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Speaker 1: Well, Consumer Affairs and nt work say for urging locals

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Speaker 1: to be aware of businesses selling PV solar equipment in

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory. The watchdogs are concerned about the suspicious

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Speaker 1: practices of the solar businesses, saying it's been well cohersing

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Speaker 1: customers into financial arrangements and is targeting vulnerable people. Joining

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Speaker 1: me on the line, is nt. Consumer Affairs Commissioner Tracy Keys,

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Speaker 1: good morning to you. Commissioner.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: Now how did this solar business come on to your.

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Speaker 2: Radar, Wilson? It was information shared with us from Western Australia.

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Speaker 2: So it's a particular business that we believe might be

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Speaker 2: coming into the Northern Territory and we just had shared

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Speaker 2: concerns about some of the practices that have already been

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Speaker 2: observed and want to get some information out to the

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Speaker 2: public about how to protect themselves.

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Speaker 1: And so what are some of the practices which are

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Speaker 1: concerning consumer affairs both here in the Northern Territory and

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Speaker 1: indeed in w at these points.

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Speaker 2: Oh well, so that's the practice of unsolicited sales. So

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Speaker 2: this might be where someone knocks on your door or

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Speaker 2: they ring you and they use high pressure sales tactics

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Speaker 2: to get you to agree to something before you've really

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Speaker 2: had proper time to consider whether it's something you need

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Speaker 2: or something you can afford.

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Speaker 1: And then Tracy, I mean, are they going ahead with

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Speaker 1: the project or is it more that they're really locking

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Speaker 1: people into something that they can't actually afford.

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Speaker 2: My understanding is it's a bit of both, so that

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Speaker 2: people might be agreeing to things that they can't afford,

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Speaker 2: but we're also hearing stories about incomplete work or faulty

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Speaker 2: work that's being done. So it's really important that consumers

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Speaker 2: is they're going to spend big money, which solar is

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Speaker 2: that they've actually done their homework before they sign on

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Speaker 2: to anything. But the other really important thing with daughter

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Speaker 2: or sales is that consumers actually have a ten day

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Speaker 2: cooling off period. So one of the problems of this

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Speaker 2: business is they're not telling people that they have those rights.

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Speaker 2: So if you aren't pressured into buying something and afterwards

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Speaker 2: you have biased remorse, you do have ten days in

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Speaker 2: which you can actually pull out of that contract without

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Speaker 2: any consequences.

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Speaker 1: And so what do people need to do, Like if

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Speaker 1: they're listening this morning and they're thinking, oh, my goodness,

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Speaker 1: I think I may have been, you know, a target here,

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Speaker 1: or I may be a victim and they're still in

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Speaker 1: that ten day cooling off period, or I don't know,

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Speaker 1: maybe they're not like what should they do at this point?

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Speaker 2: Well, the first thing I do is' in consumer affairs.

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Speaker 2: So our number is eighteen hundred and zero one nine

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Speaker 2: three one nine. And even if you're outside that ten

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Speaker 2: day cooling off period, still give us a call, because

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Speaker 2: if the persons selling you the solar or another product

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Speaker 2: actually hasn't told you about your cooling off rights, then

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Speaker 2: the period you've got to get out of that contract

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Speaker 2: might be as long as three months, or it could

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Speaker 2: be six months. So it's definitely worth giving us a call.

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Speaker 2: That we would also be keen to hear from people

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Speaker 2: as they are having people knock on their door and

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Speaker 2: try and sell them this way. We actually want to

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Speaker 2: know about it so that we can actually let the

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Speaker 2: public know about these practices and we can look at

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Speaker 2: what we can do.

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Speaker 1: Tracy, are there certain territorians that are being targeted here?

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Speaker 1: I mean I know some you know, some cons at

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Speaker 1: different times really target those that are more senior in

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Speaker 1: our community, or maybe people that are a little bit

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Speaker 1: more vulnerable for one reason or another.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, and it's quite a consistent thing we see in

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Speaker 2: this space. So they tend to focus on older Territorians

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Speaker 2: and also focusing a lot on Aboriginal consumers, particularly out

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Speaker 2: in the remote area. And of course the challenge there

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Speaker 2: is really hard to get anyone to come out and

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Speaker 2: actually do work in the remote communities, so it's particularly

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Speaker 2: tempting as selling knocks on your door and actually offers

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Speaker 2: that service for you.

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Speaker 1: Now, have any Territorians actually lost funds or been caught

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Speaker 1: up with the particular operator of concern at this point.

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Speaker 2: Nothing has been reported to us so far, Katie, And

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Speaker 2: that's why I guess we want to get on the

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Speaker 2: front foot and let people know the best is prevention.

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Speaker 2: If we can get information out there that would be best.

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Speaker 1: Is any of this part of For a little while there,

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Speaker 1: I saw these little signs up around the place to do,

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Speaker 1: is any of these part of those little signs that

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Speaker 1: were up where they were sort of on traffic lights

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Speaker 1: and all sorts of things saying you know, I.

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Speaker 2: Want I know the signs you're talking about. No, it's

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Speaker 2: unrelated to that. So one of the things to be

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Speaker 2: for listeners to be aware of is that unsolicited sales

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Speaker 2: is where they come to you. But sometimes, and maybe

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Speaker 2: the same with this business or other solar businesses, they

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Speaker 2: might actually just leave like a leaflet or something in

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Speaker 2: your latter box and you wring them and your protections

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Speaker 2: are not as great in that space. So if you

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Speaker 2: have done that and you're concerned that maybe you've signed

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Speaker 2: up for something that isn't right, still give Consumer Affairs

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Speaker 2: a call and we can talk through what your rights

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Speaker 2: and options are.

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Speaker 1: That's a really good point to make. Is certain promotional

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Speaker 1: material doing the rounds at the moment.

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Speaker 2: Listen, we have heard that there might be some letterbox drops,

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Speaker 2: that there might be some leaflets out there. So I

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Speaker 2: guess my advice to consumers is, if you are looking

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Speaker 2: at SOLA, do your homework. There are reputable providers out there.

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Speaker 2: For like, any time you're going to spend big money

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Speaker 2: on something, go do your homework. Find out who are

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Speaker 2: the reputable dealers in town.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, very good advice. NT. Consumer Affairs Commissioner Tracy Keys.

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Speaker 1: Great to speak with you this morning. Thanks so much

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Speaker 1: for your.

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Speaker 2: Time, my pleasure, Katie.

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Speaker 1: Thank you