The Minister for Fair Trading has warned consumers to be alert for door-to-door salesmen claiming to be from the Government and selling digital television set top boxes.
The Minister, Virginia Judge, said scammers were telling residents they would get a Government rebate if they purchased one of their digital TV set-top boxes.
“Let me make this very clear - there are no reimbursements for digital television goods or services bought from any retailers, including door-to-door sellers,” Ms Judge said.
Consumers warned to take care
“The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has listed this scam on its SCAMwatch website and is warning consumers to avoid these scammers at all costs.”
Ms Judge said one Albury consumer had been pressured into having a set top box installed and was forced to sign a document allowing $60 to be debited from her account.
The set-top box didn’t work and the company associated with the sellers debited $6 from the consumer’s account every few days.
“The consumer tried unsuccessfully to cancel the contract but did manage to get the company to retrieve the box,” Ms Judge said.
“In the end, the consumer had to close the account and organise a reversal from the bank.”
Ms Judge said consumers shouldn’t be pressured into buying something without shopping around.
“Switching to digital television should be an inexpensive task,” she said.
“If you are unsure of what television products to buy, call the Digital Switchover Taskforce on 1800 201 013.”
Analogue free-to-air TV is being replaced with a digital service between 2010 and 2013.
Further information on reporting a scam was available by phoning 13 32 20.
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