The Good Guys have been fined $13.5 million over a store credit promotion which hid short expiry dates.
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said the Federal Court ordered the retailer to pay the multi-million-dollar penalty for misleading conduct in relation to several of its store credit and ‘StoreCash’ promotions, and for failing to provide store credit to more than 20,000 eligible consumers.
Ms Cass-Gottlieb said the proceedings related to 116 promotions run by The Good Guys between July 2019 and August 2023, in which it offered customers store credit if they spent a minimum amount, purchased a specific brand or product, or used a particular payment method.
She said the amount of credit varied between $10 and $1000, depending on the promotion.
“The Good Guys admitted that its advertisements for the store credit promotions did not disclose, or adequately disclose, the expiry period of the store credit which, for the majority of promotions, was as short as 7 or 10 days, or, in most cases, that customers would only receive a store credit if they remained opted in to The Good Guys’ marketing communications.
“We took this court action because we were concerned that The Good Guys had failed to adequately disclose some really key conditions attached to these store credit promotions.”
Ms Cass-Gottlieb said when advertising promotional offers, all businesses must clearly disclose any key terms and conditions or limitations to avoid misleading consumers.
She said The Good Guys also admitted that it failed to provide about 21,500 consumers with store credit within the time frame it had specified.
“As well as the $13.5 million in penalties, the Court ordered The Good Guys to provide redress to certain consumers who participated in store credit promotions that did not disclose, or adequately disclose, the expiry period, by providing store credit with a longer expiry period.”
