Sick in hospital, Debra Mesiti ordered a $743 tablet from Android Enjoyed on December 28. Four months later, she has no tablet, and has all but lost hope of getting her money back.
“This … business has really wound me up, just the moral implications of all of this,” she said.
Mrs Mesiti, from Sydenham in Melbourne, was undergoing cancer treatment when her old tablet broke. Her brother suggested using Android Enjoyed, as he had bought phones through its website with no issue.
“I initially ordered this tablet because the turnover was apparently so quick, and because I wasn’t able to go anywhere,” she said.
Told delivery would take seven days, instead, when she and her husband Rocco contacted the company two weeks after they ordered the tablet they were told there was a backlog.
“So we waited, and we still received no goods, rang back and they said they’re still experiencing a lot of sales – this went on for a number of weeks,” Mr Mesiti said.
Eventually, he said, they asked for their money back.
“They told it could take up to 25 days to get our money back, which is ridiculous,” Mr Mesiti said.
Mrs Mesiti said every time they contacted the company about their refund they were given the same excuses.
“I got so upset last time I rang,” she said. “I just thought, how can you be so heartless?”
Mrs Mesiti’s story is far from unique, as the online electronic store has topped the NSW Fair Trading complaints register for the second month in a row.
Complaints about the company and its affiliates have grown, too: Fair Trading received 50 complaints about Android Enjoyed in March, up from 45 complaints in February.
Android Enjoyed’s parent company Digital Marketing and Solutions Pty Ltd also owns Camera Sky, an online camera store that received 28 complaints in March and 25 in February.
NSW Minister for Better Regulation Matt Kean said it was clear Fair Trading’s past actions against Digital Marketing and Solutions and its companies were not enough.
“Fair Trading has previously issued an enforceable undertaking against the company, and for a short time that appeared to be making a difference,” Mr Kean said. “But sadly it was short-lived, as they are not only back, but once again topping the list.”
The minister said while enforceable undertakings, an alternative to a court prosecution, can have “significantly greater benefits to the workplace, industry and community”, in this case Fair Trading needs to consider alternative sanctions.
“Their disappointing business practices are totally unacceptable, and consumers shouldn’t have to cop that,” Mr Kean said.
The full article by Rachel Clun can be found on The Sydney Morning Herald.
