Issue Date:  -  Monday, 5 October 1998

Discount meal firm gets a serve

A company selling a scheme for discounted restaurant meals today pleaded guilty in the Perth Magistrate's Court to misleading consumers about their rights.

Austar Enterprises Pty Ltd was charged in relation to the Pacific Good Food and Accommodation Guide and restaurant discount card, which it had sold to consumers in their home and at their workplace.

Paperwork given to consumers falsely indicated that there was no right to a cooling off period under door to door selling laws.

Magistrate Moore fined the company a total of $1600 on four charges under the Fair Trading Act for making misleading statements to consumers.

Austar was also fined a further $750 on three counts of not complying with the requirements of the Door to Door Trading Act by not providing a cooling off period and also not providing consumers with notices telling them about their rights.

In his comments in sentencing, Magistrate Moore noted that there had been deliberate deception.

Commissioner for Fair Trading, Pat Walker, said that the purpose of the door to door legislation was to protect unwary consumers from "on the spot" purchasing decisions that they might later regret.

"If the Act is followed it ensures that consumers are informed of their rights and gives them a way out of contracts that they might have been talked into in a pressured situation," Mr Walker said.

 Media Contact: Neil Stanbury