OFT puts more than $10 million back in Queenslanders' pockets

Queensland consumers have benefited from the efforts of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to resolve consumer complaints with more than $10.6 million returned to them in 2021.

Commissioner for Fair Trading Victoria Thomson said consumer complaints last year (2021) were consistent with the record levels set in 2020 and continued to be much higher than in the years before the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’m hopeful that increased consumer awareness and businesses learning to adjust the way they deal with consumer issues during the pandemic will see a downward trend in consumer complaints in the coming years,” Ms Thomson said.

“OFT received 18,521 consumer complaints in 2021 which is down only slightly from the 2020 record level of 18,698 and remains well above the average of around 15,000 per year received in the five years before Covid-19.

“In 2021 $10.6 million was returned to Queenslanders in the form of refunds, credits, repairs and replacements as a result of OFT interventions.”

“The topmost complaints continued to be for purchases of products which fall within the ‘personal and household goods’ category and disappointingly there has also been a large increase in the ‘personal and household services’ category.

“Complaints in this category, which include repairs to whitegoods, removalist services, cleaning, gardening and landscaping services, have more than doubled from 1,523 in 2020 to 3,268 in 2021.”

Ms Thomson said the steep rise seemed to be largely due to an increase in people getting more work done in and around their homes, perhaps because they are spending more time there during the pandemic.

“In many cases the complaints we have received in this area could have been avoided if the service providers had communicated with their customers in a timely fashion,” she said.

“Businesses should remember the importance of keeping consumers aware of what is happening with the services they have requested. Not returning calls or failing to keep consumers up to date can lead to a great deal of unnecessary anxiety and stress.”

Ms Thomson said from obtaining a replacement motorised wheelchair for a Cairns consumer with disability through to assisting a Mackay consumer to get a refund on event tickets they had accidentally ordered due to a lack of computer literacy, OFT is supporting ordinary Queensland consumers each and every day.

“Another example of the great work OFT undertakes includes the redress of approximately $34,000 obtained for a retired couple who had encountered major issues with a motor home they had purchased to travel around Australia.

“After months of trying to resolve the issue themselves they sought the help of the OFT through the Hervey Bay office which resulted in the trader collecting the motor home and returning it to the factory for repairs and covering the consumers’ temporary accommodation costs.”

The top 5 most complained about industries in Queensland in 2021:

• Personal and household goods (e.g. furniture, whitegoods, TVs, computers) - 5,692
• Personal and household services (e.g. repairs to whitegoods, removalists services, cleaning, gardening, etc) – 3,473
• Motor vehicle sales – 1,639
• Real estate agents (excl resident letting) -1,133
• Motor vehicle service, repairs, parts - 999

The most complained about industries by region in 2021:

Location of consumer	Number of complaints finalised	Redress obtained by OFT for these consumers **	Top five industries complaints related to
Brisbane area*	11,680	$4,248,601	1. Personal and household goods 2. Personal and household services 3. Motor vehicle sales 4. Real estate agents 5. Motor vehicle services, repairs, parts
Cairns region	685	$385,662	1. Personal and household goods 2. Personal and household services 3. Motor vehicle sales 4. Motor vehicle services, repairs, parts 5. Real estate agents
Townsville region	574	$647,465	1. Personal and household goods 2. Personal and household services 3. Motor vehicle sales 4. Motor vehicle services, repairs, parts 5. Real estate agents
Mackay region	343	$717,558	1. Personal and household goods 2. Personal and household services 3. Motor vehicle sales 4. Motor vehicle services, repairs, parts 5. Real estate agents
Rockhampton region	416	$426,147	1. Personal and household goods 2. Personal and household services 3. Motor vehicle sales 4. Motor vehicle services, repairs, parts 5. Travel agents
Wide Bay region	606	$389,718	1. Personal and household goods 2. Motor vehicle sales 3. Motor vehicle services, repairs, parts 4. Travel agents 5. Real estate agents
Toowoomba region	532	$720,306	1. Personal and household goods 2. Personal and household services 3. Motor vehicle sales 4. Real estate agents 5. Motor vehicle services, repairs, parts
Sunshine Coast region	1,373	$921,195	1. Personal and household goods 2. Personal and household services 3. Motor vehicle sales 4. Motor vehicle services, repairs, parts 5. Travel agents
Gold Coast region	2,309	$2,233,214	1. Personal and household goods 2. Personal and household services 3. Motor vehicle sales 4. Real estate agents 5. Motor vehicle services, repairs, parts
Total	18,521	$10,689,866

*Includes consumers who reside outside of Queensland or have not provided an address.

**The redress figures provided are those obtained for consumers by each OFT region, they do not perfectly align with the individual complaint numbers as some matters may be handled by another OFT office for operational reasons and because some matters for which redress was obtained may have originated from information or intelligence received by the agency rather than consumer complaints.

Consumers who believe they have been treated poorly and are unable to reach an outcome with a trader can lodge a complaint with the OFT at https://www.qld.gov.au/law/fair-trading or by calling 13 QGOV (13 74 68)

While the OFT does not have the power to direct a trader to provide redress, it is able to resolve the majority of disputes through conciliation.