Share this
Twitter
Myspace
Mister Wong
Bookmarks.cc
Digg
Del.icio.us
Slashdot
Netscape
Furl
Yahoo
Technorati
Newsvine
Googlize this
Blinklist
Facebook
Wikio
Diggita
Hear this text
Export PDF
Print
E-mail
Tags
Get your house in order now, industry is warnedConsumers have rights, and they will have those rights set out in detail for them by October this year when the Consumer Protection Act (CPA), promulgated earlier in 2009, will come into force with an entire set of regulations attached. Provisions of the Act have been released so that businesses will have time to adjust their trading practices to comply. Although the regulations are still in the making, the time for looking at consumer rights and what to do about them, is now.
This was the advice from Advocate Louis Nel, a legal expert in travel and tourism matters, when he recently addressed a meeting of the Transport Special Interest Group (TransportSIG) at the University of Witwatersrand.
Right from the start of his presentation, it became clear that the Act will affect the freight transport industry just as much, if not more, than the travel and tourism industry.
Nel urged members of the group to study the various definitions of the Act carefully to find out where each member stood in terms thereof. So whether you are a seller of a service or product, an agent or intermediary, a franchisee, among others, you will be facing a consumer who, in 10 months’ time, will really be King.
He/she now even has the right to institute or join a class action if other consumers have been affected by the same transgression.
The Act also defines agreements, advertisements, direct marketing, premises, facilities, service, supply and the supply chain, transactions and contracts.
“Once you as manager understand what it’s all about, train your staff,” Nel said, adding that staff needed to know who they represented in business dealings.
In addition, business forms had to be adapted to comply. Failure to comply could result in a business being fined a percentage of its turnover.
Going through the Act, one realises the many pitfalls awaiting the business that does not get its ducks in a row. Regarding tourism and travel: airlines, car rental companies, hotels, B&Bs, resorts, etc. will not be able to overbook or ‘oversell’ anymore.
If a consumer misses a flight because it was overbooked, the airline will be required to refund the consumer’s ticket, with interest, plus any consequential damages for any economic loss resulting from the breach of contract.
Dealing with the ‘cooling-off’ period, Nel said it was a controversial subject in the travel industry, but that it applied to direct marketing only.
Facilities, he said, were defined as premises, but this could be extended to anything or anywhere where a service was delivered, such as a ship, a bus or a container yard, particularly from a safety point of view, where legal issues such as “reasonability” and “legibility” (of signs) came to the fore.
In future, indemnities signed by clients or customers on entering premises had to be worded clearly and fully understood by them, as they could argue they did not have enough time to read the indemnity and therefore it was unenforceable.
“Service provider,” said Nel, not only covers the person who provides the service, but also those who promoted the service – which meant people marketing the service fell under that definition.
Nel warned there could be obscurity about the meaning of what was an “agreement”, an “understanding” or a “contract” – all defined in the Act.
One major change in the Act relates to contracts between a supplier, for example a cellphone service provider, which may not be renewed automatically by the supplier without the permission from the consumer. Furthermore, the supplier cannot cancel the contract, and needs to continue providing the service on a month-to-month basis until it hears from the customer.
Anyone involved in the supply chain could also be found liable for a transgression, for damage or loss and consequential damages.
Nel also gave several examples of consumers having the right to insist on quality service, failing which the supplier may be ordered to remedy any defect or to refund a reasonable portion of the price paid for the goods.
“Quality service” included timeous performance and completion of services by the supplier, services performed on a generally expected level of quality, and goods that were defect-free.
The Act also states that the producer, importer, distributor or retailer of any goods is liable, without proof of negligence, for any harm that may be caused as a result of the supply of unsafe goods, product failure, defect or hazard or inadequate instructions or warnings accompanying such goods.
Commercial suppliers of goods and services should take note that they may not be covered by their insurance for all extended grounds of liability in terms of the CPA, and they will have to pay more for the additional cover.
Udo Rypstra
