The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has accepted court enforceable undertakings from Leon Enterprises Pty Ltd over misleading claims about its termite protection warranty.
An investigation by the ACCC found that, before January 2004, Leon Enterprises Pty Ltd trading as Envirotechnics Pest Management represented in various documents to new homeowners that:
its ‘New Home Termite Protection Warranty’ or ‘Complete Timber Replacement Warranty’ lasted for 10 years when, in fact, it was an annual warranty that could be renewed on payment of a fee
failure by the homeowner to arrange an annual termite inspection of their home and renewal of the Warranty would void the builders’ statutory obligations, and the homeowner would bear all liability in the event of damage caused by termite attack when, in fact, that was not the case
its spider treatment did not carry a warranty when, in fact, provision of the treatment was subject to statutory warranties.
Envirotechnics has admitted that it may have contravened sections 52, 53(c), 53(f) and 53(g) of the Trade Practices Act 1974, after the ACCC raised concerns about its conduct.
'Consumers have certain rights under the Act which give them a basic guaranteed level of protection for the goods and services they acquire', ACCC Chairman Graeme Samuel said today.
'Despite representations which a supplier may make to the contrary, those rights—known as statutory warranties and conditions—cannot be limited in any way. This means, for example, that consumers are entitled to receive services that have been performed with due care and skill, and the services and any materials associated with them must be fit for the purpose for which they are supplied.'
The ACCC acknowledges the cooperation of Envirotechnics which ceased the offending conduct once informed of the ACCC's concerns.
Pursuant to undertakings provided to the ACCC under section 87B of the Act, Envirotechnics placed a corrective advertisement in last Saturday’s 1 January 2005 edition of the West Australian newspaper.
Envirotechnics has also provided court enforceable undertakings that it will write to warranty holders to explain the effect of its conduct and that it will not make the same representations in future.
