KEY POINTS:
The High Court at Auckland has slapped a New Zealand company for misleading people into thinking they were buying cheap holiday packages.
The court ruled that Discount Premium Holidays and two of its Australian counterparts breached the Fair Trading Act after a Commerce Commission investigation found they had lured New Zealand consumers into paying up to A$209 a pop for memberships that were supposed to give access to discount accommodation vouchers.
Since July last year, the Melbourne-based telemarketers working on behalf of Discount Premium Holidays managed to sell around 2800 virtually worthless memberships in New Zealand.
"Purchasing a voucher in this manner should not be an act of faith," Commerce Commission chairwoman Paula Rebstock said in a statement.
"Consumers should be able to believe that what they have purchased is going to be accepted at the businesses promoted by the telemarketer, and it is worth the value purported."
The anti-trust regulator this month sought an injunction against Discount Premium Holidays, Key 2 Communications, 24 x 7 Direct and their director, Devang Parikh.
In addition to granting the injunction, the court ruled that Discount Premium Holidays must disclose certain information when contacting New Zealand consumers.
The anti-trust regulator now plans to file criminal charges against the companies and request that consumers be given refunds.
