Tabla de contenidos para November 2025 en CHOICE

One of my favourite parts of working at CHOICE are the emails. Recently, one had our editorial team a bit excited. This CHOICE subscriber in question had purchased a pack of toilet paper that claimed to have 180 sheets per roll on the packaging. But then she opened the pack and started counting… The results: 145, 133, 147, 158 and 153. Uh-oh. If you told this story in the real world, I’d wager the response would be something along the lines of, “why are you counting toilet paper?” The response at CHOICE was the complete opposite. We wanted in. Subscriber-driven, nonprofit services like CHOICE are more important than ever Almost immediately, everyone who had that brand of toilet paper at home was carefully counting toilet paper. Not only were we…

Consumer advocates have welcomed recent court decisions paving the way for a big four bank and a major telco to be fined hundreds of millions of dollars. Financial Counselling Australia (FCA) says the record penalties will send a message to businesses to do right by their customers. In September, ANZ admitted it had failed to pay depositors promised savings interest rates and that it had charged fees to dead customers, among other acts of misconduct. The bank is expected to have to pay a record $240 million in penalties for these acts and others. ANZ admitted it had charged fees to dead customers, among other acts of misconduct The admission to the Federal Court was followed by a separate decision by the same body to fine Optus $100 million for…

The Victorian Essential Services Commission (ESC) has taken action against three businesses for energy efficiency upgrades it alleges never took place, but were claimed under a government scheme. The scheme is designed to help Victorians cut their energy bills and lower greenhouse gas emissions. Accredited businesses undertake energy efficiency upgrades that entitle them to create Victorian energy efficiency certificates, which they can then sell. Zerowatt and LEDSaves both face bans from the Victorian Energy Upgrades (VEU) scheme. Another company, MYOM, has already been banned after an investigation into its activities found fraudulent photos had been submitted as evidence of work. “Submitting false evidence is a serious breach of VEU program rules, which is why we have been so quick to place restrictions on MYOM while we continue to investigate and…

The federal government has been getting feedback on a plan to require telcos to provide mobile coverage all across Australia. The Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation (UOMO) expects mobile carriers to use existing tower services and new satellite technology to provide voice and text services almost anywhere outdoors around the country. “Whether you are facing a natural disaster, broken down on a highway, injured on the farm, or lost in the bush, under UOMO there will be outdoor mobile coverage nearly anywhere you look up and see the sky,” says Communications Minister Anika Wells. Some telcos already allow customers with regular smartphones to connect with Low Earth Orbit satellites and send and receive text messages when they’re out of reach of a tower-based network. This new direct-to-device satellite technology is expected…

While you’re working, your super is in what’s called the ‘accumulation phase’. It does what it says on the tin: building your balance as you continue to work and earn. Once you retire, you can leave your super here, or move into the ‘retirement phase’ of super, by either opening a regular income stream called an account-based pension, or buying an annuity. Here’s what you might not know: investment earnings on super in an accumulation account attract a tax of 15%. But earnings on funds in an account-based pension incur no tax at all. And from the age of 60, you also pay no tax on the money you withdraw from your account-based pension. Sounds great, right? But did you know that some funds impose a minimum balance restriction on…

Q I recently used your health insurance comparison tool and I noticed you list Medibank Gold Advanced as one of the options. But I’ve just visited Medibank’s website and this policy is not available. Why is it still appearing in your results? A CHOICE insurance expert Mark Blades: You could certainly be forgiven for thinking that the policy doesn’t exist, because it isn’t visible as an option on Medibank’s website. But if you call the insurer and specifically ask for it, you should still be able to buy it. And the kicker is, it’s significantly cheaper than the Gold Protect policy advertised on its website, which costs $380 per month (as opposed to $313 for the Gold Advanced with the same $500 excess) for a single person in NSW. If…

Community choice.community Have you noticed energy plans being bundled with other offers like Netflix or Woolworths Rewards points? @bluebyjane: I am super cynical when I (frequently) see such offers. If only consumers would remember the adage: ‘There’s no such thing as a free lunch’, they might resist. It does your head in trying to find the best energy retail package for your needs at the best of times, let alone trying to suss out these ‘special’ offers. @KennethESmith3107: Remember the old adage about sticking to one’s knitting. No company is in business to do people a favour or reduce profit margins if they can avoid it. Loyalty schemes and so-called gifts are a ploy to gain customers, and the plan is to recover that cost. @Gee: Not being able to…

The Shonky Award for…  A price rise in disguise The cost of top-level ‘Gold’ hospital insurance policies has increased 58% over the past five years. Our taxes subsidise insurers to make health insurance affordable. So what are the insurers doing to fix a system where comprehensive hospital insurance is now a luxury good? Why, they’re rorting it, of course. Every year, health insurers must seek government approval to increase their premiums. But the insurers only need approval to raise premiums for existing policies, not new policies. Last year, CHOICE called out insurers for avoiding the approved price rise by ‘phoenixing’ – the practice of avoiding the approval process by quietly closing an existing policy, and opening a new policy with the same or similar cover, but with a jacked-up price.…

For 65 years, CHOICE has helped everyday Australians sort the good products and services from the bad. It’s the latter that we’re particularly interested in shining a light on, and this mission was the driving force behind our first ever Shonky Awards in 2006. Since then, we’ve handed out more than 140 of these lemon-shaped awards to businesses and products for a range of reasons – from being simply misleading to downright dangerous. The Shonky Awards raise awareness and put pressure on businesses and government to ensure that what we consume is safe, suitable and effective. Over the years, they’ve helped lead to some solid wins for consumers – here are several of our latest victories. The Shonky Awards raise awareness and put pressure on businesses and government Stronger scam…

This month will see a broad range of local and international retailers drop prices for the annual Black Friday sales. The event has continued to grow in popularity in Australia in recent years and now rivals the weeks leading up to Christmas as our biggest shopping occasion. For the past few years, national retail spending has been higher in November (when most Black Friday promotions occur) than in December, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The ABS has previously noted Australians are bringing forward their Christmas spending to take advantage of this emerging sale event. Black Friday occurs on the last Friday in November, but many retailers will start their sales earlier. Last year, some major brands dropped Black Friday discounts as early as three weeks before the…

Car finance provider Money3 Loans has been found to have breached responsible lending laws when it entered into five loan arrangements with people on Centrelink payments. ASIC’s case centered on loans between 2019 and 2021, and the Federal Court found Money3 failed to make reasonable inquiries or verify living expenses based on bank statements. However, another part of ASIC’s allegations – that the lender failed to assess whether loans were suitable – was rejected by the court. Further allegations that Money3 failed to take reasonable steps to comply with credit legislation and that staff were not competent or trained adequately were also thrown out by the court. “ASIC took this case after receiving numerous complaints, including from consumer advocates. We were concerned that consumers on social security payments were entering…

Alantern festival – in which illuminated paper lanterns are released into the night sky – would seem like a happy occasion, except when you pay to attend one and it never happens. It’s also important to know that it’s illegal for open flame lanterns to be released in Australia due to the risk of fire and burns. The WA government’s ScamNet service recently warned consumers to beware of scammers posing as lantern festival operators through ads on social media. The ads direct people to convincing-looking fake websites that offer tickets for around $50 and ask you to enter personal information and pay by credit card. The scammers claim the lanterns are “biodegradable and recycled”, and some non-events are marked as sold out. “Consumers may not realise they have been scammed…

We purchased a Westinghouse oven from the Seymour branch of Betta Electrical in May 2023 for $960. In May 2025, the oven door exploded. Luckily the oven wasn’t in use and no one was nearby at the time. We called the store and were told to contact the manufacturer to request a new door. So we called Electrolux, who told us they would contact our local service agent to arrange a call-out and that we would need to pay for the call-out and a new door. After several weeks, hearing nothing, I phoned Electrolux again. I was given the details of the service agent and told to contact them. After several more calls to both the service agent and Electrolux, I was finally given a job number. In August, three…

The Shonky Award for… Being an unsafe haven for dodgy sales tactics & fast fashion Temu is fostering a culture where consumers buy and dispose of products at a rapid rate, leading to high volumes of polyester-based clothing ending up in landfill When the term “enshittification” was coined back in 2022, it was an attempt to communicate a developing phenomenon: the slow decay of online services like Facebook and Google. The manner in which free services slowly become burdened with money-making additions that are completely anti-consumer. But Temu might be the best example of an online service that was born “enshittified”. It was never good. It was terrible from day one. And that’s why, this year, we’re giving Temu a Shonky Award. What’s shonky about Temu? You’d probably have an…

WEIGHT Consider the weight of the hard floor cleaner, as this will give you an indication of its manoeuvrability. The models we tested range in weight from 3.4 to 9.6kg (when the water tanks are empty). POWER CORD If you don’t have a cordless model, the power cord should be long enough that you have good reach from the power point. Work out how long you’ll need your cord to be before you shop for a hard floor cleaner. Check the manufacturer’s instructions, as some don’t recommend using an extension cord with your hard floor cleaner (doing so could potentially void your warranty). BATTERY LIFE For cordless models, the battery should last long enough for you to get through one session of cleaning. The battery life for the models we…

Dr Ron Somers, one of the researchers behind the standard firmness test, has devised a DIY method for testing firmness. But this informal test method is for home use only and is not a replacement for the standard lab-based test for firmness (which uses a calibrated apparatus and conditioned lab environment). Only use this method as a guide for older mattresses (which may not display a label claiming compliance with firmness requirements). If buying new, check our expert reviews first. If your mattress fails this test then it’s definitely not safe. YOU’LL NEED: ● a B-format paperback book (approx 128mm x 200mm). It needs to be at least 12mm thick.● a 30cm ruler● 2L of liquid in a container or containers (such as a plastic milk carton or two 1L…

The government has concluded consultation on strengthening the rules around unit pricing at the supermarket. CHOICE research has shown time and time again that consumers are more likely to select the best value product when unit pricing is shown, compared to when it is not. While more people are using unit pricing to save on groceries, less are finding it actually useful. Unfortunately, there has been an uptick in issues reported by consumers, from unit prices that are hard to read or are obscured, to those that use inconsistent units of measurement. (You can read more on page 32.) That’s why we’re calling on the government to expand the scope of the Unit Pricing Code to more stores, so more consumers can benefit from it, but also to tighten the…

Retail giant Kmart has been found to have breached the Privacy Act with its facial recognition program, three years after a CHOICE investigation revealed the invasive technology was in use across Australia. In 2022, CHOICE reported that Kmart, Bunnings and The Good Guys were capturing the biometric data, or unique facial features known as a ‘face print’, of customers entering their stores with facial recognition technology (FRT). Our investigation prompted the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) to launch a probe into whether privacy laws had been breached. Kmart sought to justify its use of FRT in stores between June 2020 and July 2022 as a measure to prevent refund fraud. However, the Commissioner said Kmart did not seek customer consent and its collection was not proportional, as there…

Ninja is known for its creative appliance offerings that capture the attention of consumers. Their latest offering is the Ninja Slushi, a benchtop frozen drink maker that brings the fun and excitement of a cold slushie on a hot day into the comfort of your own home. The Ninja Slushi works by spinning an auger inside a cooling cylinder that uses an evaporator to cool liquids and turn them into slushy drinks. It comes with the base unit that holds the motor and evaporator, and a 2.6L liquid vessel (1.9L max fill line) with a removable spout and spring-loaded handle, auger, condenser tray, drip tray and guide. It has five pre-set functions so you can make slushies, frozen cocktails, frappes, frozen milkshakes and frozen juices, but also allows manual temperature…

If you were a customer of Queensland-based RACQ Insurance between September 2019 and December 2024, you may have received a renewal notice with incorrect information about what you had previously been paying. It would have led you to believe that your premiums hadn’t gone up as much as they actually had. In September this year, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) launched a legal case against RACQ for this tactic, alleging that the insurer sent more than 570,000 renewal documents to customers containing misrepresentations about their ‘last period premium’. In many cases, the last period premiums listed were higher than what customers had paid or were paying when discounts and other changes were factored in. “RACQ didn’t just make it difficult to compare apples with apples, we consider customers…

A recent agribusiness report by Rabobank holds good news with an asterisk for chocolate lovers, who have had to balance their love of all things cocoa with steadily rising prices. Since 2021, the retail prices of chocolate products have gone up around the world due to poor cocoa harvests, crop disease, bad weather and other headwinds. Chocolate manufacturers and retailers are now beginning to adapt to these challenges and adjust profit expectations in return for keeping their customers, according to the report. RaboResearch agriculture analyst Paul Joules says the rethink “has led manufacturers and retailers to expand their value ranges, offering more affordable alternatives to cost-conscious shoppers”. The rub is that these cheaper alternatives often contain less product, with many manufacturers resorting to shrinkflation to boost profits or to ‘skimpflation’,…

Every time a new minister comes into a portfolio, the relevant government department prepares an incoming ministerial briefing – a cheat sheet outlining all their areas of responsibility. These incoming ministerial briefings are routinely requested by journalists under Freedom of Information (FOI) laws and, at least at a federal level, are routinely given out by government departments. So I had no idea what I was in for when, in late 2023, I lodged an FOI for the new Victorian Consumer Affairs Minister’s briefing. When an FOI request is lodged, the relevant government department or agency has 30 days to respond. But the reality is never that simple. After a two-month delay, the Victorian Department of Government Services (DGS) flat-out denied my request, saying the document was produced for the deliberations…

I thought I was onto a good thing when I spotted Farmer’s Union yoghurt at Aldi at a significantly lower price than at Woolworths. The Aldi and Woolworths containers are identical in all respects, except one: you get only 930g in the Aldi one. Naturally, I assumed it would be 1kg. The price per gram works out almost the same. Is there no limit to the deviousness of these businesses? Rod Andrew, Malmsbury, Vic I purchased an LG 75" smart TV in April 2022 on the recommendation from CHOICE. The TV worked very well until late 2024 when it had trouble cleaning pixels and always shut down before completing the update. I persevered with this problem until August 2025 when the TV failed to operate. The 12-month warranty on the…

The Shonky Award for… Pricing tactics designed to confuse Energy retailers have been up to all manner of sneaky pricing tricks lately. And the timing couldn’t be worse. The relentless upward trend of energy prices has been a big part of the cost-of-living crisis, as the results of our most recent national Consumer Pulse survey make clear. Our research shows that 84% of households are worried about paying for electricity. It also shows that the highest percentage on record (68%) are finding it hard to cut their electricity costs. In late July, the advocacy group Energy Consumers Australia reported that 1 in 5 Australian households is vulnerable to or already experiencing some form of energy hardship. Energy disconnection is a looming threat for many Australians in financial straits. In the…

The Shonky Award for… A plug-in heater that doesn’t plug in (or heat anything) Our Shonky Awards are held in November, but at the time of writing it’s still cold in Sydney, extremely cold. It’s been raining for weeks on end. People are holed up indoors, wearing puffer jackets, hugging their third cup of tea. If they happened to stumble across a social media ad promising to solve all these issues with a very cheap plug-in heater, they’d be forgiven for succumbing and hitting ‘Add to cart’. And that’s what happened to CHOICE reader Elle, who bought the Handy Heater Turbo 800. She thought this device would solve her heating issues, but… well, given this is the Shonky Awards, you can probably guess where this is heading. The Handy Heater…

● ADR: Australian Design Rules – the national vehicle safety and performance standards for new cars ● Aftermarket: not made by the original car manufacturer, or someone they commissioned ● Exchange: repaired to recreate original condition ● Genuine: new, made by the vehicle’s original manufacturer ● Non-genuine: made by someone else ● OEM: new, made by the manufacturer that made the part for the original vehicle ● Non-OEM: not made by the original car manufacturer, or someone they commissioned ● Reconditioned: repaired to recreate original condition ● Recycled: from low-mileage deregistered vehicles; in near-new condition ● Refurbished: repaired to recreate original condition ● Remanufactured: repaired to recreate original condition ● Repaired: repaired to recreate original condition ● Reusable: from low-mileage deregistered vehicles; in near-new condition ● Second-hand: from low-mileage deregistered…

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Accuracy: Our journalists use sources from trusted institutions with a reputation for careful and unbiased research. Our verifiers and subject matter experts check articles and reviews before publication, to make sure facts and quotes are accurate and data has been interpreted correctly. Corrections: If we’ve made an error in CHOICE magazine, we include the correction in the next available issue (usually in the Checkout section of the magazine). If you think we’ve got something wrong, please visit choice.com.au/contactus. Reviews and testing: Our testers put products through their paces in our own NATA-accredited laboratories. We use test methods based on Australian standards and develop our own to match the way consumers use a product in their homes. We buy most products we test, maintaining our independence from manufacturers and so we…

Our long-serving rogues’ gallery of dodgy ads, toe-curling typos and misadventures in marketing, as sent in by you – our tickled, angered and bewildered readers. And thanks to the timeless shonkiness of so much advertising, you’re always spoilt for choice – so keep ’em coming. Email high-quality unedited photos to hardword@choice.com.au. This month, thanks go to Harry Leggett (Sweet spot), Steve Sell (Teeny zucchini), Lauren Sheppard (Don’t have the energy) and Jack Strom (Steam ahead). Actual tray size TEENY ZUCCHINI Serves 6? You’ll need to slice it very thin. STEAM AHEAD This handheld garment steamer sounds very uplifting and has no desire for invasion. SWEET SPOT Darrell Lea tackles the problem of microplastics in food. DON’T HAVE THE ENERGY Anytime… except now.…