Every Friday, Lynda Steele dips into the viewer mailbag to answer your questions. This week, Steele on Your Side investigates Lemon Laws and blocking data on smartphones.
Lemon Laws
Mavis wrote CTV news after her 2009 Santa Fe Hyundai started having problems and she was getting the run around trying to get it fixed at her dealership. She wants to know if Canada has a Lemon Law.
A “lemon" is a term used to describe a vehicle with a manufacturer's defect that may affect its safety, use or value. There are no Lemon Laws in Canada, but there are measures in place if you think you've purchased a defective vehicle.
For vehicles made in the last four years, you can use the Canadian Motor Vehicle Arbitration Plan - or CAMVAP. This program can help you resolve disputes with auto manufacturers.
The best way to avoid buying a used vehicle lemon is to ask for the vehicle identification number, or VIN, so you can review the past maintenance history of the vehicle before buying.
Blocking data on cellphones
Dale wrote Steele on Your Side after his 17-year old son continually went over his data limit on his Telus smartphone plan. Dale wants to know if there's a way he can turn off his son's data usage before it exceeds the 6 gigabyte limit.
Telus says it offers a service where customers can log into their account online and block data use from one or more of the devices on an account. A parent could block all data use on a child's phone. But there is no way to pre-set it to stop using data once it's reached its monthly limit.
In his case, Dale would have to check online throughout the month, then put a data block in place once it nears the 6 gigabyte limit.
He could then turn the data block off at the end of the billing cycle.
