Upholding consumer rights

I would like to ask Anthony R. Girard (Consumer Rights, October 10) to write a letter to the Ghaqda tal-Konsumaturi, P.O. Box 464, Valletta, CMR 01, giving us more details related to his complaint. From what I understood, he attended a one-off activity in some festivity in Valletta and was given a voucher worth Lm3 which entitled him, during this festivity, to buy from someone, not necessarily the organisers of this festivity, three bottles of beer. Paying Lm1 per bottle for beer would seem to fall under the heading of "overcharging". Then there is the question of a VAT receipt.

It is a procedure of the Ghaqda tal-Konsumaturi (consumers association) to gather all the details from the consumer and then initiate an investigation by writing to the commercial entity concerned, to obtain a reply to the details mentioned by the consumer. So we need the address of the organisers from Mr Girard.

This complaint does not seem to be like buying goods from a shop and services from a registered commercial firm. So it may not be covered by the Sale of Goods section of the Consumer Affairs Act. It is in the nature of traders to invent trading practices which may not be covered under a particular law. As an example, I would refer to "credit notes" which have become quite normal commercial practice in Malta and Gozo. We know of some shops who actually refuse to give a refund, even when the consumer specifically requests it, because a credit note is more "profitable" for the trader.

Besides this, I would assume that the organisers of this "one off festivity" required a permit from some authority, which permit laid down certain conditions, especially if the "festivity" was organised in a public place.

As a voluntary organisation, the Ghaqda tal-Konsumaturi is not empowered to carry out surveillance duties. That activity is normally assigned to some government department. But we are willling to do all we can to assist Mr Girard to obtain a satisfactory explanation and see if there is a question of redress.