The Director General (Consumer Affairs) hereby issues this Public Statement in accordance with Article 8 of the Consumer Affairs Act (Cap.378), by means of which she hereby identifies and gives information to the public that

Mr Justin Buttigieg – Reboot (Gozo)

has not honoured the decision delivered by the Consumer Claims Tribunal.

The consumer had bought a number of computer parts  for her son to build a computer for gaming purposes.  After an hour and a half, the computer started having problems and was not functioning properly. Her son  visited the outlet and it transpired that  there was a problem with the motherboard, which was eventually replaced by a used one which resulted not strong enough for the computer.   The consumer then filed a claim before the Tribunal, which claim was won and the trader ordered to refund the consumer the price of the motherboard.

During the proceedings, further faults developed due to the defective motherboard which affected  other parts of the computer. When the Tribunal delivered the first decision in the consumer’s favour, the trader wanted her to sign a declaration to the effect that he is paying her on condition that she files no future claims against him. After a number of letters sent to the trader claiming a suitable remedy for the new faults, when these remained unanswered, the consumer decided to go to another establishment to fix the defective computer. The computer’s video card had to be replaced and the consumer was also asked to pay for the inspection and cleaning services. This cost the consumer €784.

The defendant stated that in his view, the original video card he had sold to the consumer was not faulty and that he could not honour the guarantee since the consumer and her son went to another shop. 

However, the Tribunal believed more the consumer’s version, that is, that she unsucessfully went several times to the defendant’s shop, requesting assistance. The fact that an unsigned disclaimer letter, written by the defendant, was exhibited during the proceedings, further leads the Tribunal to believe the consumer’s version of facts.  The Tribunal added that as the consumer bought a number of parts from the defendant’s  shop and the first case concerned the motherboard only, this did not mean that other parts could not have been affected by such damage, which was the case here. This would not have happened had the trader done his job properly from the very beginning.

On these grounds, the Tribunal ordered Mr Buttigieg to  refund the consumer the sum of €784  with costs.

Josephine Borg

Director General(Consumer Affairs)