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As Auckland returns to alert level 3, customers may be stung with Covid-19 surcharges from businesses and services — but is this legal?
A reader complained to the Herald that a dental clinic wanted to charge him $50 extra to cover the cost of personal protection equipment (PPE) when he called to make an appointment and questioned the legality.
But according to consumer watchdogs, businesses can add surcharges as long as they don't breach the Fair Trading Act.
That includes businesses being upfront and disclosing the surcharge to customers before they turn up to an appointment, the surcharge being accurately described (eg. to cover the cost of PPE) and that the extra charge reflects the cost of what the charge covers.
The dental clinic's owner, who wanted to remain anonymous, said they had standard PPE before the Covid-19 pandemic, but under alert level 3 guidelines they need extra PPE including N95 masks and single-use disposable gowns.
Businesses can add surcharges as long as they don't breach the Fair Trading Act. Photo / 123RF (stock)
"Dentistry is facing one of the highest risks of getting airborne cross-infection, therefore, our professional body has specific guidelines for us at each level," he explained.
He said there is virtually no support form DHB to the private dental sector in regards to covering the costs to PPE, meaning that those extra charges need to be passed onto the customer.
"I believe no dentists are making a profit on PPE, we are just passing on the cost," he explained.
"We take all the blame for following guidelines, protecting ourselves, our staff and customers and taking a high risk going to work to deal with problems normally due to their own negligence of dental health and poor eating habit."
The dental clinic's owner also said that "the high cost is also due to price hiking from local dental suppliers at the back end, which the consumer will not see".
"We are always upfront with the costing, and instructed our receptionist to remind the patient there will be a charge only if we need to do an aerosol producing procedure. We don't charge everyone with PPE," the owner added.
Jon Duffy, chief executive of Consumer NZ, said in the previous lockdown, several complaints were made about businesses adding a PPE surcharge which breached the Fair Trading Act.
Some included tradespeople who disclosed the PPE surcharge but did not wear any PPE when they turned up to work on customer's repairs.
Consumer NZ received complaints about tradespeople who disclosed the PPE surcharge but did not wear any PPE when they turned up to work on customer's repairs. Photo / Getty Images
It also received several complaints, where customers came across "extortionate" PPE surcharges.
This year, the Commerce Commission has received six complaints about PPE surcharges a spokesperson confirmed.
Duffy told the Herald businesses needed to be upfront with customers and make them fully aware of the extra cost before applying it.
For example, if a person makes an appointment, turns up and is then told about the extra charge, that can cause an issue, he explained.
Duffy urged businesses to proactively call customers ahead and disclose the surcharge, or to make sure to bring it up when someone makes an appointment.
During alert level 3, social distancing must be maintained.
Facial coverings are encouraged for all New Zealanders, but workplaces may require workers, contractors or customers to wear face coverings as part of meeting their health and safety obligations.
