| Parties | Section | Description | Resolution | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chrisco Hampers Limited | 10 and 13(i) | Misleading conduct and misrepresentations relating to customers’ cancellation rights. | Judgment | 2012 |
| GE Money | 11 | Misleading advertising of the benefits of a debt consolidation loan | Settlement | 2011 |
| Pulse Utilities New Zealand Limited | S13(g) | Trader breached the Fair Trading Act by misleading customers about the amount they were required to pay when they sought to terminate their supply agreement with Pulse by failing to carry over a prompt payment discount to the customer's final invoice. | Settlement | 2011 |
| Vodafone New Zealand Limited | 11 | Misleading representations that its Vodafone Live! mobile phone internet browsing service was "free to browse" and customers would be warned before incurring any charges. What consumers could and could not use for free was unclear and customers were not warned before incurring expensive data charges. | Judgment | 2011 |
| Telecom Corporation of NZ Ltd | 13(b) & 13(g) | Alleged false or misleading representation as to the price of broadband services in that Telecom had overcharged customers due to a problem with the data usage meter. | Settlement | 2011 |
| Compass Communications Limited | 11 | Alleged misleading representations in that there is a lack of disclosure regarding the existence of a daily administration fee. | Judgment | 2011 |
| Wenatex New Zealand Limited | 13(i) | Trader breached the Fair Trading Act by misleading customers about their cancellation rights under the Door to Door Sales Act. | Judgment | 2011 |
| Tel.Pacific New Zealand Limited | 11 | Misleading representations as to calling rates of prepaid phone cards. | Judgment | 2011 |
| Vodafone New Zealand Limited | Alleged misrepresentations concerning various broadband and mobile phone promotions. | Judgment | 2011 | |
| Morrison Car Company Limited | 13(g) & 28(1) | Misleading representations that vehicles were available on Trade Me for $1 reserve when trader was bidding on his own auctions (shill bidding). Vehicles were also advertised and supplied without CIN notices. | Judgment | 2011 |
| Contact Energy Limited | 13(g) | Misleading consumers as to amount owed on accounts. | Settlement | 2011 |
| Takarunga Management Limited and Trevor Allan Ludlow | 45 and 30 (1) (e) CCCFA. 13 (i) FT | Charging a third party fee that exceeded the actual amount payable, charging a cancellation fee not for reasonable expenses related to the contract and its cancellation. False and misleading representations as to rights. | Judgment | 2011 |
| Honey New Zealand (International) Limited | 13(j) | Trader imported Chinese powered royal jelly and sold it in capsules claiming it was "made in New Zealand". | Judgment | 2011 |
| The Home Finance Company | 14(1)(b) | Misleading advertising of sale by instalment scheme. | Judgment | 2011 |
| Sung Yub Paik trading as Healthways Products Corporation Limited | 10 | Trader was misrepresenting the amount of mg in a capsule of its royal jelly products and the country of origin of product. | Judgment | 2011 |
| Balmoral Homes Limited | 13(f), (i), 14 | Misleading representations that building contracts came with a Master Build Guarantee. Guilty pleas. Day and Jones both convicted and ordered to pay fines of $15,000 each. Total reparation ordered of $127,000 ($30,000 of which for emotional harm for 6 victims). | Judgment | 2010 |
| 1. Affinity Car Rental New Zealand Limited 2. Euro Car Rental New Zealand Limited 3. Kylee Harris 4. Gary Harris | 13(b), (d), (f), (g), (h) (i) | Alleged misleading representations that rental car hirers responsible for damage and that some cars were late model. Also charges levied which had not been disclosed in rental agreement. Fined a total of $37,960. $5,750 reparation to affected consumers. | Judgment | 2010 |
| Prokiwi International Limited | 13(j) | Alleged misleading representation as to the country of origin of soap. Fined $48,000. | Judgment | 2010 |
| Shim's International Limited | 13(a) | Alleged misleading claims on the labels of the products. Fined $6,000. | Judgment | 2010 |
| Korea Health Limited and Sang Rae Kim | 13(a) | Alleged misleading claims on the labels of the products. Korea Health Limited fined 16,000, Sang Rae Kim fined $12,000, plus costs. |
Judgment | 2010 |
| GM Car Wholesalers Limited | 13(a), 28(1) | Alleged that trader is providing false information in CINs | Settlement | 2010 |
| Sunrise Motor Group Limited and Surya Kumar | 27 | Trader advertised vehicle for sale on Trade Me and at car yard that was imported damaged and this information was not disclosed on CIN. | Judgment | 2010 |
| TMG Asia Pacific Pty Limited | 11, 13(g)(b) | Failure to disclose terms and conditions of text to win competition, misleading consumers. Fined $125,000, court costs $1040. |
Judgment | 2010 |
| Mainfeeds Limited formerly t/a PCL Industries Limited | 10, 13(a) | Trader produced calf feed that did not comply with nutritional specifications on packaging. Fined $125,000, court costs of $1040. | Judgment | 2010 |
| Tristram European Limited | 13(g) | Misleading representations about the price of motor vehicles particularly that vehicles could be purchased on 0% interest when 0% interest terms were not available on a lower negotiated price. Alleged misrepresentation about the price of vehicles, particularly that the amount of establishment fees had not been disclosed in advertising. Fined $18,000, court costs $650, solicitor costs $750. |
Judgment | 2010 |
| New Zealand Natural Care Products Limited | 13(j) | Misrepresentation as to country of origin of product. Fined $15,000, court costs $260. |
Judgment | 2010 |
| Larry Roger Binns | 11, 13(a) | Misrepresentation of quality of timber. Fined $15,000, court costs $130. |
Judgment | 2010 |
| Budget Loans Limited | 13(i) Fair Trading Act | Misleading representations that creditor has the right to charge undisclosed credit fees, to charge default interest and fees after the sale of repossessed secured items, which is prohibited under the Contractual Remedies Act, that it has the right to attach its security interest to after-acquired consumer goods without specific appropriation despite section 44 of the Personal Property Securities Act. Creditor fined $30,750. The creditor reversed or refunded around $500,000 in overcharged interest and fees. During the Commission’s investigation Budget Loans also voluntarily reversed or refunded an additional $571,000 to its debtors in relation to credit fees that were not the subject of the current charges. | Judgment | 2010 |
| ANZ National Bank Limited (ANZN) and ING (NZ) Limited (ING) | 10, 13 (a), 13 (b), 13 (e) | Misleading representations about the degree of risk when when promoting and marketing the ING Diversified Yield Fund (DYF) and the ING Regular Income Fund (RIF). Questions and answers published on 21 July 2010 are available at Fair Trading/Enforcement Outcomes | Settlement, $45 million in refunds to affected investors | 2010 |
| Telecom New Zealand Limited | 11 | Misleading advertising statements in relation to its broadband at dial-up prices promotion, particularly the disclosure of the 12 month contract term and data allowance associated with the basic broadband plan. | Settlement | 2010 |
| Methven Limited | 13(e) | Misleading advertising statements over conventional shower water flow being 20L per minute, when majority of NZ showers have a water flow of between 6-10ml per minute. | Judgment | 2010 |
| Kenneth James Ross | 13(i) | Alleged that some aircraft and performers stated in advertising will not be apearing at the airshow. Criminal charges also laid by Police. | Judgment | 2010 |
| Telecom Corporation of NZ Limited and Xtra Limited | 13(g) | Alleged misleading consumers by wrongly billing over 130,000 new broadband customers | Settlement, $9.5 million in refunds paid to affected customers | 2010 |
| A) Invercargill Property Management Limited (IPM) B) Newfoundland Limited C) Southern Housing Limited D) CMA Property Investments Limited | s14(1)(b) | Alleged breaches of section 14(1)(b) by IPM by making representation that were false or misleading as to the nature of the interest that the IPM scheme occupiers acquire in the properties. A) Fined $38,500 and $25,000 reparation B) Fined $13,500 and $10,955 reparation C) Fined $10,500 and $5,000 reparation D) Fined $40,000 and $42,290 reparation | Judgment | 2010 |
| Telecom New Zealand Limited | 11 | Misrepresentation concerning Go Large plan and the speed available for broadband users. Fines $500,000. | Judgment | 2010 |
| A) Discount Premium Holidays Limited B) Devang Parikh | A) s13(a) B) Commerce Act s103 | A) False and misleading claims surrounding a holiday voucher scheme. Fined $209,000; court costs $4,940; solicitor fees $7,500. B) Attempting to mislead the Commerce Commission. Fined $7000; costs $260. |
Judgment | 2010 |
| Eden Office Seating | 13(j) | Misleading representations concerning the place of origin of goods. Fine $5000, costs $2500, court costs $130. | Judgment | 2009 |
| Farmers Trading Company Limited | 10 | Misleading conduct that a television was new when in fact it had been returned for repair by a previous customer a year earlier. Fine $10,000, costs $130. | Judgment | 2009 |
| Redpaths Furniture Limited | 13(g) | Represented 'was’ price was not true and had not been charged for six months or more. Recent price established, before sale, was less than represented ‘was’ price. Fine $28,000 ($1,000 per charge), court costs $3640 ($130 per charge). | Judgment | 2009 |
| Peter Linton t/a Charitables Op Shop | 11 | Misleading consumers about the nature of a charity shop. Reparation $10,000. | Judgment | 2009 |
| TrustPower Limited | 11 | Misleading its customers about the nature of a power bill review service. Fined $17,000. | Judgment | 2009 |
| Brownlie Brothers Limited | 13(a), 13 (j) | Misleading representations as to the country of origin of fruit juice. Fined $45,000, costs ordered $6780. | Judgment | 2009 |
Fair Trading Act Enforcement Actions Register
The enforcement actions register contains all litigation and settlements since July 2009 under the Fair Trading Act. The register does not list investigations resulting in warnings, compliance advice or no further action. Information about warnings can be found in the Appendices to the Annual Report.
