RV FEATURE
Picture this . You ’ ve spent $ 100,000 on a new caravan and have begun dreaming about where you ’ ll take it . Throughout it all , you ’ ve developed an emotional connection to this purchase . One hundred thousand dollars ain ’ t pocket change . In fact , it represents a significant portion of your life ’ s work .
The sad reality , however , is that sometimes things do go wrong . Whether you ’ re building a house , buying a car or , yes , buying a caravan . That ’ s not an argument for not building that house or buying that van . But , as with any big purchase , it is an argument for caution . And yet , despite employing all the caution in the world … sometimes things still go wrong . That ’ s where the Australian Consumer Law comes in . It ’ s there to protect you . But how ?
MINOR AND MAJOR FAILURES
Under Australian Consumer Law ( ACL ), if the product ( for our purposes , a caravan ) you have purchased fails to meet one or more consumer guarantee , for example it is not of acceptable quality or does not match the description made by the supplier , the customer is entitled to a remedy from the supplier .
Hilltop co-owner Dham is one manufacturer who places a lot of emphasis on after-sales service .
But therein lies the rub . You see , a remedy can be a repair , replacement or refund . The trouble is , there is often a chasm between what the customer believes they are entitled to , what the supplier / manufacturer believes is an appropriate remedy , and what the ACL provides for .
You see , much depends on whether any ‘ failure ’ of the caravan ( the product ) is deemed minor or major . Under the ACL , a minor failure would typically be repaired by the supplier or manufacturer . But if the supplier / manufacturer refuses to offer a repair , the customer becomes entitled to a refund or a replacement .
A major failure , however , provides the customer with their choice of a replacement or a refund . But here ’ s where it can become a little more thorny . If the caravan contains multiple minor failures , taken together they could constitute a major failure of the caravan .
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