The competition watchdog warned of its concerns after conducting a sweep of more than two thousand Australian retail websites.

“As part of this sweep, business’ return policies and website terms and conditions were reviewed, some of which raised concerns as being potentially misleading for consumers,” cautioned Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Deputy Chair Catriona Lowe

“Our sweep has found numerous examples of practices that could potentially mislead or deceive consumers regarding their rights to exchange, refund or return a product.

“Under the Australian Consumer Law consumers have basic rights when buying products and services, known as consumer guarantees. These rights are separate from any warranties offered by a business and cannot be taken away by anything a business says or does.”

The ACCC notes that the sweep identified several potentially misleading statements in the terms and conditions of a number of the websites reviewed, including:

• imposing time-limits for returning a faulty product;
• imposing blanket ‘no refund’ conditions on sales or specialised items;
• referring to manufacturer warranties as the only avenue for consumers to claim remedies for faulty goods, and;
• placing restrictions on consumers’ right to a remedy, including stating that delivery fees paid for faulty items were non-refundable and charging restocking fees if customers returned faulty items.

As a result of the sweep’s findings, the ACCC says it has sent warning letters to several businesses whose returns policies or terms and conditions raised concerns under the ACL.

“Our action led to the majority of businesses changing or removing concerning statements from their websites and improving consumer guarantee messages to consumers,” Lowe said.

“While we did identify some concerning practices during this sweep, we were pleased to find that many websites had information that advised consumers of their consumer guarantee rights under the Australian Consumer Law.”

The ACCC warns that under the ACL, businesses should not be making statements, written or verbally, to the following effect about faulty products:

• No refunds are permitted under any circumstances;
• No refunds are provided for sale or specialised items;
• To be eligible for a refund, the consumer has a limited timeframe, from receipt of the good, to return the product;
• Returns will be subject to a processing, restocking or repair fee;
• No refunds are provided for opened or used items under any circumstances;
• Delivery fees are non-refundable;
• Customers must pay for delivery for returned items.

“The ACCC is committed to improving business compliance with consumer guarantees and will continue to actively monitor this area, and where appropriate, take enforcement action,” Lowe said.

“We encourage all businesses to review their return policies and terms and conditions to ensure they comply with the law.”

Consumers should report any potentially misleading or deceiving statements to the ACCC: Report a consumer issue

Go here to read the ACCC's full statement.