Commerce Commission probe into Countdown specials
‘‘Once might be a mistake, but several times is starting to look a bit more deliberate.’’
Complaints that Countdown supermarkets may be misleading shoppers with false ‘‘specials’’ prices have prompted an official investigation.
Countdown has been accused of labelling products with ‘‘special’’ tags when there has been no price deduction.
The Commerce Commission is now investigating after a complaint first appeared on Consumer NZ’S Facebook page.
Consumer NZ chief executive Sue Chetwin said ‘‘specials’’ tags with a blank space under the section marked ‘‘savings’’ had been seen on four varieties of dog food at Countdown in Lower Hutt. Prices for the products were the same as the non-promotional price.
Yesterday several products were found – including like Mainland Cheese and Charlie’s Juice – with false specials tags in a Countdown store in Johnsonville.
‘‘We do think it is misleading and a breach of the Fair Trading Act,’’ Ms Chetwin said.
Luke Schepen, a spokesman for Countdown owner Progressive Enterprises, said it was investigating the reason for the incorrect price tags, but it was probably a pricing issue or printing error.
However, Ms Chetwin said there were too many of the tags to suggest this was the case. ‘‘Once might be a mistake, but several times is starting to look a bit more deliberate.’’
She urged shoppers to question ‘‘special’’ tags, and encouraged them to look at the unit pricing – where the price is given per unit of measurement, such as per 100 grams – when comparing products.
Consumer NZ member ‘‘Andy’’ placed a ‘‘buyer beware’’ comment on the organisation’s Facebook page about almost falling for what he called ‘‘dodgy’’ Countdown specials.
‘‘These ‘special’ tags are identical to all other special tags throughout the store, indicating discounted goods, except that these ones do not have any discount.’’
His comment attracted about 26 likes and 50 comments, many of which talked about being misled by Countdown price tags claiming to be specials.
Commerce Commission spokeswoman Allanah Kalafatelis said a complaint had been received and it would now consider whether there was an issue under the Fair Trading Act.
Last week it was revealed that a butcher at an Auckland Countdown was fired for extending the ‘‘best before’’ dates on packs of meat.