The ACCC has slugged tech retailer digiDirect with almost $40,000 in penalties for misleading advertising.
The consumer watchdog slapped digiDirect, which sells cameras and drones as well as other electronics such as smart home devices, phones, and computers, with three infringement notices totalling $39,240.
The fines relate to sales in June, July and October of last year, in which digiDirect advertised “X% off storewide” despite hundreds of products – including popular digital cameras, lenses, and accessories – being excluded from the promotions.
According to ACCC chair Rod Sims, digiDirect breached Australian Consumer Law by falsely saying that everything in store was available at a discount, thus “clearly misleading” customers.
“In this instance, the offer of storewide discounts will have attracted many consumers to the digiDirect sale.
“While those consumers may not have been misled about whether or not the discount ultimately applied to the product they wanted to purchase, it is still unacceptable for a business to entice customers to a sale on the promise of discounts that may not apply,” he said.
Though the promotions did use “terms and conditions/exclusions apply” in a small font, the ACCC judged that even if they had been more prominent, these disclaimers could not have qualified “storewide discount” to be less misleading.
