liability laws

THE only way to stop people from being conned into making payments with their credit cards is to have connected lender liability laws.

This law will stop card companies from making payments to illegal companies, said International Association for Consumer Law deputy president Datuk Dr Sothi Rachagan.

Sothi said such laws exist in Europe where Article 11(2) of the European Union Consumer Credit Directive provides for this. In Britain, the connected lender regime was introduced by the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

Connected lender liability means that the credit card company has to ensure that a merchant or service provider which accepts a credit card payment is operating within the law and is one that gives the credit card holder a fair deal.

"A debtor (credit card holder) has recourse against a creditor (credit card company) which provides the finance for the purchase of goods and services from a third party supplier for any misrepresentation made to the debtor and for any breach of the supply agreement," Sothi said.
"The financier is jointly and severally liable with the supplier. Connected lender liability is a useful consumer protection measure, especially when the supplier proves to be recalcitrant, untraceable, or insolvent."

Sothy said the Payment Systems Act 2003, which governs the issue of credit cards in Malaysia, does not provide for connected lender liability, adding that it was time this was looked into.

dream machine

More than 50 people thought they were investing in a dream machine that would give them a guaranteed monthly return, but they ended up losing more than RM12,000 each, writes SONIA RAMACHANDRAN.

IT was a dream investment, or so it was said to be, and more than 50 people took the bait, only to regret it later.

On offer, at RM43,160, was a "dream machine" touted as a "one-stop centre" where the public could pay their utility bills and even buy plane and cinema tickets.

It was almost like buying a "post office" business for a song.

The investor was promised between RM1,000 and RM4,000 monthly in commissions from the payment of utility bills, airline tickets and prepaid telephone top-ups.
After making the full payment, the investors were told to wait for 14 days for a full briefing on how the kiosk functioned and how the commissions would be paid.

However, no such briefings were held.

For George David, a telephone call and a short message service (SMS) in January last year was what prompted him and his family to attend a presentation on "Mat Kiosk" in Bangsar.

Little did the 48-year-old service engineer from Subang Jaya realise that the trip would cost him almost RM13,000.

At the presentation, which was attended by over 100 people, David and his family were told about the amazing machine called the Multi-Automated Touchscreen Kiosk (Mat Kiosk).

"A guy by the name of Aimi presented the marketing strategy and it was so convincing that even my wife, who is very careful, was convinced," said David.

A 30 per cent deposit had to be paid upon signing up for the RM43,160 Mat Kiosk.

For subsequent machines, the deposit was 10 per cent each.

They were also told where the machines would be placed and the places listed included Universiti Malaya, Universiti Teknologi Mara and Universiti Islam Antarabangsa.

The machine would be up and running within one month of the deposit being paid, they were told,

The salesman also assured the investors that there was a 14-day cooling off period during which those who were not satisfied could get their deposits back.

David was among 12 others, including professional people, retirees and unemployed, who turned up at the National Consumer Complaints Centre (NCCC) to lodge their complaints.

One of them paid the full amount and received a machine that only dispensed mobile phone top-ups. It also continuously broke down.



The lure of a free trip to Bali was probably what persuaded some to sign up for the machines.

MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Michael Chong said he had received complaints on this scam early last year.

"The companies selling this kiosk use the names of big companies like airline companies in their promotions.

"But when I checked with the companies concerned, they did not know anything about it," he said.

One case referred to him, said Chong, involved many complainants because the first victim recruited many others to join this business.

"All these cases have been referred to the police."

Macworld 2009

YOU will never forget your first “Macworld”, said a banner put up by the organiser of Macworld 2009 at the entrance of San Francisco’s Moscone Centre.

I wish I had snapped a picture of that banner because it sums up beautifully my feelings for this annual gathering of the Macfaithful.

Thousands of people from across the globe attend Macworld, held in the second week of January.

While the figure for this year is yet to be released, the organiser estimated about 48,000 attendees last year, up from about 45,500 in 2007 and 32,400 in 2004.
So, there has been a steady increase in attendance and, by association, the number of people interested in Apple.

But the stories behind these numbers are even more fascinating. Apparently, these hardcore Apple fans think nothing of camping out in freezing weather just so they can be at the event, named after the computer the company makes.

I have also read about Macworld attendees sleeping in their cars because the hotels in San Francisco Bay Area were fully booked.

These are the same people who practically beg Apple to let them buy the next product that the company makes.

Why do they do all this? Because of one person: Steve Jobs.

Jobs is the charismatic CEO of Apple who in 1997 returned to the company he co-founded and engineered one of the greatest turnarounds in corporate history.

The company was close to death at the time but with 1998’s iMac computer — it became the best-selling computer of all time — Apple’s future began looking up.

In 2001, Apple introduced the iPod and in 2007, the iPhone.

Both have gone on to define the market. The iPod has become a pop-culture icon, the leading innovation in portable music players seizing roughly 70 per cent of the market share.

The iPhone is now fast catching up with mobile phones from Nokia and Samsung.

Along the way, there has been a slew of other “insanely great” products and most of them unveiled at — you guessed it — Macworld, by Jobs in his keynote address.

I saw Jobs, four years ago, at Macworld 2005, and covered his keynote for what was then Computimes, NST’s tech pullout. It was my first Macworld. Already a Mac fan of several years by then, I was over the moon and wanted to dance when I arrived at the Moscone Centre.

We — three Macworld newbies from Malaysia — and other international media were huddled for more than an hour at our holding area, and when the organiser opened the gate, we sprinted into the hall (no exaggeration here).

Apple was at the cusp of dominating the music player market at that time, While waiting for the speech, the organiser played U2’s Vertigo and Black Eyed Peas’ Let’s Get It Started.

At 9am, Jobs showed up onstage to rapturous applause and wolf-whistles, and wasted no time updating the audience on Apple’s latest retail stores (which would prove pivotal years later) and how the company was doing in the music player market.

Pin-drop silence as he spoke; nobody wanted to miss a single detail.

Now this was Jobs giving a presentation but guess what? We dozed off. The Malaysian media had arrived one day before to recover from jet lag, but that hadn’t been enough. When Jobs was delivering his keynote, we were grinning from ear to ear but our eyes were closed.

Apple announced the iPod shuffle (the original white stick design) and the Mac mini that day.

Later, we went to the Apple booth on the exhibitions floor, where there was a commotion — people snapping pictures and trying to shake hands with some people.

They turned out to be Jobs and Apple’s design guru Jonathan Ive, on tour. I was unable to get near the man himself because of the crowd, although I did manage to take a picture with Ive later when I found him alone (surprisingly) at the Apple booth.

I visited Macworld again this year but Jobs wasn’t around to deliver the keynote. Apple said Jobs, who survived pancreatic cancer in 2004 and looked gaunt at an Apple event in June last year, was on medical leave.

Filling in was senior vice-president for worldwide product marketing, Philip Schiller, who announced a new Apple 17-inch MacBook Pro laptop and updates to the Apple iLife digital lifestyle suite and Apple iWork productivity suite.

In two letters to the Mac community, Jobs said he was taking leave to recuperate from a hormone imbalance. In his first letter on Jan 5, he said doctors expected him to be back in March but in a subsequent letter on Jan 14, he extended that to June.

Chief operating officer Timothy D. Cook has now taken over the day-to-day running of Apple, although Jobs plans to remain involved in major strategic decisions. This set off a flurry of rumours in the media and blogosphere, with some speculation that Jobs has retired, or maybe is even dying.

Another blow to the affair was Apple’s announcement that this year would be its finale at Macworld because trade shows have become a very minor part of how Apple reaches its customers.

“About 3.4 million customers visit our stores each week,” said Schiller’s keynote. “That’s equivalent to 100 Macworlds each week.”

He added that putting up a dazzling show starring an earthshaking new product every January is not sustainable.

Besides, Apple marches to certain annual product cycles: iPod (October), iLife (March), iPhone (June), education buying season (late summer) and holiday season (November). January does not fit any of these.

Pundits also contend that in the age of the Internet, trade shows are fast becoming a vestige of the 1980s and 1990s.

“Apple is still able to get analysts and the media out to their stand-alone product announcements and there is no longer a need for one fixed date on the calendar,” said Mike McGuire, an analyst at research firm Gartner Inc.

“Moreover, a public speech like this is a lot of work and this (the Mac user community) is a particularly tough crowd to please.”

This is not the first time Apple has scaled down its trade show participation. There was a Macworld before in New York, Boston and Tokyo, an Apple Expo in Paris and the National Association of Broadcasters, all of which are now history.

So change is afoot but have we really seen the last of the Stevenotes? I hope not. I hope Jobs will bounce back to deliver more, in a different form perhaps or at a different place, but a keynote it has to be. For people have to meet; it does wonders to the sense of belonging. In the meantime, thanks for the memories.

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