Public warning issued under Section 223 of the Australian Consumer Law
The Director of Consumer Affairs Victoria has issued a public warning to consumers and businesses about the conduct of Champion Caravans and its operator Tony Giannakos.
On the website www.championcaravans.com, Champion Caravans and Mr Giannakos offer to build and manufacture caravans for consumers. However, they subcontract the work to other manufacturers.
Consumer Affairs Victoria has received a number of complaints in recent months from consumers concerned about delays in the supply of caravans they had paid large sums of money for.
Two recent complaints involve interstate consumers paying about $45,000 each to have caravans built. The consumers were told that the caravans would be ready in early November 2012.
When they travelled to Melbourne to pick up the caravans as agreed, the consumers were told they would not collect their caravans as the sub-contractor had not been paid by Mr Giannakos.
Mr Giannakos made many promises to pay the sub-contractor or reimburse the couples but has failed to do so.
Consumers and businesses are warned not to deal with Champion Caravans or Mr Giannakos, who continues to operate the website.