Commission eyes up Nzsale
The Commerce Commission will be speaking to Nzsale regarding claims it makes about delivery times after dozens of complaints over delayed or missing orders.
Stuff reported last week that many buyers were still waiting for orders that were placed months ago.
The commission will be speaking with the company about the delivery information they provided to customers at the point of sale.
‘‘It is important that businesses take care not to give delivery guarantees that they aren’t confident they can meet,’’ a spokeswoman said.
‘‘This is especially important for businesses like Nzsale who are not always in possession of the stock they are selling and are reliant on other parties to supply the goods.’’
The site uses bulk purchases to get deals for customers. A sale usually lasts for a few days, and at its end the purchases are collated and sent to the supplier.
Delivery then depends on where in the world the stock is coming from.
The site usually offers an indication of when a product can be expected, but this is not always guaranteed.
The commission has received 46 complaints about Nzsale relating to undelivered items or delays with delivery since January 2018.
The majority of complaints the commission received were in
December 2018, the spokeswoman said.
‘‘The commission contacted complainants in February 2019 to seek more information and seek permission to discuss their individual cases with Nzsale,’’ she said. ‘‘All of the complainants that responded to the commission who had reported issues of delayed delivery or non-delivery had either since received their items or their concerns had been addressed in other ways eg, they had received a refund.’’
As a result the commission took no further action at that time, she said
But since December 2019 the commission has received 2 complaints relating to undelivered items or delayed delivery, she said.
Customers who spoke to Stuff were particularly frustrated with the lack of clear and accurate communication from the company.
Sarah Cooper said she was still waiting for a $90 Christmas gift to arrive. She placed an order in mid-november and was given a delivery date of between December 5 and 10.
By January 8, the package still hadn’t arrived.
Cooper said she was frustrated by her interactions with the company. Nzsale staff kept giving her the same information and promising that the package would arrive with the next delivery cycle.
Mysale, the parent company behind Nzsale, was founded in 2007 by Australians Carl Jackson and Jamie Jackson to offer ‘‘flash sales’’ on surplus branded fashion and beauty products.
Carl Jackson declined to answer questions on the phone and did not respond to emailed questions.
Alex Sims, from the University of Auckland’s law school, said the law protected consumer rights but there were few ways to enforce the Fair Trading Act against companies based overseas.
‘‘Technically, you are protected under New Zealand consumer law but if you are based overseas, there is not a lot you can do,’’ Sims said.
‘‘It’s why I always say to people, if you are going to buy something online, try buy something from a New Zealand company, based in New Zealand.’’
Sims said Kiwi shoppers needed to be savvy about what they were buying online.
‘‘Just because it has a co.nz website doesn’t mean to say its based in New Zealand. Anyone can register a co.nz and it doesn’t have to be that way,’’ she said.
In Australia, companies had to have a valid address to register a local website. She called on the Government to look at a similar rule for New Zealand.
‘‘But it is also the old thing that if it looks too good to be true, then it probably is,’’ she said.
Ma¯ ori tourism providers in Tauranga are seeing a silver lining to Princess Cruise’s embarrassing ‘‘Pantomime Po¯ whiri’’ incident.
The incident involved Princess Cruise staff dressing up in face paint to give a mock powhiri to tourists as they entered Tauranga.
Iwi-owned and Ma¯ ori tourism companies say the incident highlighted the need for more cultural offerings in Tauranga.
‘‘People are getting on buses and heading to Rotorua for their cultural fix and we can offer that right here in Tauranga,’’ Bay of Plenty Tourism’s Simon Phillips said. ‘‘We are helping cultural tourism businesses set up in Tauranga.’’
New businesses include hunting tours and the Maketu Marae Tour. Other businesses soon to be operational include a glassbottomed waka tour, Mo’s Matakana Island Tour, and My Maunga Tours of Mauao.
Tour operator Reon Tuanau said the pantomime powhiri incident in December showed visitors wanted to have a cultural experience when they arrived in Tauranga.
‘‘It was a dark cloud for Tauranga but it had a silver lining,’’ he said.
‘‘It shows us that people want that sort of activity here in Tauranga when they land.’’