Bachcare charged with misleading consumers

Bachcare manages about 2000 properties across the country, with more than 150,000 customers a year. Photo / File

A holiday accommodation booking company has been charged with misleading consumers.

Property management and booking company Bachcare is facing two charges under the Fair Trading Act for allegedly misleading consumers by manipulating the online reviews posted by its customers.

The Commerce Commission alleges Bachcare removed negative comments from some reviews before publishing them on its website.

It further alleges Bachcare did not publish any reviews to which consumers had given a star rating of less than 3.5 out of 5.

In doing so, the commission alleges Bachcare engaged in conduct that was liable to mislead consumers by creating artificially positive impressions about certain properties.

Bachcare currently manages about 2000 properties across the country, with more than 150,000 customers per year.

The charges followed a Commerce Commission investigation and relate to conduct between June 1, 2017, and September 28 last year.

The case will be called in the Auckland District Court on August 13.