Kwala Skateboards sent an email to a reseller stating that its pricing policy was that products must be sold at their recommended retail price. The ACCC was concerned that specifying to a reseller that products must be sold at the RRP listed on the website constituted engaging in the practice of resale price maintenance.
Kwala Skateboards has undertaken to:
refrain from the conduct
write to resellers advising them of the undertaking
ss. 52, 53(e) and 53C. Alleged misleading or deceptive conduct and making a false or misleading representation with respect to the price of goods or services and not stating the full cash price
United Air Lines has provided court-enforceable undertakings to the ACCC after concerns were raised about its airfare advertising.
The ACCC became aware that United Air Lines had been advertising headline airfares on its Australia based website and in newspapers without including applicable taxes, levies and charges payable by a consumer as a pre-condition of receiving the services.
Failing to make the total price to be paid clear in advertisements is likely to mislead consumers in breach of the Act.
United Air Lines Inc. has undertaken to:
include all taxes, levies and charges applicable to airline tickets in its advertising
review its existing trade practices compliance program.
Lunel Pty Ltd t/a Harvey Norman Electrical Noarlunga
ss. 52 and 53(e). Alleged misleading or deceptive conduct and making a false or misleading representation with respect to the price of goods or services
Lunel Pty Ltd, which trades as Harvey Norman Electrical Noarlunga, has admitted to the ACCC that representations in its promotional advertising may have misled consumers.
On several occasions during 2005 and 2006 Lunel placed advertising in a free community newspaper circulating in the Noarlunga region. The advertising promoted price savings on various electrical brown goods and white goods such as televisions, washing machines, microwaves and freezers.
This was done by means of price comparisons from a higher price, typically expressed as 'not $X', to a claimed savings price expressed as "YES $Y'. The company believed that the 'not $X' price reflected its competitors' pricing and used that basis to establish the alleged saving on those items. Lunel admitted that the majority of such alleged savings were not based upon its own actual sales records, nor upon verifiable comparisons with competitors' prices.
Lunel Pty Ltd has undertaken to:
to ensure when advertising or promoting products by means of comparison pricing representations, that the claims are accurate and can be substantiated
