A popular Australian retailer has been taken to court over claims it misled customers over store credit promotions and failed to pay up to thousands of eligible consumers.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) revealed on Thursday it had launched legal proceedings against The Good Guys Discount Warehouses (Australia) Pty Ltd.
The consumer watchdog alleges the household appliance chain — which has more than 100 stores nationwide — ran 116 promotions between July 2019 and August 2023 where it offered shoppers store credit or “StoreCash” if they spent a certain amount of money on specific products.
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What shoppers were not told, the ACCC claims, is that they also had to opt in to marketing alerts to receive the credit.
“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 chairperson Gina Cass-Gottlieb said in a statement.
The ACCC also alleges The Good Guys advertised that the credit would not expire, or would expire after a reasonable period.
However the majority of promotions, the watchdog claims, “expired within seven to 10 days”, something “many consumers were unaware of”.
In another blow, The Good Guys allegedly breached Australian Consumer Law by failing to provide credits to “thousands of eligible customers” even when they did meet terms and conditions.
“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,” Cass-Gottlieb said.
“Businesses should be on notice that promotional conditions must be prominently disclosed to consumers, rather than buried in hard-to-find locations, or they risk enforcement action under the Australian Consumer Law.”
Good Guys responds
In an announcement, parent company JB Hi-Fi Ltd confirmed it was facing allegations.
“The Good Guys takes its compliance with the law very seriously and has a comprehensive compliance program in place,” the statement said.
“The Good Guys has always sought to provide value and benefits to its customers and has worked cooperatively with the ACCC throughout its investigation.
“As this matter is the subject of proceedings in the Federal Court, JB Hi-Fi is unable to make any further comment.”
The ACCC says it will seek consumer redress, penalties, declarations, compliance orders, publication orders, and costs.