The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has ordered Nokia to stop asking customers to sign a service agreement when seeking repairs that would have limited their statutory rights. The changes affect Fone Care Pty Ltd, which operates Nokia Care Centres throughout Australia, and Nokia Australia Pty Ltd.
The ACCC says that it became aware that a consumer had attempted to return a faulty Nokia mobile phone battery to a Nokia Care Centre and was asked to sign a service agreement. In the ACCC's view, the agreement not only restricted the customers rights to make further warrant claims, but also required that they agree to let their details be passed to 3rd-partie organisations.
In the course of the investigation the ACCC discovered that the agreement had been authorised by Nokia Australia. It also emerged that a refund policy had been displayed at Nokia Care Centres which represented that there was a 14 day time limit on statutory warranty claims and that Nokia Australia had been unaware of the use of the policy.
The ACCC raised its concerns with Nokia Australia and Fone Care that the agreement and the refund policy misrepresented consumers' statutory warranty rights. Fone Care agreed to adjust its policies accordingly, and Nokia Australia also responded to the concerns and has undertaken to refrain from authorising Fone Care to use any agreement, policy or other document that makes false or misleading representations in relation to consumers' statutory warranty rights in the future.
"Consumers are fortunate to have a broad range of technical products to choose from and some of these products are becoming increasingly complex," ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel said. "It is more important than ever that consumers know what their statutory warranty rights are and that manufacturers and retailers do not mislead consumers about these rights."
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