On two separate occasions in June 2008, a customer purchased what she thought was a new Nokia mobile phone from a JB Hi-Fi store at Westfield Kotara, NSW, when in fact on each occasion the phone was a returned used product.
A complaint was made to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission after the consumer found contacts and video clips created by the phones' previous owners.
Mr Samuel said businesses must be careful to make sure consumers get the product they pay for.
"When buying a mobile phone consumers are entitled to expect it is new and hasn't previously been used or returned as faulty. Supplying a used product by mistake or otherwise is deceptive," ACCC Chairman, Mr Graeme Samuel said.
To address its concerns, the ACCC has accepted court enforceable undertakings from JB Hi-Fi Group Pty Ltd that it engaged in false, misleading or deceptive conduct in breach of sections 52 and 53(b) of the Trade Practices Act 1974.
The undertakings relate to the sale of returned mobile phones at its Kotara Westfield store in NSW from 1 January 2008 to 28 August 2008. JB Hi-Fi has undertaken that it will:
- not make any representation to the effect that the mobile phones it supplies are new when this is not the case
- publish corrective notices in the Newcastle Post newspaper and in the Kotara Westfield store for eight weeks, and
- extend its existing trade practices compliance to cover mobile phones.
As part of the undertakings, JB Hi-Fi has also agreed to provide either a refund or a replacement to those customers who purchased a new mobile phone at the Kotara Westfield store during the period from 1 January 2008 to 28 August 2008, and later found it was not new.
JB Hi-Fi entered the electronic and telecommunications market in June 2007 and supplies mobile phones and accessories in all its 98 stores around Australia.
JB Hi-Fi had been very cooperative in resolving this matter. In this incident, JB Hi Fi claims a procedural error meant returned mobile phones were accidentally mixed with existing stock when they should have been returned to the supplier.
"While it may have been an error in this case, in general, consumers should be fully informed about the actual product they are taking home," Mr Samuel said.
Media inquiries: Mr Brent Rebecca (02) 6243 1317 or 0408 995 408