Assessment Two

Oscar was interested in purchasing a new printer for his publishing business.He attended a Trade Fair at Melbourne on 15 March 2019 that was exhibiting the latest office equipment.Oscar admired the Sonic2020 which Hedgehog Printing ('HP') was displaying for sale. A sticker showed a price of $12 000. Oscar briefly read the specifications which stated that the Sonic2020 could print at a maximum speed of 300 ppm (pages per minute).Oscar was impressed.Polly was the salesperson acting on behalf of HP and assured him that 'this printer is top of the range; you will have no regrets if you purchase it'. Oscar said 'that sounds alright, how much racket does it make?'Polly replied 'Oh, its super quiet, soothing in fact.' Oscar said 'Perfect!' and shook hands with Polly.

On 18 March Polly emailed the following (below) to Oscar.

Hi Oscar,

Great to meet you on the weekend!

Thanks for your purchase of our flagship product. I have attached the specifications. I can confirm our terms as follows:

AGREEMENT

1.The seller must use their best endeavours to deliver a Sonic 2002 by 15 April to the buyer.

2.The buyer will pay the sum of $10 000 by 21 March to account BSB 123456 No 24681012

3.The seller must ensure the goods are safely packed.

4.The buyer must ensure the goods are inspected within a reasonable time.

5.The buyer must notify the seller of any defects within 10 days of discovery of such defects.

Oscar was delighted it was $2000 less than he had thought and did not read the attached specifications. The specifications for the Sonic 2002 stated that it could print at speeds up to 300 ppm. Oscar emailed back on 19 March:

Hi Polly,

All good! I have transferred $10k to the account. Can't wait to start printing!

A Sonic 2002 was delivered to Oscar on 17 April.

On 3 September, Oscar arrived at HP's offices angrily demanding to see the manager, Lin, after a long lunch at the pub. He told her he wanted his money back because the Sonic2002 top speed for printing pages was only 150 ppm and moreover, he thought that he would be getting a Sonic2020. The Sonic2002 was also using 10% more toner than was stated in the specifications.On top of all this, the Sonic2002 was so noisy Oscar had to keep it in another room. (The specifications of both printers were silent about noise levels.)

As Oscar stomped angrily out of HP's offices, he tripped over a coiled printer cable and crashed heavily to the ground. He suffered concussion and bruising and will not be able to work for a month.

REQUIRED

You have recently started work at HP. HP does not have in-house legal counsel. Your manager Lin said 'I see that you have passed Commercial Law - please speak to Polly about what has happened with our customer Oscar and write me a report about what our legal position is, with some recommendations. I need to know this before I can decide what to do about him. Please structure it as a Memorandum of Advice.'

Can you help me to figure out what is the legal issue and what is the relevant act?

Thank you.