Huge Aussie retailer sued over delivery failure

A major Aussie retailer has been hit with legal action over claims it failed to deliver hundreds of thousands of products within advertised delivery time frames.

BREAKING

A major Aussie retailer has been hit with legal action over claims it failed to deliver hundreds of thousands of products within advertised delivery time frames.

Mosaic Brands, which counts Rivers, Noni B, Katies, Rockmans, Millers, Autograph, Beme, Crossroads and W. Lane among its brands, is being taken to the Federal Court by the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC).

The retailer counts Noni B among its brands. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Steven Saphore

The story is reminiscent of the delivery failures that besieged youth fashion brand White Fox and cult drink bottle retailer Frank Green last year.

The ACCC claims that Mosaic Brands breached Australian Consumer Law “by failing to deliver several hundred thousand products to customers within the delivery time frames advertised on its websites”.

ACCC Commissioner Liza Carver said the regulator had received “hundreds of complaints” about the delivery delays.

The delivery time frames stated by the retailer varied, but were typically between two to 17 business days from the purchase date.

Ms Carver said that over 26 per cent of items ordered were dispatched “at least 20 days, and in some cases more than 40 days, after the purchase date”.

The ACCC alleges that the situation, which relates to orders taken between 23 September 2021 and 31 March 2022, amounted to “false or misleading representations to consumers” by Mosaic Brands.

The regulator also claims that the company “wrongly accepted payment for goods during the same period” after it “failed to deliver orders within the advertised time frames, or within a reasonable time frame, or not at all”.

Millers is another of the brands owned by the company. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Steven Saphore

The ACCC also alleges that between 23 September 2021 and at least 23 October 2022, Mosaic Brands misrepresented consumer guarantee rights in the terms and conditions published on eight of its brands websites, which stated that consumers were only eligible for a refund for a faulty product if they sought one within six months of the purchase date.

Ms Carver said that under the Australian Consumer Law refunds for faulty products “don’t have a specific expiry date”.

She added that “consumer issues in domestic supply chains is a current ACCC enforcement priority”.

Mosaic Brands, which is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and operates around 804 stores across the country.

In a statement the company said: “Mosaic Brands believes the ACCC claim is flawed, and we will be vigorously defending it in court.”

“For the last two years Mosaic Brands fulfilment rates have been over the Government-mandated 95 per cent benchmark for Australia Post.”