Remedies for breach of implied guarantees in a contract of supply of services under the Malaysian Consumer Protection Act 1999

The inclusion of provisions relating to a supply of services in the Consumer protection Act 1999 (the CPA) is very significant in the development of the law of services which previously has been left behind compared to the law on sale of goods. With the main aim of protecting consumers against sub-standard, defective or ineffective services, the CPA creates a number of statutory implied guarantees. The Act also introduces an entirely different remedial scheme for breach of the guarantees which are supposed to offer new and more practical remedies to consumers. Adopting the method of content analysis, this paper focuses on examining the nature and types of remedies available for consumers in cases of services failure. It analyses the extent to which these remedies are adequate in compensating consumers’ loss, dissatisfaction or disappointment. The central of discussion is on Part IX of the CPA which deals with the rights of consumers against suppliers in respect of guarantees in the supply of services. A new regime of statutory remedies appears to be more practical and useful to the consumer particularly the right to demand the supplier to rectify the failure in the services. Nevertheless, after scrutinizing the CPA in depth, it is discovered that the remedial scheme is hampered by many limitations and is not necessarily more favourable to the consumer in all cases. The paper thus offers some recommendations to remedy the present flaws in the CPA for the betterment of consumers in Malaysia

Rights of Redress on Supply of Goods under Consumer Protection Act 1999: The Issue of Halal Logo

Halal logo is designed to protect consumers from fraud and mislabelling. However, over the years, there has been a controversy surrounding the use of a false halal logo to attract Muslim consumers to buy certain goods. The act of unethical business practice to attract consumers to buy their goods have caused some misunderstanding among consumers regarding the halal status of such goods. Therefore, the law is the most important mechanism in protecting the rights and interests of consumers to claim compensation if their rights have been violated. Under the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) 1999, it puts a responsibility on suppliers and manufacturers to ensure that the goods supplied are the same as specified. However, the question arises as to the extent to which consumers have the right of redress under the CPA 1999 in the issue of supplying false halal logo goods. By using the content analysis method, this article aims to analyze the scope and provisions of the CPA 1999 that govern matters relating to the supply of goods. The discussion of this article reveals that Part VI and VII of the CPA 1999 contains several loopholes that must be addressed in order to provide better rights of redress to consumers on the issue of supplying false halal logo goods

Pengetahuan berhubung hak-hak pengguna semasa berurusan dengan bengkel kenderaan.

Perlindungan pengguna lahir daripada penindasan dan penyelewengan peniaga terhadap pengguna. Menurut Mohd Hamdan (2005), perlindungan pengguna yang berkesan perlu berasaskan undang-undang negara dan satu dasar pengguna yang menyeluruh dan terkini. Tahap pendidikan pengguna yang tinggi dan perlindungan undang-undang yang mencukupi merupakan gabungan yang ideal bagi menjamin satu perlindungan pengguna yang berkesan. Pengguna diharap untuk lebih bertanggungjawab dan sedia untuk tampil ke hadapan bagi membuat aduan terhadap sesuatu penyelewengan yang berlaku semasa berurusan dengan peniaga dan pembekal. Pengguna bijak, berani dan proaktif mestilah mengetahui hak-hak mereka dan sedia untuk mempertahankan hak-hak tersebut

Consumers' perceptions on the service quality in the motor vehicle repair and service industry: an exploratory study in Klang Valley, Malaysia

Motor vehicle repair and service are common and regular services used by consumers in Malaysia. The high demand for these services is contributed by the continued increase in the number of registered vehicles and the number of driving licences issued annually. There are also many complaints reported in the Tribunal for Consumer Claims (TCC) in relation to this industry. Thus, this study aimed to identify the perceptions of consumers towards the quality of the services provided by motor vehicle garages. A total of 400 respondents participated in the study through simple random sampling and data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. The results of this study indicated that most of the respondents generally had low and moderate perceptions of the service quality. Meanwhile, among the matters that need to be given more considerations are to ensure that the written consent from the consumers is given before undertaking any repair work, and to provide written statements describing the services and the estimated labour fees incurred. Thus, it is recommended that the enforcement bodies enforce the laws strictly and more attention be given to small garages. This study highlighted the seriousness of the problems and it also showed the importance of enacting a specific statute governing this industry in order to achieve a higher standard of services as well as to provide a comprehensive consumer protection

Consumer protection in the supply of services:a comparative study between the Consumer Protection Act 1999 and Islamic law

The Consumer Protection Act 1999 (CPA) that came into force on 15 November 1999 represents a milestone in consumer protection in Malaysia.It has several important provisions, some of which are more beneficial than those found in the law of contract and law of tort since its objective is specifically to protect the interest of consumers. The statute is applicable to both goods and services but the provisions on services are very important because previously the laws regulating the supply of services seem to be left behind compared to those regulating goods.The aim of this paper is to examine the relevant provisions of the CPA and make a comparative study with the protection available under the Islamic law of muamalat. The central discussions are on section 53, section 54 and part 1X of the CPA since they deal specifically with the supply of services. The liabilities of the service providers are scrutunised as well as consumers' rights of redress

Consumer protection under Islamic law in the service industry

Consumer protection refers to safeguards against malpractice and exploitative techniques by suppliers of goods or services that adversely affect consumers. The area that seems to be most neglegted is consumer protection in the service industry. However, they are becoming important to consumers and have raised complicated legal issues. Unlike the supply of goods, in which the product quality can be assessed before a sale, a supply of services involves human activity that cannot be subject to such control. Furthermore, consumers often lack technical expertise and are therefore in a weak bargaining position. They are not in a capacity to discuss fully their requirements with service providers and thus can be at the latter's mercy. The aim of this article is to examine the principles under the Islamic law of transactions that give protection to consumers in the service industry. The discussion focuses on the Islamic values and references are made to the opinions of scholars of four schools of thought i.e. Hanafi, Shafi', Hanbali and Maliki. It is submitted that Malaysia should adopt these principles into the legislation and consumer policy so as to strengthen the consumer protection in the country

Redress mechanism for consumers in the motor vehicle repair and service industry

Malaysian laws have provided various rights to consumers in the cases of defective and unsatisfactory services under contract law, tort law as well as the Consumer Protection Act 1999. The rights, however, are worthless in the absence of an effective redress mechanism. This paper seeks to examine the effectiveness of the existing redress mechanisms in Malaysia with special reference to the motor vehicle repair and service industry. The study is a combination of qualitative and quantitative research. For qualitative research, the analysis has been made to the existing legal provisions and the decided cases. As a matter of comparison, the statutes of other countries relating to consumer tribunals are also referred to which include the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal Act 2001 (Australia) and the Disputes Tribunals Act 1988 (New Zealand). This paper also scrutinizes the Australian approaches as they have provided the ideal redress mechanism for the motor vehicle industries. The main objective of the analysis is to illustrate the shortfalls in the existing operation of the Malaysian redress mechanism system specifically the Tribunal for Consumer Claims. Apart from the legal analysis, a quantitative research using survey was also utilized. The objectives of the survey are to diagnose the actual problems in the industry based on the experiences of the consumers and to identify how the consumers' react to their bad experiences and their options in seeking a redress. A total of 400 respondents were selected through random sampling. Among the recommendations for the betterment of the redress mechanisms are to revise the jurisdiction of the TCC, accessibility, publicity, parties' representation and the special dispute resolution for the motor vehicle repair and service industry

Consumers' awareness and practices towards 'exclusion clause' and its position under Malaysian law

The aim of this paper is to explore the adequacy of contract law, common law and the Consumer Protection Act 1999 (CPA) as the tools of consumer protection in dealing with exclusion clauses. The underlying philosophy is that consumers are free to enter into contracts and therefore must take care of their own interests. This principle, which is based on the assumption of equal bargaining power between parties, though, is not appropriate when consumers are involved. This is because in most consumer transactions, the natural tendency is that the consumers have no option except to abide by the contractual terms determined by the suppliers. The content analysis is carried out in order to analyse Malaysian law which include the analysis on the Contract Act 1950, the common law as well as the Consumer Protection Act 1999. A survey using questionnaires was carried out among 400 consumers in Klang Valley to explore their awareness and practices towards exclusion clauses. The analysis of the laws demonstrates that the law of contract, common law and the CPA are inadequate in giving comprehensive protection to consumers on the issue of exclusion clauses. In addition, the results of the survey show that only 41.8% of the respondents aware of the existence of such clauses in their dealing with the suppliers and 50.8 % of the respondents responded that they did not understand the implication of such clause. In total, 54.3% of them stated that they would still sign the document even though they were already aware of the exclusion clauses or any other unfair contractual terms. Thus, it is submitted that there are two solutions to this problem. The first one is to educate the consumers so that they are more aware about exclusion clauses and the second one is for the Parliament to take steps to legislate specific legislation dealing with exclusion clauses especially in consumer transactions

Knowledge, attitude and practices of consumers in e-commerce transactions

E-commerce is a trading system between suppliers and consumers through the electronic medium which gives lots of benefits to both parties. On the other hand, it will also cause several problems to consumers such as the issue of privacy and security. The main purpose of this paper is to describe and identify the level of knowledge, attitude and practices of consumers in e-commerce transactions in four residential areas in Muar Johore. The totals of 104 respondents who had practiced e-commerce were systematically randomly selected. Questionnaires were used as a tool for collecting data and the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) had been utilised for data analysis. The results show that there was significant relationship between the consumers' knowledge and consumer purchasing practices of-e-commerce (r=0.251*, p<;0.05). It means the higher the level of knowledge, the better the practices and vice versa. The study also shows that there was significant correlation between consumers' attitude and their practices in e-commerce purchasing (r=0.197*, p<;0.05). Therefore, if the consumers' attitude towards e-commerce is positive, it is more likely that they will engage in e-commerce transaction. For policy implication, government should continue promoting and enhancing consumers' awareness and knowledge with the introduction of government policies which are beneficial to consumers

Consumers' perceptions towards mobile halal application system

Due to the advancement in the communication system, all the information are easily available. This includes the mobile application system which can act as tracking and educational tools for Muslim consumers to validate JAKIM halal logo. The study was conducted in Gadek, Alor Gajah Malacca to gauge the perceptions of consumers towards these mobile application systems. The data was collected using questionnaires and was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). A total of 150 respondents were selected by systematic sampling. The study demonstrates that the consumers do not put high trust towards the mobile application system. They also claimed that they did know and understand the current available systems. However, the consumers agree that these mobile applications can act as educational tools to inculcate awareness about halal products among Muslim. The inferential statistic also indicates that there is a significant relationship between the usage of mobile applications system and the purchasing of halal cosmetics (r = 0.279, p = 0.000). This study gives implication to JAKIM, HDC, KPDNKK and consumer associations to play a role in shaping the culture of buying halal products among consumers through mobile application system. Nevertheless, comprehensive awareness activities need to be done to ensure the success of this system