Refunds, upgrades over Reckon Limited terms and conditions

Consumers will receive refunds and upgrades from Reckon Ltd after an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission investigation.

"The ACCC has accepted administrative undertakings from Reckon after allegations of misleading and deceptive conduct* over the disclosure of terms and conditions", ACCC Chairman, Mr Graeme Samuel, said today.

Reckon Ltd develops and supplies information technology products and specialises in the supply of accounting software to small and medium size businesses.

"Following consumer complaints about the inadequacy of Reckon's pre-purchase terms and conditions disclosure, the ACCC conducted an inquiry which revealed the following conduct of concern:

1. the imposition of a $9 post-purchase charge by Reckon for re registrations of Reckon software in circumstances where the possible application of such a charge was not brought to consumers' attention at the time of purchase. Users required to pay the re-registration charge included those who had had their software involuntarily un-installed through, for example, power outages and other hardware failure
2. the non-facilitation by Reckon of re-registrations for superseded software in circumstances where the possibility of not being able to re-register Reckon software was not brought to consumers' attention at the time of purchase. Certain consumers affected by this conduct were further advised by Reckon call centre staff that they would need to purchase the upgraded software to continue using the type of accounting software they were using
3. the imposition of sunset clauses in relation to the use of an online Share Portfolio Maintenance feature offered by Reckon in circumstances where such clauses were not brought to consumers' attention at the time of purchase.

"The ACCC believes its inquiries indicated a possible contravention of the misleading and deceptive conduct provisions of the Trade Practices Act 1974 by Reckon. The ACCC subsequently raised its concerns with the company".

Reckon offered administrative undertakings to address these concerns and to ensure its future compliance. As part of its administrative undertakings, Reckon has agreed to:

1. in relation to consumers who were required to pay the re-registration charge - a $9 cash refund and a $45 discount off the cost of a Reckon upgrade
2. in relation to consumers who purchased a Reckon upgrade following advice received from Reckon call centre staff to this effect - a free upgrade to the latest version of the relevant Reckon software or a credit voucher for the amount originally paid by the consumer for an upgrade to the next version issued, and
3. in relation to consumers affected by the imposition of sunset clauses on the use of Reckon's online Share Portfolio Management feature - the provision of either refunds or free upgrades depending on the time period of the consumer's subscription.

Background

*Section 52 prohibits a corporation from engaging in conduct, in trade or commerce, that is misleading or deceptive, or is likely to mislead or deceive.