Coles and Woolies shoppers could claim thousands over alleged deceptive pricing
Coles and Woolworths shoppers could claim up to $5,000 if the supermarket giants are found out for deceiving customers with dodgy pricing tactics, according to a leading lawyer.
Carter Capner Law is one of two firms investigating whether a class action suit on behalf of shoppers is viable in conjunction with the ACCC's legal action against the two chains.
Both Coles and Woolworths have bee accused of violating Australian consumer law by the consumer watchdog after allegedly intentionally misleading customers by driving up prices and then putting those items on sale for their original prices under the "Prices Dropped" and "Down Down" campaigns.
“Early estimates suggest that households could claim between $2,000 and $5,000, depending on the amount spent and the impact of the deceptive pricing,” law director Peter Carter said, who began advocating for people after he received an "avalanche of calls from outraged customers".
While Carter said the firm initially had no plans to commence a class action, he admitted that after speaking about it to the media, the company were inundated with Coles and Woolworths customers "demanding action and compensation".
He believes Australians already doing it tough through the cost of living crisis felt "betrayed" by the supermarkets, while Flinders University research fellow in law Dr Joel Lisk said that the class action is "a positive" for shoppers.
"The ACCC proceedings aren't about getting refunds for customers," he told Yahoo. "But if they are successful it would mean customers have, in theory, been misled and deceived and could be entitled to damages."
When it comes to damages, it's something Dr Lisk said "starts to add up" for customers, although it's "hard to say" if financial penalties to businesses found guilty of wrongdoing would impact misleading and deceptive conduct in the future.
"If [fines are] seen as just the cost of doing business it doesn't really dissuade businesses from engaging in misleading and deceptive conduct," he said.
"Seeking damages from business for the losses that individuals like us have incurred is one way of doing that. But of course, we're talking probably about dollars and cents in transactions when businesses like Coles and Woolworths deal in the billions."
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