Commerce Commission takes no action against Harvey Norman price error
Wednesday, 11 November 2015
The Commerce Commission has raised concerns with Harvey Norman about its online price glitch and decided not to take action.
The Australian retail giant was left red-faced on October 1 after advertising furniture at well beneath the intended price on its website during its 'biggest ever retail sale'.
Customers bought furniture, including table sets and three-piece lounge suites, for a few hundreds dollars or less, but were later told product prices were wrongly advertised.
Harvey Norman has still not responded to requests for comment and so far refused to front up to customers, choosing to communicate with them via generic emails, offering $100 vouchers to affected customers.
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A Commission spokeswoman said it raised concerns with Harvey Norman over website pricing errors and provided them with advice.
In this instance, the Commission decided not to take any further enforcement action in relation to the matter.
However, it would continue discussions with Harvey Norman to ensure it had taken effective steps to avoid any future advertising of incorrect sale prices, she said.
In the Commission's view the advertisement of incorrect prices was a one-off, short term event that was unlikely to be repeated; the company did not financially gain from the conduct, nor did it cause harm to its competitors; and although consumers could not buy the products at the prices advertised, and may have been inconvenienced, there was unlikely to have been any direct financial loss to consumers.
The Commission had written to complainants to inform them of the outcome.
The consumers were also advised that they may take their own legal action if they wish.
'Inaccurate prices place traders at risk of misleading consumers. Traders need to ensure that they have processes in place to ensure that the advertised prices are correct,' she said.
Affected consumers spoken to said some disgruntled consumers had got legal representation, while others lodged claims with the Disputes Tribunal.
Harvey Norman had recently sent out a 'consumer review' email survey asking if consumers were happy with their last purchase.
'We didn't even bother to reply, what a joke,' an affected consumer said.