New special advertising section in our Website

We have now launched a new section in our Website, which ought to be advantageous to consumers as well as traders. It is a new form of advertising in that the claims made by the respective suppliers and/or traders are based on clarification.

The first company that has taken the initiative is the Phoenix Group, managing director: Steve Petroni; head office (and outlet): Old Railway Track, St Venera; tel: 2385-2200; Servicing Dept: 2385-2300; fax: 2144-9216; e-mail: info@phoenixgroupmalta.com. Website: www.phoenixgroupmalta.com.

As regular readers know, we have various lists of companies that offer something special. In this case, we have five companies which offer "No-Nonsense full commercial guarantees".

Recently, due to the amendments to the law on commercial guarantees, we suspended the regular inclusion of this list to ensure that their guarantees conformed to the following eight conditions:

1) formulated in at least one of the official languages of Malta

2) set out the name and address of the guarantor, and clearly state the permanent address of the place of trade or business

3) clearly state the contents of the guarantee and the duration of the guarantee from the date of purchase;

4) clearly specify the manner how a consumer is to proceed to make a claim and to obtain execution of the commercial guarantee

5) clearly state whether the commercial guarantee may be transferred to others. Unless stated that it may not, this guarantee may be transferred;

6) provide a clear description of the goods or services covered by the commercial guarantee

7) clearly stipulate what the guarantor undertakes to do if there is a defect in the goods or if the services are not properly carried out and

8) state that the consumer enjoys rights at law which are not adversely affected by the guarantee.

We had meetings with the relevant suppliers to ensure that they complied with these amendments before resuming regular publication of the list. However, over and above these amendments, we added some conditions suppliers had to adhere to if they wanted to retain their inclusion in the list. It proved to be a laborious task but well worth the effort.

For example, the current law only obliges suppliers to inform buyers whether the guarantee is transferable or not. Suppliers can choose not to make it transferable as long as they inform the buyer accordingly. However, suppliers in our list must agree to make their guarantee transferable.

With regard to bulky appliances, if their customers come up with faults or breakdowns during the guarantee period, they can call them on the telephone. Should it not be possible to sort the problem out on the telephone, these suppliers will call at their customer's address and there will be no 'call-out' fee charged.

Another important aspect of their guarantees is that these suppliers offer coverage for "Parts, Labour and Transport" for the full duration of the guarantee period.

Another important factor is that if you do have a problem with these suppliers on their guarantee terms and conditions, as outlined above, write to me. I have a meaningful dialogue with the managing directors/general managers of these companies and we will be able to sort out any problems and/or misunderstandings which may arise.