Gateway offers consumer refunds

Gateway Pty Ltd will offer refunds to consumers who bought certain Gateway personal computers in early May after concerns regarding pre-Goods and Services Tax advertising were raised by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

"Gateway has offered the ACCC undertakings providing refunds totalling $27,900 to people who bought certain Gateway PC models during the first half of May last year", Acting ACCC Chairman, Mr Rod Shogren, said today.

"In May 2000 Gateway ran a newspaper promotion for personal computers which offered savings 'before the GST'.

"The ACCC believed that the abolition of the 22% wholesale sales tax, which applied to computer hardware, should have led to larger savings than advertised after the introduction of the GST. Consumers may have been misled that prices would be higher than advertised in the May promotion after the introduction of the GST".

The refund offer provides that consumers who purchased Essential 500SEC, Performance 700 and Solo 2150LS computers during the promotional period of 4 May to 14 May 2000 will receive refunds of $100 or $200 depending on which model was bought.

"This amount represents the difference between the advertised May promotional price and the price of the computers immediately after the introduction of the GST.

"The undertaking offer also provides that Gateway will complete the introduction of its trade practices compliance program. It is the ACCC's belief that such programs are a fundamental characteristic of good corporate citizenship".