The ACCC has fined 4WD Supacentre $63,000 for alleged misleading ‘was/now’ pricing, hitting them with five infringement notices.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has issued 4WD Supacentre with five infringement notices for allegedly misleading consumers about the ‘was/now’ price comparisons advertised on its website.
The period of the infringement notice is between December 2018 and January 2019 when the ACCC found that 4WD Supacentre; “advertised some of its highest selling products with a high ‘was’ price and a low ‘now’ price”.
One example which the ACCC outlined was a camp oven advertised with a ‘was’ price of $279 and a ‘now’ price of $84, where the ACCC found the camp oven had not been advertised for a price higher than $104 for the three-month period beforehand.
“We were very concerned that this was misleading consumers into thinking they could achieve significant savings with 4WD Supacentre, when this was not necessarily the case,” said ACCC Acting Chair Mick Keogh.
“Businesses must tell the truth when advertising ‘discounted’ prices, and must not fabricate increased savings.”
On top of paying $63,000 in penalties 4WD Supacentre has entered into a court-enforceable undertaking in which they have committed to not engage in similar conduct. The undertaking accepted by the ACCC states that 4WD Supacentre will:
- Cease and refrain from engaging in the was/now pricing conduct;
- Place corrective advertising on the 4WD Supacentre website, and maintain it for 30 days; and
- Review all advertising material, establish and implement a Competition and Consumer Act compliance program, and maintain and implement the compliance program for a period of three years.
