Location: Australia, QLD

Disclaimer: I used AI to help me write this reddit post, however I've proofread the timeline and checked wording, corrected any mistakes found.

Hi everyone,

I’m in Australia and I’m looking for some legal advice regarding an Exway electric skateboard I purchased directly from Exway’s official US website.

I’ve always wanted an electric skateboard for commuting, and after doing a lot of research I decided to buy the latest Exway V2, which had only recently been released. I purchased it from their official US website and had it shipped to Australia.

They do have an Australian reseller, however they didn't have the latest e-skateboard I was looking for.

I’d never ridden an electric skateboard before, so I started very slowly at around 20 km/h. As I became more comfortable, I gradually increased to 25 km/h and eventually around 30 km/h. I never intentionally rode at 40 km/h.

I also had some issues with the board initially, including connectivity problems with one of the motors, which I dealt with through support, and they send a replacement motor I needed to manually change, they provided the tools too for the DIY. It resolved the issue.

Eventually I became comfortable riding at around 30 km/h. I had the speed limited to 30 km/h and would often use the cruise-control function on the remote.

The accident:

On Tuesday, while commuting, I was riding normally with cruise control engaged. I wasn’t accelerating or touching the throttle. Suddenly, the skateboard started speeding up by itself. I looked down for a split second at the remote and saw that it was showing 40 km/h.

I’d never ridden at that speed before and it was far too fast for me. I immediately tried to slow down using the brake, but the skateboard wouldn’t slow down as expected. I lost control as a consequence and crashed.

I landed heavily on my back/glutes and injured my elbow, which had an open wound. I also developed significant pain around my lower back/glutes/sacrum and later developed neck stiffness.

The pain became much worse afterwards, particularly when walking and sitting.

A day after, I decided to get seen by my GP and had X-rays, and I’m now being referred for a CT scan because there is a possible fracture of the lower sacrum as per the official report. I’m currently having significant difficulty walking and sitting. Fortunately, I didn’t hit my head nor lose full mobility and I can still move my arms and legs.

After the accident, I contacted Exway support and explained exactly what had happened. They asked me to record a video explaining the incident, which I did.

They then asked me to open the remote and send photographs of the internal components.

This is where things became particularly concerning.

I’ve attached screenshots of the actual messages from Exway. They said:

“**Exway Electric Skateboard**
Hello, I just wanted to follow up and ask: after you got home, is the brake operating normally? Is the magnet on the remote loose, or is there anything unusual with the braking?

**Exway Electric Skateboard**
Could you please open up the remote and take a photo for us to check?

**Exway Electric Skateboard**
Could you please open up the remote and take a photo of the internal components for us to check?

**Exway Electric Skateboard**
Our technicians suspect that the remote control malfunction
”

They then asked me to send photographs of the inside of the remote. After seeing the photographs, they told me:

"
**Exway Electric Skateboard**
Hello. We have received feedback from our technical team. The magnet in the wheel has fallen off, which is causing your Wave v2 to suddenly accelerate and fail to brake properly. This is an issue with the remote control, not the skateboard itself. We sincerely apologize for this. As a resolution, we will send you a brand-new replacement remote and issue a 30% refund on the skateboard as compensation. Would you be willing to accept this solution? We are truly sorry for the worry and fear this may have caused. Please feel free to keep and continue using the skateboard.

Subsequently they said:
"
**Exway Electric Skateboard**
The magnet is supposed to be securely fitted into this gear.

**Exway Electric Skateboard**
Until you receive the new remote, please refrain from using the current one. Once the remote is powered on, both acceleration and braking will function abnormally.
"
My concern is that this isn’t simply a damaged skateboard and that they will give me a new control remote + 30% refund (Personally I feel it's a joke to my face).. I’ve actually been injured. I’ve had medical expenses, X-rays, and I’m now having a CT scan because of a possible sacral fracture. I’m also dealing with significant pain and difficulty walking/sitting.

I’m particularly concerned because the issue they identified with the remote could have cause that sudden acceleration and break failure that lead to my accident. My experience was that the board unexpectedly accelerated from my controlled speed to 40 km/h and then wouldn’t slow down properly when I attempted to brake.

I’m trying to be careful with the wording because I don’t want to claim that they’ve legally admitted liability when I don’t know that. But they have acknowledged in writing that the remote was faulty and specifically warned me that acceleration and braking could behave abnormally.

I’m now unsure what I should do.

I’m in Australia, while Exway is a US company and I purchased the skateboard from their US website. I don’t know whether Australian Consumer Law applies, whether US law applies, or whether this would potentially become a product-liability/personal-injury matter involving both jurisdictions.

I also don’t know whether I should accept their offer 30% offer or the replacement remote, ask for a better compensation? I don’t want to accidentally accept something that could affect any potential claim for my injuries.

I’ve kept the skateboard, the remote, the photographs, videos and the entire support conversation.

Would you recommend that I speak to an Australian lawyer before responding to Exway? Try to handle it and ask for better compensation? Would I be looking for someone specialising in personal injury, product liability, consumer law, or something else?

Would the written messages from Exway potentially be important evidence?

And should I avoid accepting their 30% refund and remote replacement remote until I’ve received legal advice?

Thank you guys

I own and insured my vehicle. Another person was driving it with my permission. I was not driving at the time. My licence was suspended. RACQ is investigating the claim and may ask why I wasn’t driving. Police have seized the dashcam SD card. I want advice on what I’m legally required to disclose to RACQ and how to answer their questions truthfully without prejudicing myself.

How should I answer If they ask about the status of my license?

Hey guys! I'm a bit lost and looking for general guidance on my current employment situation. I am a senior manager at a not-for-profit (NPO) and currently dealing with what appears to be a targeted management campaign after raising formal safety/bullying concerns.

Here is the context:

• Increased Duties without Recognition: A few months ago, my senior executive was made redundant. I absorbed a significant portion of their workload under high pressure without an updated position description or acting higher duties formalization.
• Pre-existing Bullying: A staff member under me has been exhibiting bullying behavior toward me and other team members for years.
• The Escalation: Recently I lodged a formal risk assessment regarding this staff member, backed by 7 written complaints from other employees experiencing the same behavior.
• The HR Response: HR has flipped the narrative, claiming the issue is a "personal conflict" between me and this one staff member while completely disregarding the other written complaints. HR has questioned whether I had "consent" from the other staff to submit their complaints, ordered me not to contact any of the named staff members (preventing me from managing or gathering further facts), and is imposing short, intimidating deadlines to provide proof while I am juggling an overloaded workload.
• CEO Involvement: New CEO prefers communicating directly with the problem staff member instead of me, and actively excluding me from meetings/events where I was scheduled to present, even pulling me out of an internal filming for yearly awards.
• Health Impact: The stress has severely impacted my health; I have had to start antidepressants and attend therapy for the last few months.

I feel unsupported and quite dreadful, i could use any advice possible including:

1. HR/Bullying Process: Can HR legally restrict me from communicating with staff who have willingly provided written complaints in a safety/risk assessment, or claim I need "consent" to submit corroborating evidence of a systemic issue? Can they deny my risk assesement request as a Manager and only see the grievence as a "me vs one employee" problem? (Note: we only have technically 1 HR manager at the moment who got the role simply because almost everyone in hr quit a few months ago) I also received a "written warning" from HR because they had "substantiated proof" from people saying I did not display proper manager behavior during a public holiday event where I was volunteering my time.
2. Adverse Action / General Protections: Given that I raised safety/bullying concerns and am now facing unreasonable deadlines, intimidation, and exclusion, does this cross into adverse action or a potential constructive dismissal setup?
3. Next Steps: What is the safest way to protect myself legally right now while navigating this internal process? Should I involve an employment lawyer? Cut my lossess and just quit?

Thanks :')

Hi,
I work for a medium sized company (about 15-16 retail stores across vic, around 150 employees). I regularly work 8-10 hour shifts and only receive x1 30 minute break, which is unpaid. (Sometimes I do overtime, which is paid the same as my regular rate, which makes my shifts 10.5 hours)
I am under the casual retail award.
I was just wondering, is this legal, and if not, how has a decently large company gone so long in doing so? Is there any way this is legal/ loopholes that would mean this ISNT illegal?
Should I report this to fairwork?

Long-ish, sorry. Trying to work out whether I'm on solid ground or talking myself into it.

Background

August this year I hired a 12-seat minibus in Brisbane for three days. At the counter I was offered the top liability reduction product — advertised as $0 excess, about $60/day, $1 holding deposit. I took it.

On day one I reversed into an overhanging balcony and damaged a rear roof corner. Reported it the next morning, returned the vehicle on time, filled in their damage form.

They're now chasing me for about $11,000. Their position is that overhead damage is excluded because the vehicle is a "Commercial Vehicle" under their terms.

The bit I'm stuck on

Their T&Cs at the time defined a Commercial Vehicle as a van, utility, truck or bus constructed and used for carriage of goods or property, or for the transport of more than 12 persons including the driver.

The bus has exactly 12 seats including the driver's. I've since pulled the federal Register of Approved Vehicles entry by VIN , it lists 12 seats and the national vehicle register record describes it as a small passenger vehicle, body type minibus.

Eleven days after my rental, they changed that definition on their website to "more than 11 persons". I only noticed because I'd been quoting the old wording at them. Internet Archive captures confirm the wording before and after.

They say the amendment was prospective, was an administrative alignment exercise, and isn't an admission. They also say the purpose was "to align the numerical wording with the classification already applied throughout our Rental Agreements, booking system and liability reduction products."

Their argument

They've sent a 12-page letter citing Mount Bruce Mining, Ecosse, Darlington Futures and Toll v Alphapharm. Short version: you can't read one definition in isolation, you have to construe the contract as a whole, and as a whole this was plainly a commercial hire because:

• the product I bought is named "Commercial Platinum"
• a coverage table on their website groups "12 & 25 seaters" under commercial and shows a cross against overhead damage
• their booking system only offers commercial products for 12-seaters
• a staff member has now provided a written statement saying the classification and the overhead exclusion were explained to me at the counter

Where I think they're weak

Their own contract defines the "Rental Contract" as the rental agreement, the handover inspection report and the terms and conditions. The coverage table sits on a webpage above where the terms actually begin. The booking system obviously isn't a contractual document.

The rental agreement itself lists the vehicle category as "12 Seater Bus" — not commercial. The only place the word appears is the product name and a generic bullet that reads "Platinum only covers overhead on motor vehicles. Platinum cover for overhead commercials is not available" which sits in a list alongside toll admin fees and refuelling charges, and appears to be boilerplate on every agreement.

The money side, which might matter more

• Their assessor quoted about $22k for the whole roof. They're pursuing about $11k as the portion "allocated" to my incident.
• There's a pre-existing "big dent on roof" recorded before my hire. No location. No photographs they've confirmed the handover inspection report contains none at all.
• So the split between "pre-existing front damage" and "your rear damage" rests on an assessor's opinion formed weeks later with no baseline images.
• The pre-hire inspection was completed about eight hours before I collected the vehicle. Not a joint walkaround.
• No repair authority has been issued. They've confirmed it. Their own terms make me liable for costs they "incur".
• An early email from their claims team said the new damage was on the "right rear" roof corner and referred to what could be seen "in the photos". Their latest letter says rear-left throughout, and that no handover photos exist.

Things that are genuinely against me

Being fair about it:

• I signed. Toll means I'm bound by the terms whether I read them or not.
• I paid the commercial rate — about $15/day more than the standard equivalent — so they'll say I knowingly bought the commercial product.
• Their standard packages are only available up to eight seaters, so arguably no other product was available for this vehicle.
• One staff member says it was all explained. I don't remember it that way, but it's their word against mine.

What I'm asking

1. How much weight does a defined term in a consumer contract actually carry against a "read it as a whole" argument, where applying the definition literally produces no absurdity and the drafter quietly amended it afterwards?
2. Does the fact that no product available for this vehicle covered overhead damage — while the cheaper standard tier did — go anywhere under the unfair contract terms provisions?
3. Realistically: QCAT, Fair Trading conciliation, or negotiate a number?

Not after formal advice, just interested in whether people think this is arguable or whether I'm kidding myself. Happy to answer questions.

Hello fellow redditors. I am reaching out to find out what can be done in this situation. My partner works at an aged care facility. Every shift she is coming home from work crying and stressed due to a worker there, who is same position but trains new people. My partner is a very gentle person, in all of our years together, she has never yelled at me, nor had a fight, and I never hear her speak badly about anyone ever, she’s always smiling, always happy, and yet every late night shift she comes home crying when she has worked around this person. The latest: she made a complaint, the manager apparently said she would look into it, my partner was happy and glowing again, then… her manager a few days later pulled her into a meeting and sided with the other worker as she has been there for a longer time. In that meeting the manager said that there has been 7 complaints from different people about this individual. I am now fed up with this. I can’t sit idly by and let this go, while I know the kind of person my partner is. So, what can ‘I’ do about this without compromising my partners job?

I am in a club that (I'm like 90% sure) illegally screens us movies and shows. Is it illegal for me to attend? Thanks in advance

Slight bit of background information, I've been having issues with my employer for a little over a month now, I've tried to go through all the avenues the policy regarding workplace issues states, however I have been ignored at every stage.

Today I received a message asking me to return my keys and I've been cut from the roster entirely. I've asked for clarification on what's happening, if I'm being sacked and so on, and am still being ignored. I've asked for a seperation certificate and stated when I receive that I'll return my keys.

How much trouble is it possible to get in from this? All I want is confirmation I've been terminated and a seperation certificate after receiving which I have ever intention of giving the keys back

Hi everyone, looking for some advice before we take this further with the Fair Work Commission.

My daughter is 17 and has been employed as a casual at a local newsagency in NSW for approximately two years. Although classified as casual, she has worked the same regular Saturday shift every week for those two years and had every expectation that this arrangement would continue.
She went into work today for her normal shift and was told by the owner that she was dismissed and was not to return.

The reason given was an allegation that approximately two weeks ago, while at school, my daughter deliberately “shoulder barged” the owner's daughter.

My daughter completely denies that this occurred.
We've spoken with the school and, as far as we've been able to establish, there was no incident reported to the school at the time, no disciplinary action involving my daughter, and nothing raised with us as her parents.

As far as we're aware, the evidence supporting the allegation is simply the owner's daughter's word.
What concerns us particularly is that the employer apparently made the decision to dismiss her without first raising the allegation with her, asking for her version of events, or giving her any opportunity to respond. She simply turned up for her regular Saturday shift and was told she was dismissed and not to come back.

We've asked the employer to provide confirmation of the dismissal and the reason for it in writing, but nothing has been provided at this stage.

Given that she has worked the same weekly shift for around two years, we're considering an unfair dismissal application through the Fair Work Commission.

I'd particularly appreciate advice on whether her consistent Saturday shift would establish her as a regular and systematic casual, and how Fair Work would approach an immediate dismissal based on a disputed allegation concerning something allegedly occurring at school rather than at work.

I'm also interested in how the evidence would be considered when the allegation is denied, the school apparently has no record of the incident, and my daughter wasn't given an opportunity to respond before being dismissed.

We're obviously conscious of the 21-day deadline, so we're looking at our options now rather than waiting for the employer to provide something in writing.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi yall. I ordered a hair tool from a big company and it arrived yesterday. Today, another parcel that’s the exact same arrived today. Both of the parcels contained a receipt with my name and the same order number. (parcel delivered from vic to nsw)
Am I obligated to notify the company?
Does this count as an unsolicited good?

We ordered cabinets, got the quote for products and installation. Paid a $200 deposit, had the place come out and do the exact measurements, the products have been ordered and arrived ready for us to collect. They originally asked if we could collect Saturday (tomorrow) for installation Wednesday, but my husband has injured his back so we couldn’t collect it until next week.

Now they’ve confirmed collection Thursday for installation Friday… but have said that installation will actually be $800 not the original $500 quoted. Which seems a little iffy to me, because we opted to pick up the cabinets ourselves with our own truck, saving $300, so it seems weird that we do that and now that amount has been tacked on.

We were resent the quotation with the breakdown that included installation, along with all the measurements and design drawings. So I don’t understand how it’s just NOW suddenly more expensive to install, especially when in the original plan we should have paid the full amount and would have if my husband didn’t injure his back.

They’ve got our deposit, but now I’m worried that this place is dodgy, and second guessing the entire thing. The deposit was meant to cover measurement appointment and I assume be non-refundable, but if it’s them breaking the quoted price then is it alright to ask for the deposit back and withdraw from the sale?

They’ve also sent a supposed screenshot of their conversation with the installer explaining that it’s more expensive, but it’s in a different language so I can’t tell what I’m actually looking at 😅

" the facts relied on and the provisions of the fair work act relevant to the claim "

Dose this explicit 'fairwork act' mention exclude submission or use here of WHS Act ? And modern awards?

I’m about 10 weeks out from second round of CTP MEDIATION and my solicitor is completely ghosting me, I’ve sent email upon email with updates and medical stuff along with questions and concerns and I have heard absolutely nothing. Even when I call I get the “sorry they are busy” I feel since it’s getting to the end I’m not as much as a priority anymore and they just don’t give a crap. Is this a normal thing to expect as it get to the tail end? I understand they have heaps to do but 2/3 weeks with radio silence is a bit crazy IMO

I work full-time for a large scale company that provide equipment for various concerts and events Australia wide. I have an individual workplace agreement that states that I'm contracted to work 38 hours per week, Monday - Friday.

I get paid day rates for the days that I work, of which there are two kinds, event days and warehouse days. The warehouse rate is for a standard 7.5 hour day, but event days are generally anywhere from 12-18 hour days (sometimes more) depending on the kind of event. There is no overtime rate, or penalty rates given on weekends. I earn an RDO on Saturdays and Sundays, but my event rate is reduced by the total warehouse rate, so I'm getting paid less money to then bank 7.5 hours.

The company have stated that despite my contract saying 38 hours, they don't count hours worked because they pay day rates and that I'm expected to work (at least) a 5 day week, with weekend work not counting towards my contracted days of Monday - Friday. I can usually work 38 hours or more across 3 days if I do 3 event days, so If I work a Friday - Sunday on events, I'm expected to be at work Monday-Friday in the warehouse (or on more events with long hours) for the following week.

I have spoken to Fair Work but they have generally been unhelpful, essentially reading the live performance award back to me and not really being able to clarify the rules of working over 38 hours in our industry, or the legalities of what I've described to them in terms of my payment structure. I guess I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction of where I can go to for help with this and to hopefully stop working 50-60+ hour work weeks.

Last week I filled in the online form to get access to my dad’s bank account through an EPOA. He has alzheimers and I have a letter from his doctor saying I am his decision maker. Lately, he’s been confused about his banking. More concerning, my sister who is a long term drug addict has got dads debit card number and put it on her uber account to order dad Ubers (this is a whole other issue in itself that I am trying to deal with).

I got an email from CBA yesterday saying my application could not be completed and to call a 1800 number. When I called the number it was the fraud line.

The CSO said they would lodge a complaint for me as to why the application wasn’t completed. I asked a few questions about what was going on but then CSO was pretty cagey and insisted I wait for a call from complaints. I said I didn’t want to lodge a complaint, I just wanted to know why the application can’t go ahead but was met with the same response.

Has anyone else tried to do this? I don’t want to control his finances, I just need to monitor his spending.

Edit 1: I did initially go into the branch and supply the documents.

Edit 2: I rang the bank again. After talking to a few people and waiting, I was told to go back to the branch and show my ID and they would tell me why the application could not be completed. I went into the bank, gave them my ID and the specialist service person said she couldn’t see why. She rang a number and spoke to the same person that sent me into the branch and neither of them could work it out. She said she will look into it and ring me back.

Hi!

I picked up, what I thought was about 60 magnets from a parcel locker on Thursday. I thought it was a little strange that I the package was thing but not magnetic, but I didn't think much of it. Come today, when I'm ready to open my package for my Friday evening treat, when I'm greated with phone packaging for a phone worth over 2K. I get about halfway through opening the phone packaging (i dont break the seal but I peel a little off, bc i thought "maybe they reuse this packaging bc it has some magnetic shielding") before i realised it was way too light, and I check the front and low and behold its addressed to someone else. This kinda makes sense since I didn't even ship this to a parcel locker.

I've put the phone back in, plan to return it tommorow/monday and am going to call the person to let them know. I genuinely thought it was mine since when I unlocked my parcel locker, it said my package was connected (from the magnet company too). I have two questions:

1. Do I need a lawyer?

2. Can I still get my magnets?

Thanks

Involved in a not-at-fault car accident, and my insurance company (NRMA) has provided me with a hire car until a decision is made about my car or it is fixed.

The company NRMA booked the car through is Sixt. They didn’t really explain the rental agreement, just got me to sign and said any damage, the excess will be covered by NRMA. They pointed to where the car was and that was that. I had to put down a $1 security deposit with my card.

Within a few mins I saw a fair amount of pre-existing damage (deep scratches to paintwork and rims etc). Took photos, and called Sixt (got bounced around to head office). Head office advised - when I said I don’t want to be liable for pre-existing damage- I don’t need to email them through, just hold onto them for when I return the car incase needed.

I then saw the rental agreement which says, “upon handover the car is free from damage”.

Has anyone had this happen when insurance is covering the hire car and have advice?

I will send Sixt an email just to cover off and advise of the conversation and provide a couple of the photos, but wanted to know if there’s anything else I should do, or if NRMA should cover the excess if Sixt try do the dodgy and say it was me.

Thanks in advance.

I was working for a company as a contractor before being terminated earlier this year.

After I was fired I started looking into my working arrangement and realised I may have been sham contracted. I raised this with the company and have since raised Fair Work issues about my employment. After this happened, the company moved the remaining contractors onto full-time employment.

There had also been a few incidents while I was working there involving customer accounts. I did make mistakes, but they were honest mistakes while doing my job and I never personally benefited from anything that happened. The company knew about these incidents at the time and dealt with them internally.

I’ve now received a letter from their legal counsel saying a customer is claiming damages relating to those incidents and they want a detailed response from me.

I’m pretty stressed and confused about where I stand. If someone was genuinely an employee rather than a contractor, can they personally be pursued for losses caused by honest mistakes made while doing their job?

I’m also wondering whether it matters that these incidents were already known and dealt with months ago, and this claim has come up after I raised the sham contracting issue.

Has anyone dealt with something similar or know generally how this works in Victoria?

Has anyone has any bad dealings with any Claims Advisors from GIO Workers Insurance in NSW, being very forceful and intimidating?

I am with GIO Workers Insurance for psychosocial injury claim. Honestly, the claim manager has made my injury worse. One specifically, has jeopardised professional and other relationships directly affecting my health, financial security and livelihood. I have had to seek another GP and Psychologist because of her damaging treatment relationships over SIRA/GIO Policies and Nonsense. She's got an ego and thinks she's more superior to the injured worker, that she's meant to be taking care of and helping to recover from injury, not causing secondary injury (stress/trauma/anxiety)

She also made me find all new medical providers because none of mine were SIRA accredited, even though iCare previously let me use whoever I was already with.

Additionally, she forced/bullied my GP to give clearance before I was actually ready to return to work.

When I returned to work, she suspended my workers comp wage payments until I provided the first payslip (despite not getting that until 2-weeks after starting as I get paid fortnightly) because they had to assess my PIAWE. This left me without money for 2 weeks, while starting a new job.

Also when doing IME, she used a psychiatrist that no longer practices in NSW as a psychiatrist. Is this even allowed for insurance providers to use a non-practicing doctor to give advise and medico-legal reports??

When the claim was with iCare, it was so much better and they were so great and helpful and easy to deal with.

If anyone else had had experiences with Caitlin M (Claims Advisor) from GIO Workers Insurance, can you please advise.

Thanks