Jewellery businesses face probes after complaints

A Michael Hill customer was told they had to pay more for a piece of jewellery than its advertised price because of ‘‘fluctuations in the exchange rate’’.

That’s one of 11 complaints the Commerce Commission has received about Michael Hill in the past two years, figures from an Official Information Act request show.

The market regulator also received four complaints about rival jewellery chain Pascoes in that time.

Four complaints about Michael Hill and one complaint about Pascoes were now the subject of ‘‘further assessment’’ by the commission.

That means the complaints have been looked at by an initial inquiry team and escalated to a more senior panel of Commerce Commission managers, who determine whether an investigation should be launched.

The details of the complaints undergoing further assessment have been kept secret to avoid prejudicing the cases.

A Michael Hill spokesman said it sold more than 500,000 items in New Zealand in the last two years and the complaints made up only a small fraction of that.

Michael Hill was ‘‘guided by sound, consistent and best practice sales principles’’ and the complaints did not represent the high levels of customer service it had delivered to customers for three decades, he said.

The complaints not assessed further by the Commerce Commission were outlined in its response.

In a complaint from 2018 a customer said they were shown an item of jewellery in store and told a price which matched the price on the label.

When they went to pay for the item an additional amount was added. They were told this was due to fluctuations in the exchange rate.

The customer questioned the rationale, considering they were purchasing the item at a store, not importing it.

The customer wondered whether the price would have decreased if the exchange rate had been in their favour.

In one of the four Pascoes complaints a customer said a wedding set purchased with a five-year diamond guarantee had one diamond fall out within one year and a second diamond fall out within three years.

The customer said that they returned the set, but Pascoes said this was a matter of wear and tear and not covered under the diamond guarantee. Pascoes allegedly advised the customer that the set was not for everyday wear.

The customer said Pascoes offered to cover the repair but said that it would charge the customer if it occurred again.

Pascoes would not refund the set but offered store credit, the customer said.

The company did not respond to requests for comment.

Since 2012 the Commerce Commission has undertaken five investigations into Michael Hill and none into Pascoes.