Rush of 4WD rip-off claims
MORE than 70 people claiming to be have been ripped off by Gold Coast-based business Australian 4WD Hire have come forward in just over a month.
Member for Clayfield Tim Nicholls said he was aware of 75 complaints after he gave a speech in parliament claiming the business was a “rip-off merchant”.
The company, which has its address listed as a unit within the Q1, was previously owned by former multi-millionaire Russian Vitali Roesch.
Mr Nicholls has passed the complaints from tourists all over the world to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which confirmed to the Bulletin it was investigating the business.
“There are so many complaints,” Mr Nicholls told the Bulletin yesterday.
In his June 15 parliamentary speech, the former Opposition leader outlined how he believed the scheme operated.
“When someone hires a four-wheel drive for the adventure of a lifetime they sign a lengthy standard form takeit-or-leave-it hire contract containing terms which, in my view, are a clear breach of Australian Consumer Law,” he told the house.
“They pay a deposit of up to $5000, sometimes more, and they leave a credit card imprint as additional security.”
Mr Nicholls said the vehicle would then break down or not live up to expectations.
“Then Mr Roesch and the company start getting threatening and abusive. They start debiting the customer’s credit card for repairs – in one case for an engine replacement, in others for mechanical rebuilds.”
In Parliament, Mr Nicholls said the company appeared to be under the command of bankrupt Mr Roesch despite the single share in the company being transferred to his wife, Maryna Kosukhina, in February 2017.
In response to a Bulletin interview request, Mr Roesch, whose email signature has him listed as the Fleet Manager, said he had been advised by the company’s “legal representatives not to communicate with any media outlet anymore”.
“What needs to be told has been said too many times, there is nothing else to report,” he wrote. “We have replied to every request of OFT and ACCC to date and will continue to do so if anything else will come up.”
The Office of Fair Trading investigated the company’s operations in 2017 and found no evidence of breaches of consumer law.
Documents filed to Queensland Parliament reveal there had been 10 proceedings at Brisbane Magistrates Court filed by Australian 4WD Hire over the past two years. In all of these matters the company won and was awarded money.