The Commissioner for Fair Trading has begun proceedings in the ACT Supreme Court against a plumbing company, alleging it made false and misleading representations and engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct.
The allegation is in relation to the company’s advertising of plumbing services in the ACT.
The Commissioner, alleges that, in contravention of the Australian Consumer Law (ACT), the company, Your Local Plumbing Group Pty Ltd, represented that advertised plumbing services were supplied by a business that had been in operation for at least 25 years, or in some cases 30 years, when this was not the case.
He further alleges that the company published advertisements under various business names, which represented that the advertised services were supplied by unrelated businesses, when in fact the businesses were related.
The Commissioner, David Snowden (pictured) also alleges that variations of the advertisements were published more than 100 times between 2016 and 2018 in local publications as well as in the Yellow Pages and online.
“Based on the number of advertisements published under different business names, it is alleged that consumers may have formed the impression that the plumbing services were offered by unrelated businesses when that is not the case,” Mr Snowden said.
“It is also alleged that Your Local Plumbing Group Pty Ltd misrepresented the number of years it had been operating.
He said the case highlighted the need for all licensed individuals and companies to ensure that advertisements were accurate and not misleading.
The Commissioner is seeking declarations, injunctions, pecuniary penalties, corrective advertising, and costs through the proceedings.
Your Local Plumbing Group Pty Ltd was registered as a company on 21 May 2015.
