iPhone batteries...

[Aractus]

Our laws are much better than the UK. Yes you're right about small operators closing down and starting up again, but that's no cheap exercise. For a tiny business like that one it may only cost $10-20,000 but that's still a lot of money to lose, and it doesn't change the fact that all employees are individually responsible for obeying the law and can be prosecuted separate to a defunct business. All products sold in Australia are automatically covered by a consumer guarantee that cannot be excluded or waived (previously it was called a statutory warranty). The expected life of the product is 2 years, let's say, and if they sold a new one that means that for two years if it develops a fault they have to repair or replace it or give the devalued amount. Apple ignored this law for many years, and I was absolutely foaming at the mouth when they got such a slap-on-the-wrist fine for it. And there are threads on Whirlpool that will attest to their behaviour forever. Which is one reason why I wouldn't give the company the time of day. Most other companies mind you, like Samsung, go above and beyond the legal requirements under consumer law. So for instance if I have a 3 year old TV that develops a manufacturing fault they will repair it for free - even though they can charge a modest fee and they can make you pay the postage. Kogan, is a cunt of a company, and their TVs are manufactured from less than ideal parts - within 3 to 6 months of a product being discontinued the company is unable to continue sourcing replacement parts for their own TVs. So if I have a 9 month old Kogan TV and it breaks down (as 50% or so of them do) then my TV has to go to landfill and they must give a devalued refund on the product (although under 12 months would presumably be covered by a manufacturer's warranty that would give you the full amount). In any case they do abide by the law, and they will give their customers a refund - but as I just mentioned it doesn't change the fact that the TV goes to landfill because the company can't repair it! That's so wasteful, and it's environmentally irresponsible. And on that reason alone I would never deal with the company - regardless of their other shit (poor quality customer service, and poor quality products).

And in any case eBay or PayPal will enforce the refund in this case - if it comes to it. And the fact that I've reported it to PP means that there's a strike against them, PayPal will permanently close accounts for people that deal in fraudulent merchandise, and if that happens their online sales will drop by at least half - or they'll have to use their EFTPOS machine to process online sales which will require calling the customer and will cost much more than having an online payment system provided by PP.