ACCC Penalises Comparison Website for Alleged Misleading Conduct

Friday 24 November 2017 @ 9.50 a.m. | Legal Research | Trade & Commerce

In a recent media release, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (the ACCC) has revealed that they have penalised Hive Empire Pty Limited (trading as finder.com.au (Finder)), the amount of $10,800 following the issue of an infringement notice by the ACCC for alleged false or misleading claims about the number of health insurance policies its  website compares.

Company Background

Finder operates a free online comparison service which enables consumers to compare goods and services across a wide range of industries, including:

  • insurance and financial services;
  • energy and gas services;
  • technology and telecommunications;
  • online shopping coupons, deals, travel; and
  • accommodation.

The Offences

The allegations of misleading conduct relate to activity between February and May 2017, where Finder's website stated to consumers that its health insurance comparison service allowed customers to "… compare roughly 65,000 policies", but according to claims made by the ACCC, the actual number of policies compared was "… substantially less than this …”

The infringement notice was issued as the ACCC considered it had reasonable grounds to believe that Finder had breached the Australian Consumer Law (the ACL) by purporting to compare a large number of policies, where in fact the actual number of policies compared were substantially less than claimed.

Reaction and Comment from the ACCC

Commenting in an ACCC Media Release, ACCC Deputy Chairwoman, Delia Rickard said:

"In our view, this was misleading and likely to divert consumers away from other online comparison services … Consumers increasingly rely on comparator platforms to inform their choice of insurance provider, particularly when faced with a large range of policy options.”

Ms Rickard went on to say “… Operators of comparator websites must ensure that the claim they make about market and product coverage are accurate so that consumers can make fully informed decisions."

The alleged misleading representation also occurred during the period when Australian health funds announce their annual premium rate rises. This a time when consumers use comparator websites to compare insurers and premiums, this is known as the “switch period”.

Comment from Finder

The co-founder and Director of Finder, Fred Schebesta, said that the company had no intention of misleading customers and has since paid the penalties and removed the claim from its website.

Commenting to the media, Mr Schebesta said:

“… the original figure took into account policy variations including state and structure of offers, with each variation generating a different price … While there was no intent to mislead our customers, we regret any confusion or inconvenience."

According to a notice on Finder’s website, the company states:

“… We worked closely with the ACCC to review and confirm the data on our site. We’ve ensured our data is accurate, and most importantly, meets our customers’ needs … This issue was isolated, and no other services on finder.com.au were affected. We’ve completed a full audit of our service and have put robust measures in place to ensure this doesn’t occur again.”

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Sources:

ACCC finder.com.au health insurance update – Press Release

Finder.com.au penalised for misleading consumers – ACCC Media Release 215/17

Finder.com.au misled and deceived users over 'roughly 65,000' comparisons claim: ACCC – smh.com.au

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