In a public statement issued in accordance with article 8 of the Consumer Affairs Act (Cap.378), Josephine Borg, director general, Consumer Affairs, said that Wayne Cassar of Breeze Express Ltd, has not honoured the decision delivered by the Consumer Claims Tribunal.

The consumer appointed the trader and his company to ship a consignment of Ikea goods to Malta  from Sicily. This merchandise was paid for by several cheques and when it arrived in Malta, the consumer discovered that a quarter of the ordered items were missing. Although the trader promised him several times the remaining products would be delivered, these never arrived.

After January 2018, the consumer asked the seller to collect his money back, but a meeting for this purpose was never convened, and he remained without the goods even though they had been paid for infull. Moreover, when the consumer contacted Ikea, he was informed that the entire shipment had been collected.

The tribunal stated that the seller never submitted a reply to the claim and failed to appear at the hearing, even though it resulted that he was duly notified. It, therefore, had to rely on the consumer’s testimony, which it declared as being credible under the circumstances, as it was corroborated by the required documents. It concluded that the trader did not act professionally and had failed to fulfil its obligation to deliver the goods that had been fully paid in advance by the consumer.

The tribunal upheld the consumer’s request and ordered Mr Cassar and his firm to pay €677.08, representing the undelivered goods.