Consumers

High Court dismisses Valve’s special leave to appeal application

The High Court of Australia has dismissed a special leave application by one of the world’s largest online gaming companies, US-based Valve Corporation (Valve), which operates the Steam game distribution platform.

Valve had sought special leave to appeal from the decision of the Full Federal Court in December 2017, which upheld the trial judge’s ruling that Valve had breached the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) when selling to Australia users, and that it pay a $3 million penalty.

Thermomix ordered to pay penalties of more than $4.6 million

The Federal Court of Australia has ordered Thermomix In Australia Pty Ltd (Thermomix) to pay penalties totalling $4,608,500 for making false or misleading representations and misleading the public in relation to its Thermomix kitchen appliances.

The Court held that Thermomix breached the Australian Consumer Law by making false or misleading representations to certain consumers through its silence about a safety issue affecting its TM31 appliance, which the company knew about. 

Pental to pay $700,000 in penalties for ‘flushable’ wipes claims

The Federal Court has ordered Pental Limited and Pental Products Pty Ltd (together, Pental) to pay penalties totalling $700,000, for making false and misleading representations about its White King ‘flushable’ toilet and bathroom cleaning wipes.

Pental’s packaging and promotional materials for its White King wipes included statements such as “flushable”, “Simply wipe over the hard surface of the toilet…and just flush away”, and “White King Toilet Wipes are made from a specially designed material, which will disintegrate in the sewage system when flushed, just like toilet paper”.

Submissions

On 24 October 2017, the ACCC released an issues paper seeking feedback on costs, premiums and profits, competition, consumer experiences, risk mitigation and regulation in the insurance sector. Submissions to the issues paper closed on 19 January 2018.

Dodo, iPrimus and Commander to compensate over 5000 customers

Dodo Services Pty Ltd, Primus Telecommunications Pty Limited, and M2 Commander Pty Ltd have undertaken to offer remedies to customers who couldn’t receive the internet speeds they bought because their NBN connection was incapable of delivering it.

Affected customers will be offered options for remediation, including moving to a lower speed plan with a refund or exiting their plan with a refund and no exit fees. 3,384 Dodo customers, 1,912 iPrimus customers, and 565 Commander customers were unable to achieve the speeds they were paying for.