Shine reveals Toowoomba’s top 10 consumer complaints for 2007

Toowoomba residents are standing up for their consumer rights and making it known if they are unhappy, lodging 562 complaints with the Office of Fair Trading during 2007.

Attorney-General and Minister for Justice and Member for Toowoomba North, Kerry Shine, said motor vehicle dealers topped the list, generating 11 per cent of all complaints in the area.

Mr Shine said other top ten complaints included real estate property management (nine per cent), household electrical goods (eight per cent), motor vehicle repair and maintenance (six per cent), holiday, entertainment and travel services (six per cent), household trade services (five per cent), personal services (five per cent), and computers (five per cent).

“The Office of Fair Trading continues to monitor real estate agents and motor dealers and will crack down on any traders doing the wrong thing,” he said.

“Last year, the Office of Fair Trading investigated 390 motor dealers state-wide, resulting in a total of $41,400 in fines and $101,775 in infringement notices. One dealer was permanently disqualified from holding a licence.

“Across the state, consumers lodged 12,561 complaints with the Office of Fair Trading during 2007, an increase of 14 per cent from 2006.”

He said during the year the Office of Fair Trading negotiated $3 million of redress for Queenslandconsumers, including repairs, refunds and compensation by traders.

“Younger people complained about computers and related hardware, as well as personal services such as gyms, hairdressers, photography, beauty clinics and modelling agencies,” Mr Shine said.

“Older age groups had more complaints about holiday, entertainment and travel.”

Mr Shine said the Office of Fair Trading received an average of more than 40,000 calls a month from people seeking advice and information about consumer and business issues, with a similar number visiting the website each month.

The top ten complaint categories in Toowoomba were:

Media Contact: Troy Davies / Jamie Byron (Office of the Attorney-General) 3239 3478 / 0488 799 273