Nearly half of the staff employed by Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi and the Good Guys have been misleading consumers on their rights when it comes to refunds for faulty products.
Choice conducted a "shadow shop" at 109 electronic accessories stores across the country and found staff telling shoppers that faulty products must go to the manufacturers directly for repair and cannot be done at the retail stores.
These disguised shoppers were also told that repairs would only be covered if they purchased extended warranty.
Choice head of media Tom Godfrey said: "We found that 48 percent of the retailers contacted failed to offer our shoppers their basic consumer rights, which is a staggering failure rate so long after these consumer protections were introduced in Australia.”
The investigation saw Choice's shadow shoppers posing as customers looking to buy a big-screen TV priced between $2000 and $3000. They asked if the store would take the TV back to get it repaired if it broke down two years after purchase.
Under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL), a faulty TV can be returned to the store or manufacturer for a reasonable period after the warranty had expired.
Godfrey said even though the TV had a one-year manufacturer's warranty, consumer law allows over and above the limited warranty period.
"We also found that 95 percent of the salespeople tried to sell an extended warranty to our shoppers. So if you're tempted by an extended warranty, it's worth reading the fine print to ensure you are getting some value over and above the rights you have under the consumer law,” said Godfrey.
To date, Choice has referred six Harvey Norman stores to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
Recently, a Harvey Norman store in Bundal Queensland was fined $52,000 for misleading consumers and last year the ACCC took LG Electronics to court for allegedly misleading consumers on their rights in relation to replacing faulty products.
Last week, Woolworths Limited was ordered by the Federal Court to pay total penalties of $3.057 million for breaches of the ACL relating to safety issues with house brand products sold in Woolworths supermarkets, Big W and Masters stores.
Previously known as the Australian Consumers Association, Choice is a not-for-profit consumer organisation that researches and campaigns on behalf of all Australian consumers.
-1.jpg&w=100&c=1&s=0)
.png&w=100&c=1&s=0)
