CHOICE February 2022

The concept of the savvy consumer is pretty fundamental to the very idea of CHOICE. From the very beginning, CHOICE has been there to look beyond the advertising and packaging, and tell you what’s really in a product and how well it really works. Whether it’s letting you know how well an oven bakes meringues, if an insurance policy covers you for bushfire damage, or if the food and recipes in a meal delivery kit are up to scratch, we aim to uncover facts that would be nigh on impossible for you to find yourself. This often takes a lot of creativity – as any member who’s been on a tour of our labs and seen the contraptions we’ve built for testing running shoes and strollers will know. Sometimes we even…

The federal government says it intends to consult and review the regulatory framework around online payment platforms, including buy now, pay later (BNPL) and cryptocurrency. The review, announced by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg in December, will consider the regulatory settings for BNPL players such as Afterpay, Zip and Humm, which currently fall outside safe lending laws and the associated consumer protections. The Consumer Action Law Centre says the review is an “opportunity” for the government to bring BNPL regulations into line with other credit products. “This is an opportunity to ensure BNPL is regulated effectively and consistently with other credit products, to address the significant risk of debt and financial stress associated with these products,” says Gerard Brody, CEO of Consumer Action. “A further review of BNPL needs to be independent and…

When CHOICE first started looking into the funeral services industry in 2019, we had reason to believe consumers were not being well served. Over the course of a four-part investigation, we found that lack of pricing transparency was entrenched and widespread, leaving grieving customers at the mercy of profit-driven corporations such as Invocare. Our work led to regulatory changes in NSW. As of August 2019, funeral service operators have had to display price lists instore and on their websites, and to come up with itemised quotes. Deceptive marketing, unfair contract terms In December 2021, the ACCC released its report on the funeral services sector and the regulator’s findings confirm what our investigations unearthed. They also show that the industry still has work to do when it comes to putting customers’ interests above its own. The…

In late 2021, ASIC began court proceedings against ANZ bank for conduct that may have marked a new low point in the annals of bad bank behaviour. Through its ‘introducer program’, ANZ sought to flog home loans to potential customers by way of individuals they ostensibly trusted as independent and unbiased on the subject, such as home cleaners or real estate agents. The trouble was that these ‘introducers’ collected customer information on the bank’s behalf without being authorised to do so. And, of course, they were being paid by the banks to get this information. “ASIC is concerned that as a result of this conduct some loans may have been granted by ANZ based on false information, and some consumers may have entered into home loans that were beyond their ability…

Australians are now less trusting of how companies and governments use their private data, according to the Australian National University (ANU). The analysis shows that, between May 2020 and August 2021, trust levels fell marginally from 5.7 out of 10 to 5.49 out of 10. The timing coincides with the period during which people have been asked to give over large amounts of private data to government agencies through QR code check-in apps. Study co-author professor Nicholas Biddle, from the ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods, says the decline in trust is “significant”, adding: “Our analysis, covering a time when much of the east coast of Australia was living in lockdown, shows Australians were starting to get more wary about how their private data from check-in apps might be used…

While 2021 was a difficult year in so many ways, we managed to pull off a number of major wins with the indispensable help of our members and supporters. From getting the Commonwealth Bank’s school-based marketing program Dollarmites out of the classroom, to saving safe lending laws (for now) and stamping out the unethical practice of landlord insurance providers going after renters with bogus claims recoveries, 2021 was a busy year. Blowing the whistle on shonky businesses In March, the ACCC issued an infringement notice for Propel Funeral Partners for making false and misleading claims about its “local and independent” ownership. The fine came after we uncovered numerous instances of misinformation and poor transparency in the funeral sector. Another provider, Alex Gow Funerals, was fined in September. Also in March, Hitachi customers were handed…