Big fine for phone shop
An online tech shop has been fined a record $3.15 million for dodgy sales practices.
Digital Marketing Solutions — a company that ran the online stores Android Enjoyed and Camera Sky — and its Hong Kong-based director were found to have failed to deliver mobile phones, cameras and other electronic goods, failed to repair goods and misled consumers in the New South Wales Supreme Court.
NSW Fair Trading received 637 consumer complaints about the company in an 18-month period.
“Either the goods wouldn't come, or they wouldn't come in a timely way or when they did come they weren't able to be used because something was wrong with them,” New South Wales Fair Trading commissioner Rose Webb said.
“And in some cases they came with electronic chargers that didn't actually comply with Australian safety standards.”
The Supreme Court ordered a $2.25 million penalty for the company, and a $900,000 fine for its director, Yuen Ho Wong
He has also been banned from being a director of any Australian company for two years.
Digital Marketing Solutions also made false representations about products being in stock, and their delivery times.
“It often took weeks and weeks for them to come if they came at all,” Ms Webb said.
“It also gave the impression that the goods that were in good condition and would work properly and often they didn't.”
Ms Webb said there has been an increasing number of complaints about online retailers.
“People are buying more and more online and it's very opportunistic for people to put things online that look great,” she said.
“I think we would to say from this case is that we would always warn people who are buying things online to do a bit of searching around before they make a purchase and to check reviews about companies.”