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 general public that:

Wayne Cassar – 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 when the remaining products were to 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 those goods although they had been paid for in full. Moreover, when the consumer himself 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 that it declared as being credible under the circumstances, as it was corroborated by the required documents. It concluded that the trader did not act in a professional manner and had failed to fulfil its obligation to deliver the goods which 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 the amount of €677.08 representing the undelivered goods.

Josephine Borg

Director General(Consumer Affairs)