Some months ago I decided I wanted a retractable awning to allow summer shade and winter sunshine into my home. I approached Watson Blinds and Awnings. Bill, who came to do the quote, was excellent. I felt he understood what I wanted and could provide an appropriate product. I was also keen to support a local company. So it was with good will that I decided to proceed. This is where my frustrations began.
Firstly, at no point did I receive any kind of diagram that showed exactly what would be constructed. Their quote was 5 pages long and mostly advertising. Lacking any kind of diagram, itâs not clear exactly what the product is. I was given a glossy brochure of gorgeous homes with gorgeous awnings, and directed to a photograph of what I was being quoted. But I still couldnât tell from that which bit was the product and which bit was an existing part of that home. This was especially unhelpful in the setting of pandemic travel restrictions, where I was trying to convey this information to my husband, who was on the other side of a state boundary, so he had a clear understanding of what we were signing up for. Itâs a bit like âserving suggestionâ in food products: a packet of Weetbix might depict Weetbix in a bowl with milk and strawberries, but clearly states that the box only contains Weetbix. What did the quote entail and what was just âserving suggestionâ?
Secondly, on 17/11/20 Watsons sent me an email message entitled, âThose products you wanted just got up to 30% cheaper!â. I responded within minutes and was confident that I was among the lucky first 30 customers. However the response I received stated that âunfortunately there is no discount on awnings available with the Black Friday offerâ, despite the heading within the email specifically mentioning awnings. On perusing the fine print, I could see that awnings were indeed excluded. I was furious to be spammed with such an offer on the grounds that I had an existing eligible quote, only to be told that my quote wasnât in fact eligible. Watsons knew precisely what was in my quote! I still wanted the product and so swallowed my anger and ploughed on with arranging for installation.
The third insult came yesterday. I mentioned that I had a $100 âwelcome giftâ voucher for Watsons by signing up to their online updates. I asked for this to be deducted from my quote. I was told that only one discount could be applied to any quote, and that I already had a $1500 discount. This was the first time Iâd noticed this hiding in my quote, and I have no idea what the putative reason for it was. It made me wonder if all their quotes have some kind of discount built in so as to neutralise any other vouchers customers may have obtained. This would surely be on legal thin ice, as if everything is always âdiscountedâ then that becomes the standard price.
I feel this behaviour has been decidedly misleading. But is any of it actually in contravention of Australian Consumer Law?