The Commerce Commission has filed charges today against two Pak’nSave supermarkets over alleged breaches of the Fair Trading Act.
The consumer watchdog been watching supermarkets closely and signalled in December that it would consider filing charges over misleading specials.
1News can now confirm charges have been laid in the Auckland District Court against Pak’nSave Silverdale in Auckland and Pak’nSave Mill Street in Hamilton.
General manager of competition Vanessa Horne said the charges alleged “inaccurate pricing and misleading specials that may have breached the Fair Trading Act”.
Commerce Commission deputy chairwoman Anne Callinan said in December that supermarkets had “long been on notice” about accuracy, clear pricing, and specials.
“Pricing accuracy is a consumer right and an expectation of a competitive market. The major supermarkets are large, well-resourced businesses that should invest the time and effort to get pricing and promotions right,” she said.
She said shoppers should have confidence that the price seen would be the price paid and that specials really were special.
“Since the Commission’s 2022 market study into groceries, we’ve had a sustained focus on pricing integrity in the sector. Our chair John Small and Grocery Commissioner Pierre van Heerden, have made our expectations clear to the supermarkets that they have to improve things,” Callinan said.
“The charges we’re filing against major supermarket brands are to remind all supermarket operators that we expect them to fix ongoing pricing accuracy issues and implement better processes to prevent issues like these in the future.”
‘We take this matter seriously’ — Foodstuffs North Island
In a statement, a Foodstuffs North Island spokesperson told 1News Pak’nSave Silverdale and Pak’nSave Mill St “take this matter seriously and have co-operated fully with the Commerce Commission in relation to its investigations”.
“Foodstuffs North Island’s stores process millions of transactions a day, and while errors are relatively rare, we agree that any inaccurate pricing is unacceptable.
“We work hard to ensure that the price customers see on shelf is always what they pay at the checkout, and that all specials offer clear savings.
“If a customer believes they haven’t been charged the correct price, we encourage them to let our store teams know so we can refund them directly, or they can contact our customer services team.
“Given the matter is now before the courts it would be inappropriate to comment further.”