The Australian Competition and Consumer Competition has issued a strong warning to retailers after it found that a company was potentially misleading customers with a series of dodgy advertisements.
The ACCC has forced furniture and bedding retailer, Super A-Mart, to acknowledge that it was potentially misleading customers in its advertisements throughout its 24 retail stores across Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia.
The offending ads were run throughout January, September and October 2007. The offending advertisement in January was when it indicated that it would clear all floor stock, however some stock was not available for sale.
The other issue surfaced during its ‘Thursday Thumper Sale’ in September and October 2007, which consisted of television and radio commercials. These commercials promised that certain price reductions would apply only during the promotional period, but some of the items advertised as discounted were discounted before and after that sale, and one item was actually more expensive.
In addition to this the ACCC also highlighted that the company’s ‘No Deposit Interest Free’ payment option was questionable.
When this concern was made clear to Super A-Mart, they admitted to the conduct and acknowledged the ACCC’s concerns.
Since being made aware of this, the company has taken steps to ensure the wording and language used in its advertisements is clearer, it also offered a court enforceable undertaking to the ACCC.
This undertaking requires that they will review wording used in disclaimers, display public notices in-store and on its website, review and improve its internal advertisement review process, and establish and implement a trade practices compliance law program.
ACCC chairman, Graeme Samuel, offered his thoughts on the situation, “The ACCC remains concerned about the potential for small print in advertising to mislead consumers, particularly when used with big bold promises that don’t adequately reveal important qualifications”.