Regulator eyes complaint against Chrisco

ACCC says it has launched Federal Court action against Australian branch of Christmas hamper supplier.

The Commerce Commission is looking into a complaint against Christmas hamper seller Chrisco as its regulatory counterpart across the Ditch announces court action against the Australian branch of the company.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced yesterday it had launched Federal Court proceedings against Chrisco Hampers Australia.

It alleges Chrisco Hampers included an unfair contract term in its 2014 lay-by agreements. "The term relates to Chrisco's HeadStart Plan, and allows Chrisco to continue to take payments by direct debit after the consumer has fully paid for their lay-by agreement. Under this term, consumers were required to opt out in order to avoid having further payments deducted after their lay-by has been paid for," the ACCC said.

It also alleges that between January 2011 to at least December 2013, Chrisco made false or misleading representations to consumers that they could not cancel their lay-by agreement after making a final payment.

According to the regulator, Australian laws give consumers the right to cancel a lay-by agreement at any time before goods are delivered.

As well as this, the ACCC alleges from 2011 until this month the company charged people a termination fee that was more than its reasonable costs.

The regulator is seeking "pecuniary penalties, declarations, injunctions, non-party consumer redress and costs" from the company and the case is next due to come before the Federal Court in Brisbane in early February.

Chrisco Hampers Australia, directed by co-founder Richard Bradley, did not respond to a request for comment.

Bradley, who is understood to live in Australia, set up the lay-by hamper seller with his then-wife in New Zealand in 1993 after setting up a similar operation in Britain.

The Bradleys then expanded the business into Australia in 1997.

Asked if the hamper firm was being probed in New Zealand, a Commerce Commission spokesman told the Herald: "We aren't investigating Chrisco on anything at this time. We have just one recent complaint that is being looked at. Standard procedure is we receive a complaint and it goes to our screening team to assess whether the allegation requires investigation. A number of complaints fail screening as they don't meet the legal tests, so I can't say whether the current one has any grounds yet."