TMJ Pty Ltd trading as Premier Blinds & Awnings - s.87B undertaking

TMJ Pty Ltd (ACN 091 194 124) trading as Premier Blinds & Awnings (Premier Blinds) sells made to measure blinds and awnings in South-East Queensland and Mackay.

Between at least January 2008 and October 2009 Premier Blinds regularly published advertisements in The Sunday Mail newspaper where it advertised products to be “on sale” at discounts of between 25% to 40% off the recommended retail price.  Sometimes the same product was “on sale” for over seven months.

Premier Blinds admits that these advertisements did not always accurately represent the actual savings available to customers.  Customers were generally not truly saving the discounted amount on some products because:

• Premier Blinds continuously advertised some products at a discount, which meant that the products were generally not sold at the higher price before or after each advertised ‘sale’; and
• Premier Blinds rarely sold or offered the products for sale at the recommended retail price.

Premier Blinds acknowledges that it may have misled customers by representing that discounts were available off a full range of product lines, when the discounts only applied to a limited selection of products.

Premier Blinds acknowledges that by engaging in this conduct it breached sections 52 and 53(e) of the TPA.

Premier Blinds has ceased the conduct of concern and has offered the ACCC an undertaking under section 87B of the TPA that it will:

• not make any misleading price representations for a period of three years;
• publish corrective notices on its website, at its office and in The Sunday Mail newspaper; and
• implement and maintain a Trade Practices Compliance program for a period of three years.