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ACCC targets misleading warranty terms and return policies

posted Oct 24, 2012, 10:40 PM by Austin Carwardine   [ updated Dec 5, 2012, 6:44 PM ]
This is an update to a post from October 2012, prompted by further ACCC activity.

In November, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) commenced legal proceedings against various Harvey Norman franchisees, alleging that the franchisees engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct (in breach of the Australian Consumer Law) by making false or misleading representations to consumers about their rights under the consumer guarantee provisions of the ACL.

In October, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) commenced legal proceedings against Hewlett-Packard Australia, alleging various breaches of the Australian Consumer Law in relation to statutory warranty and consumer guarantee rights.  In particular, the ACCC alleged that HP engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct by misrepresenting to consumers their statutory rights under the Australian Consumer Law.  The ACCC also said that it was conducting ongoing investigations into other companies for possible breaches.

Any company which manufactures or sells goods or services needs to carefully review its warranty terms, policies relating to the return of faulty products and other related documentation, and make appropriate changes, to ensure that they do not misrepresent the extent of consumer guarantee rights and thus inadvertently breach the Australian Consumer Law.

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