Fair Trading prosecutes Snezanna Mladenis for failing to transport vehicles
Robina businesswoman Snezanna Mladenis has been ordered by the court to pay $15,984 in fines and $7,387 in restitution after failing to transport vehicles for consumers.
Ms Mladenis appeared in the Southport Magistrates Court on 17 February 2022 after being charged by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) for six counts of breaching the Australian Consumer Law by accepting payments for services and not supplying them within a reasonable time.
Ms Mladenis pleaded guilty to all six counts and a conviction was recorded for each offence.
The court heard that in 2018 and 2019, six consumers arranged and paid Ms Mladenis and her company, Auto Transporters Pty Ltd, to transport vehicles for them.
In some instances, delivery of the vehicles took more than 100 days and in others they were not delivered at all leaving consumers to make alternative arrangements to get their vehicles.
One consumer’s vehicle was transported between Melbourne and Coffs Harbour and was not only delivered late, but on arrival it had an extra 2,295kms on the odometer as the vehicle had been driven to its destination not transported there.
As part of the investigation, the OFT found Ms Mladenis was not providing terms and conditions to consumers at the time of booking that she later tried to rely on to avoid paying refunds.
Ms Mladenis also failed to respond to consumers’ queries about delivery delays and refused to provide updates to customers.
This is not Ms Mladenis’ first prosecution by the OFT.
In 2017 Ms Mladenis and her husband Paul Mladenis were prosecuted by the OFT for multiple motor dealing offences, including odometer tampering, resulting in a fine of $17,000 and with convictions recorded.
In 2010 Ms Mladenis’ introduction agency, Hearts United International Consulting Services Pty Ltd, was prosecuted by the OFT and fined $20,000 after the agency failed to deliver promised introduction services and took money from a client’s credit card without being properly authorised to do so.
Prior to this most recent court appearance, Ms Mladenis and Auto Transporters Pty Ltd had traded under various business names including All Australia Auto Transporters and AAA Transporters.
In April 2020, the OFT issued a public warning advising consumers to avoid dealing with Ms Mladenis and Auto Transporters Pty Ltd.
Commissioner for Fair Trading Victoria Thomson said traders who disregard their customers rights as Ms Mladenis has done will not be tolerated in Queensland.
“Businesses should be aware of their obligations under the ACL and consumers should be able to feel confident that these will be followed, and their rights will be upheld,” Ms Thomson said.
“Consumers who have paid for services which are not delivered within a reasonable timeframe have rights under Australian Consumer Law (ACL)”.
If consumers have paid for goods or services they have not received, they should raise the issue with the trader. If they are not able to resolve the matter they can lodge a complaint with the OFT online at www.qld.gov.au/fairtrading or by calling 13 QGOV (13 74 68).