Consumers get payback

MORE than $1 million was returned to Gold Coast consumers ripped off by dodgy traders over the past year after almost 2000 complaints were made to the Office of Fair Trading.

In total, 15,808 complaints were made across Queensland in 2019 and over $8 million was returned to customers.

Brisbane topped the list for the most complaints at 9917. The Gold Coast had the second most complaints at 1954 and the Sunshine Coast 1196.

Fair Trading returned $2,632,648 to Brisbane consumers, $1,071,281 to Gold Coast consumers and $1,114,938 to Sunshine Coast consumers.

The Gold Coast’s most complained about industries were: Personal and household goods, motor vehicle sales, personal and household services, real estate, and vehicle servicing, repairs and parts.

Recently, Fair Trading issued a range of warnings about traders on the Coast.

For example, a warning was put out just before Christmas last year about deceitful fencing contractor Matthew Geoffrey Rixon.

Rixon has previously taken money from consumers without completing the work he agreed to undertake, Fair Trading claimed.

In mid-November, Fair Trading took Kent Paul Scarborough,

of Burleigh Waters, to court. He pleaded guilty in the Southport Magistrates Court to 27 counts of making false or misleading representations in breach of consumer law over 12 months from about March 2016.

Scarborough took $97,925 from more than two dozen would-be first-home buyers, some described as vulnerable individuals, the court was told.

Magistrate Jane Bentley said Scarborough thought “he was doing these people a favour” by running a “cruel” home deposit scheme that simply “wasn’t realistic”.

Scarborough was fined $50,000 and ordered to pay restitution.

Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Yvette D’Ath said the millions returned to consumers across the state was for refunds, repairs, replacements and other compensation.

“(Fair Trading) are working to create a fairer and safer marketplace for all Queenslanders through a combination of compliance, enforcement and education activities,” she said. “The vast majority of Queensland traders comply with the law and are committed to good customer service, but there’s always a minority that aren’t doing the right thing.”

Fair Trading finalised slightly fewer cases than the 16,063 finalised in 2018.