The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has taken electrical appliance retailer The Good Guys to court for making what they say are ‘false and misleading’ statements about store credit and ‘StoreCash’ promotions.
The ACCC is alleging The Good Guys misled customers through 116 promotions ran between July 2019 and August 2023 in which the retailer offered store credit or ‘StoreCash’ points in return for spending a certain amount of money.
Sounds good, but the ACCC says spending the required amount wasn’t the only requirement – customers were also required to consent to receiving marketing materials from The Good Guys.
“We allege that the conditions for consumers to receive a store credit as part of The Good Guys’ promotions were not communicated adequately in The Good Guys’ marketing materials,” ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb says.
The store credit was also advertised as having no expiry date, when in fact the credit expired in five to seven days.
“We also understand that, for the majority of promotions, the store credit being offered expired within a very short period of time of ten days or less, which many consumers were unaware of.”
“We are concerned that as a result of the alleged conduct, consumers may have purchased products from The Good Guys which they might not have done otherwise.”
The ACCC is seeking consumer redress, penalties, declarations, compliance orders, publication orders, and costs from the court.
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