Think you’re Have you ever suspected that discounts or discount vouchers were actually worthless because the retailer had inflated the price of items to compensate?
The ACCC is on the case and recently fined Pet Circle $26,640 for making false or misleading representations on its website.
The affected customers had used Pet Circle discount codes or vouchers, which were applied at the point of sale.
However, the total order price displayed, which was represented as including the discount of $15 and $20 respectively, was incorrect as customers were later charged an additional amount equal to the discount code or voucher.
“As a result of the ACCC action, Pet Circle has committed to reimburse all 5400 customers who were charged a higher price than displayed at checkout,” said ACCC Commissioner Liza Carver said.
The ACCC has accepted a court-enforceable undertaking from Pet Circle where it admitted that this conduct likely contravened the Australian Consumer Law (ACL), and has agreed not to charge customers any additional amounts after completing the checkout process in future.
In addition, from at least June 2019 to April 2023, Pet Circle advertised a range of products on its website with the statement “Don’t pay $X, save Y%”.
The ACCC alleges that Pet Circle’s statement represented to consumers that the higher ‘Don’t pay’ price was a price that Pet Circle, or one of its competitors, had recently sold the product for. Pet Circle admitted that this was not the case and often the higher price was the Recommended Retail Price of the manufacturer.
In the undertaking provided to the ACCC, Pet Circle admitted that this conduct also likely contravened the ACL. Pet Circle has undertaken not to publish a ‘Don’t Pay’ statement when advertising its products unless the published price is a genuine reflection of the price recently offered by Pet Circle or any other retailer in the market for the same product.
Pet Circle has also undertaken to establish and maintain an ACL compliance program.
Have you ever been ‘sucked in’ by purported savings on a website?
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