The Commerce Commission has filed criminal charges in the Auckland District Court against Noel Leeming, alleging multiple breaches of the Fair Trading Act.
These include the promotion and application of Noel Leeming’s ‘Price Promise’ which, the commission says, misled consumers.
Commission deputy chair Anne Callinan said for more than a decade Noel Leeming had promoted the scheme as its commitment to match any competitor’s price. Its advertising gave the impression that customers could simply front up and get a match for competitors’ prices.
But this was apparently not the case.
“We believe Noel Leeming’s price promise had many limitations and conditions which weren’t made obvious to customers and made any price-matches difficult to obtain,” Callinan said.
“Fine print should not contradict advertising claims or be used to conceal important information which could be critical to a person’s decision to buy goods or services. It’s crucial that businesses promoting any price-match offer factor in the overall impression of the claims they make, and that all information is clear to customers,” she said.
“Noel Leeming has previously been one of our most complained-about traders, and we were concerned about the range of issues consumers raised.”
The commission has also filed charges against Noel Leeming about promotions where the advertised product or price was different to what could be purchased. Other charges allege Noel Leeming gave incorrect or misleading information about consumers’ rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act when customers complained about faulty products.
“We expect big businesses to be clear and honest in their advertising. Consumers should be able to trust the information they receive when they are buying goods and services,” Callinan said.
The maximum penalty for breaches of the Fair Trading Act is $600,000 per charge for businesses.
Noel Leeming is a subsidiary of The Warehouse Group.
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