The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Has fined HP $3 Million for “false or misleading representations about consumer guarantee rights, including the terms of repairs, product returns and warranties.”
Some key points the ACCC have brought up include HP limiting the remedy options available to consumers, limiting warranties to a “express warranty” period, requiring consumers to pay for remedies outside of this time and accepting returns of products purchased online at their own discretion.
“We deeply regret that in the instances identified by the ACCC, HP fell short of our core commitment to high standards of service for Australian consumers who purchased our HP-branded desktop computers, notebooks/laptops and printers, and of our duties under Australian consumer laws,”
This is a great reminder of the rights consumers have. We often hear the concerns from our customers when using our cartridges in HP printers, when the printer displays a message suggesting their warranty will be void by using non HP cartridges. However under the Fair Trading Act 1986 it is illegal to state that you must use a particular brand of cartridge as this is misleading behaviour.