a guarantee under this act a guarantee quite simply is a promise so why do we need a new act up until now the main piece of consumer protection legislation has been the sale of goods act which has been on our statute books since nineteen hundred and eight now that act <&>4:00 really was designed for business and commercial transactions it was never designed for the private consumer market that act also as the name implies relates only to goods and so for the first time in statute law in aotearoa services have been captured and there are now minimum standards required of services so what are the main points of the act the act comes into force on the first of april this year and it applies to goods and services that we would normally buy for our personal domestic and household use so if we're in business and are buying for business use this act does not cover that situation it also does not apply to <.>p to private sales when we buy from garage sales or newspaper advertisements school galas when we buy from auction or tender we are not covered by this new act the act <&>5:00 provides guarantees that sellers and service providers must make now for the quality of goods that they sell and the standards of service and it gives very clear remedies about what you can do when those guarantees are not met when you talk about guarantees about goods what are these guarantees the act requires that sellers of goods must guarantee that they are of acceptable quality that they must be fit for any particular purpose that's made known to the seller that they must match any description or sample that the buyer has seen that if the price is not set and agreed upon the price <.>k must be reasonable that the seller has the right to sell the goods <&>telephone rings in background and in respect of manufacturers manufacturers must guarantee that repair facilities and spare <&>6:00 parts are available for a reasonable time and all of these guarantees are in addition to normal manufacturers' guarantees that we get from time to time when we buy goods now now what do we mean by goods of acceptable quality the act requires that acceptable quality means that they are fit for the normal purposes for which these goods would be bought they must be acceptable in their finish and their appearance they must be free from minor faults as well as major faults they must be lasting or durable and they must be safe tut now we talk about them being fit for a particular purpose tut that's right if you go into a shop and make it known to the seller that you want these goods for a particular job or the seller makes known to you that these goods will do a particular job then they must do that job tut for example tut <&>6:57 <&>prerecorded example of possible consumer complaint with background music not transcribed <&>7:18 now it also says it must <&>pronounced as much must match any description or sample what do we mean by that that's right if you buy goods from a seller's description for example you might get something by mail order so you only have a description to go by or when you're in a shop you might see a sample of it on the er shelf or from a door to door seller you might only see a sample then the goods that actually arrive on your doorstep must match that sample or the description that you were given for example <&>7:55 <&>prerecorded example of possible consumer complaint with background music not transcribed <&>8:17 what about price <,> right well if you buy something and the price is not set or discussed in advance then the guarantee is that you need only pay a reasonable price you can work out what's reasonable by finding out what other sellers are charging for similar goods now these situations will often occur if you are buying say by the telephone for instance for example <&>8:45 <&>prerecorded example of possible consumer complaint with background music not transcribed <&>9:30 what about repairs and spare parts manufacturers and importers now are required to guarantee that they have taken all reasonable steps to make sure that repair facilities and spare parts will be available for a reasonable period of time this is the only guarantee in fact that manufacturers can opt out of <,> under this act and people need to be aware of that manufacturers can opt out of providing repair <&>10:00 facilities and spare parts but they must do so at the time that you enter into the contract so at the time you do the buying they must tell you or have in writing somewhere that repair facilities and spare parts are not available but if that isn't the case then this guarantee does apply the other thing that people need to remember about this particular guarantee is that it only applies if you are the first buyer of those goods in aotearoa for example <&>10:35 <&>prerecorded example of possible consumer complaint with background music not transcribed <&>10:54 what about the right to sell <&>11:00 yes well this guarantee means that sellers must have the right to sell the goods by being the owner of them so that if you buy goods that have been stolen or are still on hire purchase then you do not really own them because the person who sold them to you didn't really own them and they can be taken away from you tut this act gives you the right if you find yourself in that position to make a claim against the seller for any loss that you might have suffered for example <&>11:30 <&>prerecorded example of possible consumer complaint with background music not transcribed <&>12:00 tut what about the manufacturer's guarantee or warranty right these are what we get at present you know often when we buy goods we'll get a manufacturer's guarantee that gives us maybe a year of er parts and labour costs things like that what we have to remember is that those guarantees which we currently get are in addition to all the guarantees that the consumer guarantees act now puts in place you could think of it a bit like the treaty of waitangi in the same way that the treaty gave us rights in addition to what we already had so manufacturers' guarantees are in addition to those that we now have under the consumer guarantees act ani what happens when the guarantees are broken okay if the faults are not serious then the buyer can firstly go back to the seller in fact <&>13:00 should go back to the seller to ask for those faults to be repaired and this must be done free and within a reasonable time if the seller refuses or fails to repair the fault or takes too long to do it then the buyer can seek a replacement or a refund or have someone else fix the problem tut all right what happens if there are serious faults if there're serious faults then the buyer can cancel the contract in other words return the goods reject them and get their money back now in both these instances the buyer can also seek what's called consequential loss or any extra loss that might have happened as a result of the fault tut for example <&>13:50 <&>prerecorded example of possible consumer complaint with background music not transcribed <&>14:06 the other thing that people need to bear in mind with this <&>telephone rings in background particular course of action is that if you don't get any satisfaction from the seller or if the fault is serious or if the seller has gone out of business then you can go back to the manufacturer and make a claim and this is new under this act you couldn't do that before so you can go back to the manufacturer but if you do that you can only seek compensation you can't get a repair or a replacement from the manufacturer now there's a new part to this act it talks about guarantees about service what is a service a service is something that we have done for us like mechanical services plumbing services <&>15:00 painting er professional services whenever you need a doctor a lawyer er a dentist those things that are done for us are services the consumer guarantees act requires that people who provide services must guarantee that the service will be done with reasonable skill and care that it will be fit for the particular purpose that you require the service for again like goods that if the price is not set and agreed upon then the price must be reasonable and that the service will be completed within a reasonable time what do we mean by reasonable skill and care reasonable skill and care is a difficult one because the act doesn't define what reasonable is and so <,> you might have to compare this with what other people in the same trade or profession are providing so if you think you've <&>16:00 <.>k had a bad job from someone and you go and consult with other people who are carrying out the same service <.>you'll you'll need to gauge from them whether the job that you've had done was a reasonable job or not <,> for example <&>16:20 <&>prerecorded example of possible consumer complaint with background music not transcribed <&>16:45 what do we mean by fit for a particular purpose this one is similar to the fit for a particular purpose guarantee for goods in that if you make known to the service provider that you want the <&>17:00 service to do a particular thing then it must do that for example <&>17:06 <&>prerecorded example of possible consumer complaint with background music not transcribed <&>17:33 and a reasonable price tut again like reasonable skill and care sometimes we must compare this with what other service providers are charging for the same job for example <&>17:42 <&>prerecorded example of possible consumer complaint with background music not transcribed <&>18:25 and the hope that it will be completed in a reasonable time again <.>when when you and the service provider have not discussed how long the job will take then it should take no more than what is reasonable for example <&>18:45