Geoff Wiki

Perhaps we should get a new better one. But thats not what Im writing about, this time.

The whole concept of throw away goods is that it a “good for the economy”. Good being that by thowing things away, over all, more has to be produced and sold, as the indicator of a “good economy” is one where the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the total value of goods and services produced in period of time,is always increasing. If its not, its referred to as a recession.

However logically it can be realized that most resources used to produce goods are limited and many not renewable. A possibility unlimited infinite resource is human thought. A finate resource is carbon based energy.

The idea of throwing things away,in some situations is because of planned obsolescence. That is when some goods are produced,it is planned that they will have a certain usable life so that they will have to be replaced after increasingly shorter periods of time.

Many would argue that this is waste of precious limited finite resources.

The consumer movement, started some time ago resulted in consumer laws designed to curb planned obsolescence and the throw away Society. One such law is Consumer guarantees.

You may have seen wording like this when reading the garantree on products:

“Our goods come with guarantees that cannot be excluded under the Australian Consumer Law. You are entitled to a replacement or refund for a major failure and compensation for any other reasonably foreseeable loss or damage.”

This is mandatory wording that,by law, has to be included in the garantree of any products sold in Australia.

However most product warranties then go on to describe the manufacturers warranty that has a list of exclusions and a time limit. Thus is often a play on words to confuse consumers so they are often not aware that the consumer laws override all manufacturers warranties.

The statuary warranties have far less exclusions and importantly no time limit. They only state that the goods should be fit for purpose.

My experience has been that most retailers are not aware of these consumer laws or if they are, bluff me by quoting ther own warranty. It is a bit of a struggle to convince them that I am entitled to a exchange or refund, outside ther warranty period.

On the 18/9/2018, 3 and a half years earlier, I purchased a plug in Electricity power meter from Aldi. Last item on this recient:

It came with a 12 month warranty. Recently it stopped working. I took it back to Aldi and asker for a refund and the first thing they said is how long is the warranty.

I said that is irrelevant because I'm claiming under the statutory warranty, after which person said that they had to check with someone else. After doing so I got a refund.

Only $10 and I had to pay $20 for somthing slightly better at Jaycar.

Power pack from Office Works

Bottom line is that if you no your consumer rights and exercise them, it will reduce the prevelence of our throw away Society.