Orange has levied a fee for Internet access for all our 3rd generation phones even if we are fastidiously frugal and never use it. So here’s some great news! No longer will the customer of a cellular phone package in Israel need to pay for services he or she does not want.

Please read this important article by The Jerusalem Post’s Judy Siegel-Itzkovich about the new regulations coming into effect.

Haaretz

The highest average salary was among employees of the Israel Electric Corporation and the Mekorot water utility, at NIS 20,484 a month.

Employees at financial companies earned an average of NIS 16,911. Public administration workers averaged NIS 12,273, and industrial employees received NIS 11,332 per month.

Teachers and social workers remain near the bottom, at NIS 6,428 and NIS 5,312 respectively. Agriculture work pays slightly better than social work at NIS 5,524/month. At the very bottom: food and hospitality: NIS 3,965 per month on average.

If all this makes you want to take out a loan or go into overdraft – well, you know my motto: don’t. Now a rabbi has backed me up.

Ramat Gan’s Rabbi Yaakov Ariel says that those who do not have a credit balance in their bank should not overdraw.  His ruling is complex, drawing on the religious concept of a “transaction permit.” The full details are on the YNet website.

His conclusion: “Precisely in modern times, when it is credit that makes the economy’s wheels spin, we should not trample our moral values of charity and interest prohibition.”

Cash back at the register...in Israel?

I wrote a couple of months back on a proposal by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor to implement new laws making it easier to get your money back on purchases made in Israel. In my previous post, the backing was primarily from two lawyers within the ministry.

Now head of the ministry, MK Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, has thrown his weight behind the initiative and is taking the proposed change to the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee.

Haaretz presents additional details on how the law would work.

The return of money must be made in the same manner as it was paid, therefore credit card refund for those types of purchases, and cash for checks and cash purchases.

The purchase must have been over NIS 50 and you need to bring in a receipt or proof of purchase.

Clothing and shoes must in their original packaging and must be returned within 24 hours. Underwear can’t be returned at all.

For most other goods and services (including gifts and purchases with gift certificates), the return period is two weeks.

The list of covered services is generous and includes lodging; transportation; entertainment; courses; aesthetic and cosmetic services; vacation packages; communications services such as cellular telephones; memberships in gyms or spas; and gambling and dating services, among others.

Excluded from the proposed new law: furniture that is installed in the customer’s home or merchandise produced especially for the customer. Food, drugs and nutritional supplements are also not included.

And of course – this being Israel – there are a few catches. For example, every return of a product or cancellation of a service will cost the consumer 5% of the value of the transaction or NIS 100, whichever is less. In some cases, such as electrical and electronic items, the store can charge a 10% cancellation fee if the original packaging has been opened.

Still, it’s a big step forward. Let’s hope “Fuad” (Ben-Eliezer’s nickname) can make it so.

The proposed changes have some big backers – in addition to Ministry lawyers Michael Atlan and Hanna Tiri, organizations such as Public Faith and the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce are involved.

The road to reform may not be easy. A similar plan came up for debate two years ago before the Knesset Economics Committee but was shot down.

The new proposal has all kinds of rules but the bottom line is mostly good news. Consumers will be able to demand their money back on products that cost more than NIS 50 (although not food, drugs or other perishable items). Products purchased using gift certificates would be covered, and consumers could return products bought from a chain  store to any branch.

Not all product refunds will be equal, however. Clothing will only be able to be returned within one day of purchase. And certain vendors such as telecom companies will be able to keep up to NIS 100 of the amount paid to them if the consumer has already used a hardware installation. Those companies may also charge cancellation fees. But it’s those kinds of accommodations that may help this bill towards a better fate than the one that was defeated two years ago.

A refund on a pair of jeans? In Israel? Who would have thought!

Ten plagues that afflict your bank account

1. Ostentation: Spending more than we earn
2. Greed: Quick riches schemes lead to tears
3. Flightiness: Failure to plan and define goals
4. Sloth: Failing to keep track of expenditures
5. Denial: Using a credit card instead of cash
6. Lack of planning: Not taking personal responsibility for savings
   
7. Naivete – not comparing prices
8. Overdone loyalty – staying with bad service vendors
9. Excessive credit – overusing debt to finance your consuming
10. Ignorance – not formulating a long-term savings strategy

The points above are from the article that appeared in today’s print edition of Haaretz. A shorter version can be read online here.

Let’s commit to not letting these 10 behaviors plague us any longer!

Chag Sameach!

3:00 PM comes, no technician. 4:00 PM, then 5:00 PM. You’ve just wasted half a day before your fix-it guy comes waddling in at quarter to 6.

Tzvi Szajnbrum

Tzvi Szajnbrum, a lawyer who runs the helpful Voleh (that’s “virtual oleh”) website aimed at helping new immigrants to Israel, summarized the new law and has given me permission to reprint his comments here on my blog.

He points out that we’re only talking about service in your home or workplace, not service you receive at a store. And the law is primarily during the warranty period.

Here are the main provisions according to Tzvi:

1. The provider must stipulate a day and an hour the service will be given.
2. The waiting time for a technician cannot be longer than two hours more than the given time. The grace period is two hours only.
3. The provider is entitled to offer the consumer to wait for a phone call in place of giving a specific time, on condition that the waiting time of the consumer in his home will not be longer than 2 hours. The provider must also clarify to the consumer that this method is only a suggestion, and the consumer is not obligated to accept this.
4. The provider is entitled to notify the consumer until 8:00 PM the day before the specified day of arrival of any change of time of services or a cancellation.
5. The above-mentioned rule was not made to infringe on the rights of the consumer. Any existing rule concerning the rights of the consumer before this new law came into effect will not be affected. As an example: the law stipulates that from the moment the consumer asks for a technician to repair a washing machine, the provider has 3 working days to provide this service. For a freezer or a refrigerator, it is one day. So let’s say on Sunday the consumer asks for service to repair a washing machine. The date is settled for Wednesday morning. In this case, the provider cannot call on Tuesday until 8 pm to cancel the visit for Wednesday, because this will clash with the consumer’s rights to receive this service within 3 days.

In breaching the above rules, the consequences for the providers are:

1. The consumer is entitled to compensation without having to prove any damages. To clarify this point, let’s say the consumer has two refrigerators. One breaks down and the consumer calls for a technician, who does not appear within the specified time. Even though there were no damages to the consumer, because he could easily use the second refrigerator, he is still entitled to the compensation stipulated by law.The consumer will be entitled to more compensation if he had actual unlimited damages of any kind. In this case, the consumer is obligated to give proof of the damages. As an example, the consumer did not have a refrigerator in working condition and the technician did not arrive in the stipulated time, and as a result there was an actual loss (the food spoiled, etc.). In this case, the consumer can sue the provider by the Law of Damages for unlimited damages, if he can prove it.
2. A delay of more than 2 hours of the stipulated time of arrival (4 waiting hours in total), entitles the consumer to compensation of 300 shekels.
3. A delay of more than 3 hours of the stipulated time of arrival (5 waiting hours in total), entitles the consumer to compensation of 600 shekels.
4. If the time specified was according to what was said in clause 3 above (waiting for a phone call) and there was a delay for more than 2 hours, or the provider did not explain to the consumer that he has the right to refuse this proposition, this entitles the consumer to 300 shekels compensation.
5. The provider is entitled to offer monetary compensation, products or any kind of coupon, etc., for the same amount, but only with the agreement of the consumer. The burden of proof that the consumer agreed to anything other than monetary compensation is on the provider.
6. In the case that the provider could not anticipate any delay in providing the service, or could not know in advance (for example, if the technician had a bad car accident on the way to the consumer’s home or extreme and severe weather conditions that prevented the technician from arriving) then the provider is exempt from providing compensation.

How do you actually receive your compensation?

When claiming compensation (and not the damages stipulated in paragraph 7), contact the provider by phone or fax. Always keep a record of all paperwork, phone calls, etc. If the provider refuses to pay, the consumer can either contact our organization and we will write a letter or you can sue using the Small Claims Court.

You can visit Tzvi’s website where there is an enormous amount of valuable tips and tricks from family law to driver’s training. Thanks Tzvi!

The new 41.32 agorot price per kilowatt hour is a 9.6% reduction from the previous price of 43.59 agorot. Commercial and public institutions will see an even higher drop of 16.3%.

The change was meant to happen back in April, 2009 but was postponed. There was a fight this time too, but the Manufacturers Association, the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce and the Israel Consumer Council pushed for the cut. It’s intended to reflect the real cost of production (which is a requirement).

But just because the rates are dropping, please don’t run to use more! Using the same amount of electricity could afford you a 9.6% reduction in your bill without lifting a finger, the best possible savings!

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As an attorney handling, amongst other areas of law, purchases of Israeli real estate by many foreign residents as well as olim, I am often asked, “So, when I turn 120, does the ownership of our Israeli home automatically go to my spouse?”

While the answer to the above query may be affirmative in many foreign jurisdictions where property is held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship (which in short means that each owner has an equal right to share in the use and enjoyment of the property during their lifetime and upon the death of one owner, the other is entitled to the full ownership of property), clearly this is what the typical Anglo Israeli homeowner expects and is hoping to hear.  However, this is generally not the case in Israel.

In Israel, absent specific structuring of the purchase agreement, or a prenuptial agreement, or the like, when a married couple purchases a property, the ownership is registered in equal shares, and each spouse is recorded as a 50% owner of the asset.

Upon the death of one of the homeowners, the 50% ownership in the asset would be divided in accordance with their Last Will and Testament. However, in the absence of a valid will, that person’s 50% ownership would be divided in accordance with the rules of intestacy (defined as dying without a valid will).

Therefore, in Israel, when a person who is married and has children dies without a valid will, then the law would grant the surviving spouse half of the deceased spouse’s ownership in the home, and the children of the deceased would receive, in equal amounts, the other half of their deceased parent’s interest.

In Israel, in the situation where one spouse dies without children or parents, and without a valid will, the surviving spouse would receive the percentage as prescribed in the relevant law of the deceased spouse’s 50% ownership, and the deceased spouse’s siblings would also receive a predetermined percentage of the deceased’s 50% ownership. The relevant laws of intestacy continue to set forth a wide range of other scenarios about who the lawful heirs would be, and concludes with what happens in the situation when an individual dies with no lawful heirs.

Thus, in the absence of a valid will or other contractual or prenuptial agreement, a grieving spouse may be in a situation where he/she will have to seek permission of his/her own children, in-laws, or some other lawful heirs of the deceased, to continue living in their home.

An unfortunate and complicated situation such as this could be avoided through the drafting of a will which sets forth what will happen to the home, as well as other assets, upon the death of a homeowner. Israeli law allows for an individual, if he/she so desires, to draft a will which would bequeath his/her proportionate ownership in the home initially to the spouse, and upon the surviving spouse’s death, to their children or some other beneficiary.

A provision such as this would allow a married homeowner to feel comfortable that his/her spouse can remain in their home, and that his/her children or whoever else they specifically want, will subsequently inherit his/her interest in the home.

Note: This article relates to married couples as recognized by the Interior Ministry of the State of Israel. An entire article could be dedicated to the topic of others potentially recognized as spouses for inheritance purposes.

This article is for informative purposes only and in no way is to be construed as legal advice or a legal opinion. Elana H. Billig, Adv. is an Associate at Gideon Koren & Co., Law Offices and Notary. Should you have any questions or comments regarding this article, feel free to contact Adv. Billig by email at elana@gkl.co.il.