Edmonston - The Art of Complaining Canadas Consumer Action Guide

HELPFUL INTERNET SITES

Consumer Protection

100+1 Complaint Letters that Work
(www.scribd.com/doc/34742420/101-Complaint-Letters)

Here you will find letters that are easily copied for almost any problem that may arise. From the humourous to the threatening, these letters are both entertaining and timesaving.

Canadian Transport Agency (www.cta.gc.ca)

The Canadian Transportation Agency is an independent adminis trative body of the Government of Canada. It performs two key functions within the federal transportation system:

• As a quasi-judicial tribunal, informally and through formal adjudication, the agency resolves a range of commercial and consumer transportation-related disputes, including accessibility issues for persons with disabilities. It operates like a court when adjudicating disputes.
• As an economic regulator, the agency makes determinations and issues authorities, licences and permits to transportation carriers under federal jurisdiction.

Lately, the CTA has made a number of pro-consumer judg ments relative to the advertising of all-in fares, the publishing of com plaint numbers per airline flying in Canada, and the expansion of passenger rights. For example, CTA now says passengers should be allowed to opt for a full refund and a free trip home if a cancellation or overbooking throws a wrench into their travel plans. Until now, airlines have had discretion over whether to grant a refund or rebook pas sengers. The agency also says that in certain cases carriers must rebook passengers on the first available flight even if that flight is with a competing airline.

Automobile Protection Association (www.apa.ca)

A motherlode of honest, independent, and current car-buying information, the non-profit APA has been protecting Canadian motorists for over forty years from its offices in Toronto and Montreal. This dynamic consumer group fights for safer vehicles for consumers and has exposed many scams associated with new- vehicle sales, leasing, and repairs. For a small fee, it will send you the invoice price for most new vehicles and help you out if you get a bad car or dealer. The APA also has a useful free online guide for digging out court judgments.

Canadian Legal Information Institute (www.canlii.org)

Be your own legal eagle and save big bucks. Use this site to find court judgments from every province and territory all the way up to the Supreme Court of Canada.

CBC TVs Marketplace (www.cbc.ca/marketplace)

Marketplace has been the CBCs premier national consumer show for almost forever. Staffers are dedicated to searching out scam mers, airbag dangers, misleading advertising, and unsafe, poor-quality products. Search the archives for auto info, or contact the shows producers to suggest program ideas.

Class Actions in Canada (www.classproceedings.ca)

After successfully kicking Fords rear end over its front-end thick film ignition (TFI) troubles and getting a million-dollar out-of- court settlement, this powerhouse Ontario-based law firm got a similar settlement from GM as compensation for a decade of defect ive V6 intake manifold gasket failures. Estimated damages were well over a billion dollars. The firm has also worked with others to force Liberty Mutual and other insurers to refund money paid by policy holders who were forced to accept accident repairs with used, reconditioned parts instead of new, original-equipment parts.

Competition Bureau Canada (www.competitionbureau.gc.ca)

The Competition Bureau is responsible for the administration and enforcement of the Competition Act , the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act , the Textile Labelling Act , and the Precious Metals Marking Act. Its role is to promote and maintain fair competition so that Canadians can benefit from lower prices, increased product choices, and quality services.

Most auto-related complaints submitted to the bureau concern price-fixing and misleading advertising. After Lemon-Aid , the APA, and Mohamed Bouchama from the ACC submitted formal com plaints to Ottawa against Toyotas Access pricing program a few years ago, the automaker settled the case for $2.3 million. The bureau agreed to drop its inquiry into charges that the automaker rigged new car prices.

Almost twenty-eight years earlier, an APA complaint forced GM to pay a $20,000 fine for lying in newspaper ads, touting the Vauxhall Firenzas triumphant cross-Canada reliability run. The cars constantly broke down, and one auto journalist brought along for the ride spilled the beans to Ottawa probers. GM took the car o f f the market shortly thereafter.

Consumer Affairs (www.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/manufacturers.htm)

Expecting some namby-pamby consumer affairs site? You wont find that here. Its a seller beware kind of website, where youll find the scandals before they hit the mainstream press.

Consumer Reports and Consumers Union (www.consumerreports.org/cro/cars.htm)

It costs US$5.95 a month to subscribe online, but CR s database is chock full of comparison tests and in-depth stories on products and services. The groups $29.95 New Car Price service is similar to what the APA offers, except for one caveat: Consumer Reports charges more than double the US$14 it charges A merican sub scrib ers for the service. As a former Consumers Union board member, I find this practice both insulting to the magazines loyal Canadian fans and totally unjustified when you consider that the Canadian dollar is almost at parity with the A merican greenback.

LawyersandSettlements.com (www.lawyersandsettlements.com)

This site covers all of the major consumer product liability litiga tion, class actions, and settlements in North A merica.

Protgez-Vous (Protect Yourself) (www.protegez-vous.qc.ca)

Quebecs French-language monthly consumer protection maga zine and website is a hard-hitting critic of the auto industry. Protgez- Vous has supported the APA in testing dealer honesty and ratings of new and used cars in Quebec and throughout Canada. The maga zine publishes dozens of test-drive results as well as articles relating to a broad range of products and services sold in Canada.

Supreme Court of Canada (scc.lexum.umontreal.ca/en/index.html)

Its not enough to have a solid claim against a company or the government. Supporting your position with a Supreme Court decision also helps. Three pro-consumer judgments rendered in February 2002 are particularly useful:

• Bannon v. Thunder Bay ( City ) : An injured resident missed the deadline to file a claim against Thunder Bay; however, the Supreme Court maintained that extenuating factors, such as being under the effects of medication, extended her time to file. A good case to remember next time your vehicle is damaged by a pothole or you are injured by a municipalitys negligence.
• R. v. Guignard: This judgment says you can protest as long as you speak or write the truth and you dont disturb the peace or harass customers or workers.
• Whiten v. Pilot Insurance Co . : The insureds home burned down, and the insurance company refused to pay the claim. The jury was outraged and ordered the company to pay the $345,000 claim, plus $320,000 for legal costs and $1 million in punitive damages, making it the largest punitive damage award in Canadian history. The Supreme Court maintained the jurys decision, calling Pilot the insurer from hell. This judgment scares the dickens out of insurers, who fear that they might face huge punitive damage awards if they dont pay promptly.

Auto Safety

Center for Auto Safety (www.autosafety.org)

A Ralph Naderfounded agency that provides free online info on model-specific safety- and performance-related defects.

Crashtest.com (www.crashtest.com)

This website has crash-test information from around the world. You can find additional crashworthiness data for cars just recently coming on to the North A merican market that have been sold for many years in Asia, Europe, or Australia. The Honda Fit (Jazz), Mercedes Smart, Magnas Opel lineup, and Fords upcoming European Fiesta and Focus imports are just a few examples.