Why Noel Leeming is in hot water over ‘Price Promise'

Many stores offer price-match guarantees. However, the commission says Noel Leeming’s had so many limitations and conditions it was difficult to use.

The commission has filed criminal charges in the Auckland District Court, alleging multiple breaches of the Fair Trading Act. Some of the charges also relate to advertised products and prices the commission says could not be obtained.

At Consumer NZ, we receive a lot of complaints about Noel Leeming, and our chief executive Jon Duffy says he’s pleased to see the commission file criminal charges.

“Our advice to shoppers is that a price promise should be as advertised – without fishhooks and unreasonable conditions,” Jon says.

When we tracked specials at big box retailers in 2021, we found the Price Promise on every item we tracked. Yet some of those appliances were exclusive to Noel Leeming.

“We’re pleased to see the commission taking strong action. Unfortunately, despite the commission’s good work, the penalties for Fair Trading Act breaches are not a sufficient deterrent. We think penalties need to be increased,” Jon says.

Noel Leeming has reportedly said it is perplexed by the allegations and intends to defend them.

Our advice for using price matches

Price match guarantees can work well when they don’t have too many limitations. Some stores will give you a further discount if you find an item selling for cheaper elsewhere.

Here are 5 tips for using price matches.

1. PriceMe and PriceSpy come in handy for checking if a product is cheaper somewhere else. Just type in the model number, and a list of other stores selling the same product will come up.

2. You can also use these websites to check price history. You might notice a pattern (for example, another store puts the item on special every 4 weeks) and wait to do a price match.

3. Check the terms of the stores’ price match guarantees – they often exclude online-only stores or the product has to be in stock at the store you’re comparing with other stores.

4. Make sure you’re comparing identical products (except for colour) by checking the model number is the same.

5. Once you’ve bought a product, keep an eye on what happens to the price. You might still be able to get back some of what you paid. Some stores, like Rebel Sport and Briscoes, will refund the difference if a product goes on sale within 2 weeks of when you bought it at their own store.