Fujitsu hit with big fine

Fujitsu’s heat pumps are not as efficient as the company says, and it has been fined $310,000 for continuing to make the unsubstantiated claims.

For the first time, a company has been prosecuted by the Commerce Commission under a section of the Fair Trading Act for making unsubstantiated representations.

Fujitsu General New Zealand pleaded guilty to seven charges of breaches of the Fair Trading Act over advertisements that claimed the heat pumps were the most efficient in New Zealand.

Fujitsu ran the adverts on television and on its website.

The commission said the company made $104 million during the time it was advertising its heat pumps.

Wellington District Court judge Ian Mill said yesterday that consumers were given the impression they would have received the stated performance benefits at all times and in all conditions, and this was not correct.

He said testing was done under laboratory conditions and did not account for real-world household variables, such as location.

He said the representations stated incorrectly what the realworld cost savings would be, and it was a case of exaggeration.

‘‘The dissemination of information was significant and significantly inaccurate.’’

He said the claims the company made would have been a significant factor in consumers’ purchasing decisions. ‘‘The heating of New Zealand homes is a major industry … It’s big business.’’

Fujitsu’s lawyer Justin Smith, QC, said the company had more energy rating stars than its competitors, and had conflated that with the efficiency of its product.

He said it was carelessness, rather than wilfulness. –Stuff