An investigation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has led to 21 Australian Football League (AFL) and National Rugby League (NRL) clubs making changes to their merchandise returns and refunds policies.
Chair of the ACCC, Rod Sims said a check of sporting clubs nationwide to see whether they were compliant with the Australian Consumer Law found the clubs concerned had made claims in their returns and refunds policies which were considered to be misleading.
This included that items must be unworn, purchased at full price and returned within a specified timeframe to qualify for a refund.
“Under Australian Consumer Law (ACL), rights to a remedy are not limited to a specific time period, nor are discounted items or used products excluded from the consumer law guarantees,” Mr Sims said.
“Some of the AFL and NRL clubs also told consumers they had to provide the original proof of purchase when seeking a remedy.
“In fact, the ACL does not mandate an original receipt be presented by consumers when exercising their rights.”
He said that each club’s statements claimed consumers were only entitled to a remedy in very specific circumstances when in fact, consumers might be entitled to a remedy in many more situations under the ACL
“Consumers have rights under the Australian Consumer Law guarantees which cannot be excluded, restricted or modified,” Mr Sims said.
“If football fans buy a piece of merchandise that has a major failure, they are entitled to a choice of a refund or replacement.”
Among the clubs required to make changes were nine from the Australian Football League (AFL) and 12 from the National Rugby League (NRL), including such teams as Collingwood, Melbourne and the Sydney Swans in the AFL and Manly-Warringah, Brisbane Broncos and Melbourne Storm in the NRL.
