Consumer Guarantees Act
Sample Question One, ACTY 5320 Exam, Semester Two, 2019
Scenario
Alex has recently retired from a long and distinguishing career as a police officer. To keep himself
occupied during his retirement and to pursue his lifelong love of beer, he decided to start a home
microbrewery (a microbrewery is a brewery that produces small amounts of beer).
Despite having lots of experience in drinking beer, Alex did not possess any knowledge or experience
with brewing his own beer. He searched online and found a company called Delicious Homebrew Ltd
(“Delicious Homebrew”) which advertised to provide training for locals in the art of craft beer and
provide all tools needed to turn a regular kitchen into a full blown brewery.
Alex was very intrigued by the advertisement and decided to visit Delicious Homebrew’s store. There
he was greeted by Josh, a sales representative for Delicious Homebrew and selfproclaimed
Brewmaster. Alex told Josh that he wanted to start his own microbrewery but didn’t have the
knowledge or the tools. Josh replied that it was very easy and he would guide Alex every step of the
way.
Josh first pointed to a brewing machine and told Alex that he recommended the Simplematic
Brewing Machine Mark 3 (“Mark 3”), manufactured in Amsterdam, the home of craft beer. He
further recommended to have the Mark 3 installed by a certified technician from Delicious
Homebrew to ensure optimal performance and manufacturer warranty. Finally he recommended
that Alex participate in the 8 weeks “brew” sessions offered by Delicious Homebrew, taught by Josh.
Alex decided to follow all of Josh’s advice and spent $2,500.00 for Mark 3, $200.00 for the
installation of the MARK 3 and $800.00 for the eight weeks “brew” sessions with Josh.
The next day Andrew, an employee of Delicious Homebrew came to Alex’s house to install the Mark
3. After four weeks of training, Josh told Alex that he can start his first batch. He provided Alex with
a formula and told Alex to try it out at home. Alex followed the formula exactly and left the batch to
ferment in the Mark 3. On the second evening of making the batch, Alex was woken up by a loud
bang from the kitchen. When he went to check out the sound, he found the Mark 3 has exploded,
shattering the windows in the kitchen.
Alex contacted the manufacturer of Simplematic Brewing Machine who sent over Charlie, one of
their technicians. Charlie came to Alex’s house and inspected the damage. He informed Alex that the
machine he has is the Mark 2 which is an older unit and wasn’t capable of handling the recipe
provided by Josh. Charlie also told Alex that the manufacturer would not be honouring the warranty
because Andrew wasn’t a certified technician.
Alex called Josh who admitted that he mistakenly sold Alex the Mark 2 instead of the Mark 3. Alex
then found out that the Mark 2 was being sold generally for $1,500 since it was an older model. Josh
offered to refund the difference in price between the two models but refused to provide any other
compensation.
Alex also had to pay $1,000 to replace the shattered windows in the kitchen.
Alex is extremely upset over the whole event. He wants to know what options he has against
Delicious Homebrew, including whether he could cancel the remaining “brew” sessions and get a full
refund.
Advise Alex on his claims against Delicious Homebrew Ltd and likelihood of succeeding with
reference to relevant sections in the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 (“the Act”). Please refer to
| specific remedies that Alex can seek under the Act. Answer the above question using ILAC marks] |
[20 |
The post Consumer Guarantees Act appeared first on My Assignment Online.