CHOICE November 2022

In July, the ACCC announced that ‘therapeutic’ bed business Revitalife had entered a court-enforceable undertaking to issue refunds to a number of customers and to improve the way it handles customer complaints. That came on top of an earlier commitment by Revitalife to cease pushing beds through sales visits to people’s homes and to remove unfair contract terms from its terms and conditions. Like us, the ACCC felt that the 2020 Shonky Award winner was misleading people through a pre-sale ‘sleep assessment,’ and failing to be honest about the reason representatives wanted to do a home visit. Then, just last month, ASIC announced it was suing Latitude Finance Australia and Harvey Norman Holdings, also 2020 Shonky recipients, for misleading advertising. This action took aim at advertisements claiming ‘no deposit’ and…

A safe and secure infant sleeper is one of the most A important purchases a parent can make for their family. Unsafe products can cause a child’s death or serious injury, and can have a devastating and irreversible impact on people’s lives. We’ve written a submission to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), supporting its proposal for stronger regulation of infant sleep products. This includes a ban on the supply of harmful inclined sleepers in Australia, which can lead to the suffocation or positional asphyxiation of infants. This prohibition will bring Australia in line with international jurisdictions, including New Zealand and Canada, which have banned the sale of sleep products with a sleep surface incline of more than seven degrees. We’re also calling for a mandatory safety and information…

Consumer advocates are calling on the federal government to regulate telcos in the style of an essential utility after an ombudsman’s report found a record number of complaints about mobile phone services. The Consumer Action Law Centre wants the communications minister to make sure telcos are subject to safeguards similar to those for electricity and water services, saying self-regulation by the industry isn’t working. “Australian telcos can and must do better, and we clearly need government reform of the system to drive this,” says Consumer Action senior policy officer Brigette Rose. “This will drive down complaints at the ombudsman.” In its recent yearly report, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman revealed that although the total number of complaints about telcos has gone down, issues with mobile services and poor coverage have risen…

Latitude Finance breached the Spam Act more than three million times, and has paid a $1.55m infringement notice to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) over the breaches. Between June 2021 and March 2022, the company sent customers millions of commercial texts and emails that had no unsubscribe function, and continued to send the messages even to customers who had unsubscribed. “Companies cannot promote their products and services to customers under the guise of simply providing them with factual information,” says ACMA chair Nerida O’Loughlin. “Customers must be able to withdraw their consent and stop receiving commercial messages. That choice must be actioned within five days. “Latitude failed on both these counts. It also did not make changes to its practices, even after we alerted it several times that…

CHOICE’s latest nationally representative consumer survey has found that buy now, pay later (BNPL) providers are selling people into serious debt. And as cost of living pressures worsen, even more people are likely to fall victim to these predatory loans. We found that one in seven people took out more than 20 BNPL loans in the past year. We also found that discounts are being used to lure people into BNPL, with one in five choosing a BNPL loan for their last purchase because of an advertised discount if they did so. Perhaps even more worryingly, the survey found that these loans are commonly being sold for essential products and services – one in six survey respondents say they’ve used a BNPL loan to pay for a supermarket bill and…

When someone makes a claim on the disability insurance in their superannuation, they’re already in an incredibly vulnerable position. That person has lost not just income, but may be struggling with loss of identity at the same time. So it’s vital that insurers process these claims efficiently and respectfully, letting people get on with their lives. Sadly, many insurers drag their heels, imposing further stress on claimants. We recently told the story of ‘Carol’, a victim-survivor of domestic violence who faced an unreasonable delay that dragged on for months when she claimed on disability insurance after suffering horrific psychological injuries. Super Consumer Australia policy manager Franco Morelli says lawmakers must impose mandatory, enforceable claims-handling standards on the industry, rather than letting insurers follow their own guidance with small penalties for…