Best Buys admits 16 charges

Mobile retailer Best Buys has pleaded guilty in the Auckland District Court to 16 charges relating to its door-todoor sales business.

The charges were brought by the Commerce Commission, which said 11 of the charges resulted from Best Buys’ failure to disclosure information to its customers about its consumer credit contracts before they were entered into.

“Many of Best Buys’ consumer credit contracts failed to disclose important information such as an accurate statement of the amount or number of payments needed, an accurate statement of the debtor’s cancellation rights, and the right to apply for hardship relief,” the commission said.

The other five charges related to a contract clause which was likely to mislead customers into thinking Best Buys had a right to repossess goods when it did not, the commission said.

Best Buys is a mobile trader which sells consumer goods including mobile phones, electronics, perfume, mowers and trampolines. Sales are often on credit, and at significantly higher prices than mainstream stores.

According to the commission, mobile traders are businesses that do not have fixed retail premises in the traditional sense. Some operate mobile shops, usually from trucks, while others employ sales staff who sell goods door-to-door using catalogues and brochures.

Mobile traders use a variety of sales techniques, including uninvited direct sales, parking mobile truck shops in prominent locations and using social media.

They sell predominantly or exclusively on credit, layby or other deferred payment terms.

The commission prosecuted 10 other mobile traders in 2016: Bestdeals 4 You, Ace Marketing, Smart Shop, Goodring Company, Betterlife Corporation, Flexi Buy, Macful International, Zee Shop and Sales Concepts. One is yet to be named.

The commission said it also had 12 ongoing investigations into mobile traders. Best Buys will be sentenced later this year.