Beware of flood damaged goods: Council

Consumers are advised to be extra cautious when buying electrical and food items from recent flood affected areas in the Western Division.

It is common for traders to have a huge sale following natural disasters such as floods as this gives them an opportunity to sell flood damaged goods for example fridge, iron, washing machine etc. Once these items are damaged by flood waters, it may not perform to its full potential.

Flood affected consumers in the past have lodged complaints with the Council after damaged goods were sold to them. In one particular case, a complainant bought a flood-affected refrigerator which she bought for $800 only to realize later that the cooler was not working.

There are many other incidents where unsuspecting consumers end up purchasing discounted items without knowing that it has been damaged. Little do the consumers realize that they will end up paying even more with all the repair costs attached to it. Some electrical items sold during and after flood are not only discovered to be unusable later and dangerous as well.

Therefore, it is crucial for consumers to look out for damaged electrical appliances that are usually on sale following flooding events.

Consumers must also be cautious when purchasing food items after flood, particularly frozen items as this can be bad or possibly contaminated.

The power outage will consequently affect frozen food and meat which will go bad after sometime. In the hype of happenings and disaster woes, consumers may tend to focus less on what they are eating. It is important to pay attention to this area to avoid further health problems during this unfortunate situation. The Council is issuing a strong advice to consumers not to purchase damaged and contaminated food items.

The Council is also calling on the traders to exercise responsibility when selling goods and to discard all damaged or faulty goods.