The Federal Court, Adelaide has declared that Harris Scarfe Australia Pty Ltd misled consumers by representing in a catalogue that certain advertised items were discounted by a specific amount when in fact they were discounted by less than that amount, or were not discounted at all.
Following an investigation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, proceedings were instituted against Harris Scarfe in the Federal Court in Adelaide on 11 October 2007.
In October 2006, Harris Scarfe distributed a catalogue advertising a "20%-60% OFF STOREWIDE" sale in South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania. Harris Scarfe included banners throughout that catalogue specifying a discount for particular ranges of goods including TVs, cameras and kitchen appliances. Beneath each banner were pictures of examples of such goods. However, the discounts actually offered on some of those pictured items were less than the discount specified in the banner.
For example, Harris Scarfe"s catalogue included a banner offering "20% OFF* ALL Cordless Phones" beneath which were pictures of cordless phones. The actual discounts being offered on those cordless phones were as follows:
Cordless phone
Regular price as stated in the catalogue
Sale price as stated in the catalogue
Savings as stated in the catalogue
Actual discount
Panasonic KX-TG1811 DECT
$69
$59
$10
14.5%
Uniden 2315+1 2.4GHz Twin DECT
$139
$129
$10
7.2%
Telstra 5000+ACR Twin DECT
$129.95
$109
$20
16.1%
Panasonic KX-TG2632 2.4GHz Twin Pack DECT
$199
$179
$20
10%
In addition to a declaration that this conduct breached sections 52 and 53(e) of the Trade Practices Act 1974, Justice Mansfield ordered that Harris Scarfe be restrained for three years, in any advertisement representing that it will supply goods in its stores at a specified discount, from including immediately beside, under or near the statement of the specified discount, pictures or descriptions of goods to which that specified discount does not apply or of goods which are not discounted at all.
Harris Scarfe was also ordered to maintain, for a period of three years, its compliance program.
ACCC Chairman, Mr Graeme Samuel, said today: "Consumers deserve truth in advertising and the ACCC will continue to tackle retailers that persist in using misleading or false representations in advertising."
Media inquiries: Ms Lin Enright (02) 6243 1108 or 0414 613 520 General inquiries: Infocentre: 1300 302 502
