Page 1470 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 6 April 2005
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acknowledges that a number of problems had to be overcome in implementing the legislation, but today industry and consumers alike acknowledge that the new laws are achieving their objectives.
Complementary to the work of the enforcement and litigation unit and the compliance unit are the activities of the staff of the advice and complaint unit. This unit is the front line to consumers and deals with nearly 10,000 telephone, email and written requests each year. The unit’s call centre has recently been acknowledged by InTACT as a model call centre. This accolade recognises the higher rate of targets met in answering calls as well as responses within reasonable times and a very low dropout rate of callers. The unit has met key performance indicators to such an extent that it has been approached by Centrelink and ACT government agencies to discuss its work practices.
The staff of the unit have not been satisfied in simply dealing with the complaints that they receive. This unit has initiated activities designed to reform troublesome and recidivist traders. Two such programs worthy of mention are priority 15 and the infield educational services. Priority 15 is a program aimed at the 15 local traders who most frequently feature in complaints received by the office. Staff of the advice and complaint unit deal directly with these traders to both remedy consumer complaints and, more importantly, assist the traders to put in place the necessary internal controls and practices to improve their procedures so that matters do not escalate to the level of complaint.
The unit’s infield educational services program is a new program that involves staff going out to major traders to educate their staff about consumer rights and trader obligations under fair trading law. The program has been well received by the major retailers in the ACT and it is hoped that about 50 lectures will be conducted over the next 12 months. These two outreach programs will target traders in the eight industries that generate over 55 per cent of the complaints received by the Office of Fair Trading.
One of the office’s more unrecognised and underrated activities in respect of its importance to the rights of consumers is the work undertaken in respect of the licensing and registration of the 20 different industries or professions in the ACT for which it has responsibility. Each year the office deals with about 6,500 applications and renewals in a diverse range of industries, including real estate, travel and employment agents; motor vehicle dealers and repairers; liquor retailers; the security industry; and the X-rated film outlets.
To enhance licensing and registration data storage in management, the office has developed and implemented a new electronic integrated business system that has amalgamated a number of licence information systems. The IBS has enables the office to record in a uniform manner the details of all businesses and persons who are licensed or registered under the various laws administered by the office. The IBS readily accommodated the new licensing regimes for the security industry employers and employees, real estate salespersons and fireworks retailers.
The system is also used to record complaints received from the public over the phone, by email and in writing and to record details of inspection and prosecution activities. The IBS enables the office to obtain accurate and timely statistics from all the data recorded and it also allows the integration of regulatory records with both consumer reports and compliance records.
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