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Monday 10 September 2018

New Zealand's most complained about companies in 2018

Earlier this year, a list of NZ's most complained about companies appeared in the New Zealand Herald, which can be read here (Shaw, 16 August 2018).

This article lists the top 20 companies with the Commerce Commission complaints covering the 16 months from 01 January 2017 to 30 April 2018 (Shaw, 16 August 2018). The summary of the Commerce Commission's data details 24 companies in the top 20 places (Brown, 15 August 2018), as follows:

1. Viagogo 345
2. Vodafone 298
3. Spark 257
4. Foodstuffs 123
5. 2 Degrees 115
6. Woolworths 103
7. Air New Zealand 90
8. Noel Leeming 88
9. Wilson Parking 78
10. Sky 77
11. Vocus 74
12. The Warehouse 65
13. The Corporate Portal 61
14. Trade Me; Harvey Norman 58
15. Brand Developers 56
16. Ticketmaster 49
17. Luxstyle Aps; Contact Energy; New Zealand Post 46
18. Fitlink New Zealand 43
19. Nexus Business Solutions; Jetstar Airways 20
20. PB Technologies 34

What is interesting is that there are two ticket selling organisations; three major retailers and three online retailers (Luxstyle Aps; PB Technologies; TradeMe); five telcos (NB: Nexus Business Solutions is in liquidation); one supermarket and one supermarket supplier; two airlines; and two 'marketing' companies (The Corporate Portal and Brand Developers) (Brown, 15 August 2018). It is interesting to see how dominant technology or its delivery is in the complaints.

The set of complaints that I personally found the most interesting were the 43 complaints about Fitlink New Zealand, which is a PTE (Private Training Enterprise) delivering personal trainer certificates and diplomas (Brown, 15 August 2018). As a lecturer on a B.Sport & Rec qualification, I found the modules listed on Fitlink's website looked somewhat narrow... and the spelling mistakes on the website and the stock images raised additional flags as to the site's legitimacy - and therefore also to the legitimacy of the qualifications supplied. It will be interesting to see if there is a prosecution against this organisation.

The Commerce Commission has also provided an infographic showing that the practices most complained about are pricing, and misrepresentation of services and goods. Telcos are the most complained about, followed by domestic appliances, then car sales. Interestingly, now now 42% of complaints are about online sales (2017; see image accompanying this post).

Go to the Commerce Commission for the full report here and the infographic here.


Sam

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