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Introduction and Highlights
Chapter 1 - Creating a Fairer Market
Chapter 2 - Addressing marketplace issues
- New initiatives in residential accommodation
- Advertising the price of real estate
- New family violence laws
- Addressing issues in domestic building
- Prostitution
- Itinerant traders
- Clarifying warranties and refunds
- Car park ‘fines’
- Responding to the economic downturn
- Good research makes good policy
- Other emerging issues
- Managing changes to conveyancing
Chapter 3 - Creating caring and confident communities
- Advice for consumers
- Support for vulnerable consumers
- Educating young consumers
- Helping Indigenous consumers
- Helping newly-arrived migrants
- Helping consumers with a disability
- Helping senior consumers
- Educating consumers about scams
- Working together on consumer issues
- Responding to the bushfire crisis
- Consumer Affairs Victoria online
- Online forms improve access for traders
- Regionalising service delivery
- Services in the CBD
Chapter 4 - Showing leadership in dispute resolution
Chapter 5 - Optimising your capabilities
Appendices
- Print this page
- Download full Annual Report as PDF
- Download Adobe Acrobat Reader
- Previous annual reports
Highlights
- Finalised 11,736 disputes and recovered more than $5.17 million for consumers
- Completed a record number of inspections to help resolve tenancy disputes
- Introduced a new way of conciliating some domestic building disputes, achieving a 94 per cent success rate
- Resolved 81 per cent of general disputes conciliated
In 2008–09, we finalised 11,736 disputes and recovered more than $5.17 million for consumers.
This year, we introduced onsite conciliation to help fast-track the resolution of some domestic building disputes. The process involves the consumer and builder meeting on site, along with a Consumer Affairs Victoria conciliator and Building Commission inspector, to discuss the issue in dispute. The new process resolves complaints more quickly, as all parties come together to agree on a solution.
Read MoreConsumer Affairs Victoria aims to empower consumers, and when answering enquiries we encourage and advise thousands of consumers who are involved in a dispute. If consumers are unable to resolve a dispute on their own, we offer a variety of dispute resolution services, including specialist services for disputes regarding tenancy, domestic building or estate agents. These provide a cheaper, more efficient and less stressful alternative to court action.
In 2008–09, we finalised 11,736 disputes and recovered more than $5.17 million for consumers.