Millell Pty Ltd (trading as Pet Circle)

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has accepted a court enforceable undertaking from Millell Pty Ltd t/as Pet Circle (Pet Circle) in relation to false or misleading representations as to price that were likely to contravene sections 18 and 29(1)(i) of the ACL.

Pet Circle is an online supplier of pet food and pet supplies.

From around August 2019, Pet Circle offered consumers the use of discount codes or vouchers in transactions on its website. These discount codes or vouchers were published on the Pet Circle website, in flyers, emails and SMS messages, and through third parties.

Pet Circle has admitted that it made false or misleading representations to at least 5,400 consumers that the price of their transaction was the price stated at checkout, after the discount code or voucher had been accepted, in circumstances where those consumers were subsequently charged an additional amount to the value of the discount code or voucher (generally $10-20) (Higher Charge Conduct).

From June 2019, Pet Circle also advertised products on its website www.petcircle.com.au (Website) with the following statement: ‘Don’t Pay $X, save Y%’ (Don’t Pay Statement).

Pet Circle has admitted that the Don’t Pay Statement was likely to have been false or misleading as in many cases:

• the $X reflected the RRP suggested by the manufacturer; or
• the $X reflected the price being charged for the same product by one or more major competitors, in circumstances where Pet Circle did not have a formal process to verify the ongoing accuracy of the claim being made.  

To address the issues outlined above, Pet Circle provided the ACCC with a section 87B undertaking that it will:

• refund customers who were charged additional amounts after they had completed the original checkout process;
• refrain from charging consumers an additional amount for a transaction after the checkout process has been completed;
• refrain from publishing the Don’t Pay Statement when advertising products on its website unless the published price is a genuine reflection of the price recently offered by Pet Circle or otherwise reflected a price at which the same product is available at in the market; and
• establish and implement a compliance program.

Pet Circle has also paid two infringement notices totalling $26,640 in relation to the Higher Charge Conduct.