Dell Australia misled customers with false discount prices, Federal Court found

A tech company deliberately misled customers about discount prices, a court has found.

A tech giant has been ordered to refund customers after publishing misleading discount prices online. Picture: Supplied

One of Australia’s biggest tech firms has been found to have made false and misleading representations relating to prices on its website.

On Tuesday, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced the Federal Court had declared Dell Australia Pty Ltd had mislead customers about the prices of add-on monitors on their website.

Dell Australia admitted that monitors shown at a “strike-through” discount price when sold in a bundle with other purchases weren’t actually being discounted.

They also admitted that in some scenarios, a higher discounted price was displayed to “represent a significant saving if purchased with a computer”.

They made further misleading statements about discounted prices including the “total savings,” “includes x per cent off” and “discounted price.”

Dell Australia has been ordered to refund customers after publishing misleading prices online. Picture: Supplied

“Get the best price for popular accessories when purchased with this product,” the website misleadingly stated.

The company was able to sell 5,300 add-on monitors advertised with overstated discounts.

Dell Australia was ordered to refund more than 4,250 affected customers who bought the monitor at a false discount.

ACCC commissioner Liza Carver said the proceedings were brought on due to the concern that Dell had misled their customers.

“In some cases, consumers paid more for the add-on monitor advertised as ‘discounted’ than they would have paid if they had bought it as a stand-alone product, which is shocking,” Ms Carver said.

“As the Court noted, price and discounts are key differentiating factors for consumers deciding between product offers, and this case reinforces the importance of retailers displaying genuine ‘was/now’ pricing and accurate savings.

The online products were published at a false “strike-through” price. Picture: ACCC

“This case serves as an important reminder to businesses that suggestive upselling or bundling of products must not mislead consumers as to the deal they are getting.”

The company made more than $2 million for the add-on monitors between August 2019 and December 2021, and are now in the process of contacting affected customers to organise refunds.

The Federal Court also ordered that Dell appoint an independent compliance profession to review programs and issue corrective notices to customers affected.

Decisions about any penalties and court costs will be made at a later date.