The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) has filed a case against electronics retail store The Good Guys Discount Warehouses in the Federal Court. The regulator alleges that the firm gave customers false or misleading details regarding its store credit promotions and failed to provide store credit to eligible consumers.
According to the regulator, the retailer ran a total of 116 promotions between July 2019 and August 2023, offering store credit called StoreCash should customers spend a certain amount of money on qualifying products in either online or physical stores.
However, the ACCC alleged that the retailer said that the only requirement for consumers was to make a qualifying purchase but failed to mention that they also needed to “opt in to receive marketing communications in order to receive a store 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,” said ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb.
“We also understand that, for the majority of promotions, the store credit being offered expired within a very short period of time of 10 days or less, which many consumers were unaware of.”
The ACCC also alleged that The Good Guys did not give store credit to many eligible consumers within the specified time or within a reasonable time.
The regulator stated its concerns over consumers who may have purchased products from the retailer only because of the misleading promotions.
“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,” Cass-Gottlieb said.
With the proceedings in the Federal Court, the regulator seeks consumer redress, penalties, declarations, compliance orders, publication orders, and costs.
