Office supplies reseller ordered to stop fooling customers
The Federal Court at
Adelaide has ordered an office supplies reseller to stop allegedly
tricking customers into buying printer cartridges and falsely claiming
secondhand cartridges were new.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) laid charges
against South Australian reseller Globex Systems in December last year
for alleged violations of the Trade Practices Act 1974.
Globex directors Warren and David Skry and two former employees, Emma
Gourlay and Claire Trobe, were also charged, the ACCC said in a
statement.
The ACCC said the Federal Court at Adelaide had declared that Globex,
its directors and the two staff had engaged in misleading and deceptive
conduct and made false representations regarding its products and sales
to various parties.
“It was alleged they had represented that businesses and primary
schools in South Australia, Victoria, NSW and Queensland had agreed to
buy from Globex cleaning products or cartridges,” the ACCC said.
The watchdog said it had received some 70 complaints and inquiries about Globex and its direct marketing telesales practices.
Globex had claimed certain cartridges were new when they had actually
been refilled and had further been asserting it had a right to be paid
for goods the customer had not asked for, the ACCC alleged.
“Globex admitted it had made representations to an association in NSW
in February 2005 that the association had ordered ink cartridges, had
entered into a purchase agreement with Globex and was required to take
delivery of the cartridges when those representations were untrue,” the
ACCC said.
The Federal Court at Adelaide had made several injunctions restraining
Globex, its directors and the two staff from the allegedly misleading
and deceptive behaviour.
Globex must also publish a notice “acknowledging its conduct” in
certain state dailies and the Australian newspaper within 21 days, the
ACCC said.
The ACCC said Globex was also being forced to participate in a Trade Practices compliance program and pay the ACCC’s costs.