Noel Leeming taken to court by Commerce Commission

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Awrrr
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#3395930 21-Jul-2025 16:45

I remember a time when TV salespeople in Holland would try to sell customers an additional warranty for the CRT! After all, it was the 'most expensive' component in the set! Also the least likely by far to ever develop a fault. A few years ago when I was helping my stepdaughter buy a laptop in Sydney, the sales monkey tried to sell us an antivirus subscription, probably McCaffey. Old scams, new clothes.

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richms

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#3395931 21-Jul-2025 16:52

There was a time in the late 70s where tubes would go all the time, so people would probably have a memory of that happening and it scared them into getting the needless warranty.

I bet if you ran the TV non stop and wore the tube out they would use that as justification to deny the claim too.

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snj

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#3395937 21-Jul-2025 17:12

duckDecoy:

Slightly off topic, but I have CONSTANTLY been told by NL at purchase time that if I don't buy their extended warranty then the second the factory warranty period runs out they won't fix the item. Given the frequency of this statement I believe there is zero chance this is an accidental misunderstanding by a salesperson and not a (false) statement they have been directed and trained to dish out.

Harvey Norman are shockingly bad for that too.

As far as price matching goes, I haven't really had issues myself with Noel Leeming but that might be in part due to deciding to pick my battles, it was actually Warehouse Stationery (so same parent) on a printer toner that I had the most trouble with (a decent time period ago).

On the wider topic, I saw Bunnings mentioned, so it's worthwhile to point out ABC Australia's May piece on their price matching - Bunnings boasts about its price-beating guarantee but for 9,000 products there is a catch - ABC News - they actually have a habit over there of pairing their price match guarantee advertising with 'house brand' products that obviously don't have a match elsewhere.

Rodders1nz

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#3396002 21-Jul-2025 19:19

I've had issues with NL Queenstown on trying to get price matches. Manager told me if he priced matched it would ruin the stores GP% for the day. Told him I didn't care about that. He reluctantly caved in but was pretty grumpy about it. Got the follow up "how did we do" email and gave them feedback but never heard anything more about it.

mattwnz

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#3396021 21-Jul-2025 21:01

I have had it denied on a product they didn’t have in the store before a few years ago. But accepted on another product that they also didn't have in the store at the time. So it wasn’t consistent. One issue is the amount of fish hooks in the terms which allows this. But imo the Commerce Commission should be looking into the construction tool market and how they have exclusive bundles with different SKUs exclusive to certain stores. So it makes it impossible to price match. Even when they contain the exact same tools with the same product code, but the bundle is a different SKU

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#3396023 21-Jul-2025 21:08

Rodders1nz:

Manager told me if he priced matched it would ruin the stores GP% for the day.

Even if that was correct, surely it would be only temporary or some sort of timing difference. I would expect ‘head office’ to indemnify the branch against the reduced margin - because it came about due to pricing and matching policy decisions made at head office, not by the branch. It’s beyond the branch’s control - so why should they have to wear it.

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jen1001

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#3396088 22-Jul-2025 09:03

Like a few others in this thread I've never had an issue with Noel Leeming matching, although the process can be a bit tedious but they always honoured. I even got them to price match a laptop power cable from Warehouse Stationary (same group) not long ago, via their live chat 😄

I find it easier to go to JB though, they just ask to check what product it is on the competitor's website then look up the SKU.

trig42

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#3396120 22-Jul-2025 10:00

jen1001:

Like a few others in this thread I've never had an issue with Noel Leeming matching, although the process can be a bit tedious but they always honoured. I even got them to price match a laptop power cable from Warehouse Stationary (same group) not long ago, via their live chat 😄

I find it easier to go to JB though, they just ask to check what product it is on the competitor's website then look up the SKU.

JB will price match online now too. Either through Web Chat or over the phone and send you a link to an online basket with the matched prices in it.

jen1001

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#3396159 22-Jul-2025 12:52

trig42:

jen1001:

Like a few others in this thread I've never had an issue with Noel Leeming matching, although the process can be a bit tedious but they always honoured. I even got them to price match a laptop power cable from Warehouse Stationary (same group) not long ago, via their live chat 😄

I find it easier to go to JB though, they just ask to check what product it is on the competitor's website then look up the SKU.

JB will price match online now too. Either through Web Chat or over the phone and send you a link to an online basket with the matched prices in it.

That's good to know thanks. Never needed to go on their live chat since I live really close to one of their stores but it can be a time saver, might give it a go next time.

boosacnoodle

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#3396166 22-Jul-2025 13:24

I've never actually successfully price matched at NL, despite doing so dozens of other times are M10 and Bunnings. I understood the conditions and met them - but they would still outright decline.

A person I know tried to price match and was declined because the product - an RGB lightbulb - was showing a different colour in the competitors product images (despite the SKU being identical). They declined the price match, despite even asking for a manager. I understand the examples have been sent to the ComComm now.

jen1001

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#3396352 23-Jul-2025 08:30

boosacnoodle:

I've never actually successfully price matched at NL, despite doing so dozens of other times are M10 and Bunnings. I understood the conditions and met them - but they would still outright decline.

A person I know tried to price match and was declined because the product - an RGB lightbulb - was showing a different colour in the competitors product images (despite the SKU being identical). They declined the price match, despite even asking for a manager. I understand the examples have been sent to the ComComm now.

The colour thing is quite interesting, Chemist Warehouse are the same - they'll only price match if the items are IDENTICAL even the colour (got declined last year for a water flosser, Shaver Shop had blue, CW white).

Recently got JB to match a smart scale price with NL, even if NL had the black only model and JB white in stock.

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eracode

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#3396403 23-Jul-2025 09:48

You'd think that retailers might have some incentive to price match - they're getting a sale they might not have otherwise had, albeit at a lower margin than they expected. However this might fall down if the differential amount involved is large.

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viprenz

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#3396482 23-Jul-2025 10:48

Excuses I've had from Noel Leeming over the years:

"No because we don't match online retailers" - Ok fair enough.

"No because they're not in the same city" - I was in Porirua asking them to match PBTech in Petone/Wellington.

"No because they don't have it in stock" - Harvey Norman had no stock in Porirua, but had stock in Lower Hutt & Wellington.

I almost don't bother considering them as an option anymore. Their brand selection is pretty woeful too.

elpenguino

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#3396489 23-Jul-2025 11:09

sir1963:

KiwiSurfer:

More likely to be thrown out IMHO as the promotions and T&C are clear that it must be the exact same model found in stock in a shop. Not very difficult for the average consumer to understand IMHO and the courts would have a hard time proving that a reasonable consumer would find the price match scheme difficult to understand etc.

IANAL however but I do have some commercial law knowledge from university.

Which is why on some items the length of the cable between stores can be slightly different, therefore they are not the same product.

I'd like to see this practice challenged in court. If a reasonable person saw two products, identical but for something like packaging or cord length, they would judge them as 'the same'.

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#3396493 23-Jul-2025 11:15

I'm not sure I see the issue here. Sure, companies that try to weasel out of price matches are acting like dicks, but can't the customer just buy the item from the cheaper retailer and get the lower price anyway?

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