Noel Leeming taken to court by Commerce Commission

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heavenlywild

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#320228 21-Jul-2025 09:25

About time! How they have gotten away with it for so long is beyond me. Everytime I've tried they make all kinds of excuses, including telling me an item wasn't in stock when it was a blatant lie.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/360764285/noel-leeming-faces-criminal-charges-over-price-promise-advertising

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#3395778 21-Jul-2025 09:35

I have managed to get a price match out of them a few years ago (I forget the product)

I remember it being quite a 'process' which required me to call the manager over when the staff member disputed Magness Benrow as being a bricks and mortar store...... (Fine print said physical stores only.)

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#3395780 21-Jul-2025 09:59

Good. I hope they roll them hard. NZ Retailers need to get punished heavily until they stop taking advantage of consumers in NZ.

richms

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#3395783 21-Jul-2025 10:11

TechSol:

I have managed to get a price match out of them a few years ago (I forget the product)

I remember it being quite a 'process' which required me to call the manager over when the staff member disputed Magness Benrow as being a bricks and mortar store...... (Fine print said physical stores only.)

They dont seem to get it.

“Our terms and conditions are fair and presented just like other retailers, and when we can’t price match, we often don’t get the sale.”

its the CAN'T PRICE MATCH that is the problem. Idiots.

Now do mitre10 over the meaningless "trade quantities" BS that they have both pulled on me when getting sistemas on price match.

Richard rich.ms

Handle9

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#3395785 21-Jul-2025 10:17

Ah that well known trade product, sistema food boxes

rugrat

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#3395786 21-Jul-2025 10:23

I can’t believe they are baffled by it. I’m baffled by the fact of how many years it’s been going on, feels like at least a couple of decades with no action.

They used the out of stock one on me, the items on shelf were for display only. That was after querying me if the other shop still had it in stock and some other questions. The fact that they came up with out of stock last made me doubt it was true, if it was the case it you think it would’ve been said up front, not other questions trying to get out of it first.

Was going to post what was posted above from above "“Our terms and conditions are fair and presented just like other retailers, and when we can’t price match, we often don’t get the sale.” is basically an admission of not price matching when they don’t wish to.

richms

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#3395787 21-Jul-2025 10:25

Handle9:

Ah that well known trade product, sistema food boxes

14 and 27l storage totes actually, and it seems that 10 of them they think is me being in trade but 8 was ok to match the warehouses deal last time.

Richard rich.ms

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SCUBADOO

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#3395788 21-Jul-2025 10:25

To be fair I have had no real issues over the years with NL price matching.

The latest on the 19 June at the Thames store. Just passing through on our travels.

512GB Sandisk metal USB-C flash drive - their price $198!

Asked for PBTech price match - their price - $98.52 on "special"

A quick online check by the sales person and I'm guessing the manager.

Agreed and purchased. A 5 minute process.

Added bonus was that their drive is the updated USB 3.2 "up to 400MB/s" version.

dafman

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#3395792 21-Jul-2025 10:55

I've never had an issue with NL price match in Wellington, always matched with minimum fuss (I suspect because JB, Harvey and PB all have bricks and mortar stores here).

KiwiSurfer

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#3395808 21-Jul-2025 12:28

All the retailers I've done price matches with are quite through in making sure the price from the other retailer is legit etc but I've never had a price match fail on me as I do my due diligence.

I may not like the practice but the T&Cs are clear and there is a good process in place. I think it's the hassle of staff having to check the price is legit that puts most people off. For this reason I generally only do it on big purchases where I can save a good amount, as wasting 10mins on checking a price for a smll purchase to save $0.50 is not worth my time.

I've done price matches at NL many years ago. But most frequently I do it at Mitre 10 to match the Bunnings next door. I saved a few hundreds once purchasing something that was on sale at Bunnings but was normal price at Mitre 10.

Would be surprised to see if there's any substance to this court case -- I'll be surprised if the courts upheld this.

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.

sir1963

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#3395812 21-Jul-2025 12:40

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 have had this pulled on me by Bunnings compared to M10.

They ALSO get to say who their competitors are to exclude smaller local stores.

Then of course there is the issue of so many of the brands are "sole supplier" so there can be no price match.

KiwiSurfer

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#3395815 21-Jul-2025 12:46

I blame the manufacturers as much as the retailers for this. For example HP makes several slightly different models of the exact same printer e.g. they may do a 1100 series that has 1101 sold at one retailer, 1102 at another, 1103 at yet another so it's all different model numbers (disclaimer: I've just made up those numbers but you'll see what I mean when you compare similar products between retailers). Often the only difference is the colour or some other minor thing. I suspect one of the reasons for this is to help the retailers avoid having to price match products.

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gehenna

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#3395828 21-Jul-2025 13:00

I'd just like to add that I've price matched almost every time I've purchased from Noel Leeming over the past 5 years... maybe 10 times total, and each time it was a simple and quick process. It's interesting to see the other perspectives that show my experience wasn't the norm.

Rikkitic

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#3395829 21-Jul-2025 13:01

I have only ever done one price match, at Mitre 10. The lady was a bit hatchet-faced and not especially friendly, but she rang the competing business, verified the price, and gave me the match. Just no smile to go with it.

Re the above post: I discovered once when working on a Veon that identical models with identical model numbers were completely different televisions underneath. Even the stands were not quite compatible. What then is an 'identical' product?

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

speshnz

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#3395831 21-Jul-2025 13:07

richms:

Now do mitre10 over the meaningless "trade quantities" BS that they have both pulled on me when getting sistemas on price match.

Any both them and bunnings for having the exact same product with a slightly different SKU so it doesn't qualify for matching

dafman

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#3395835 21-Jul-2025 13:29

speshnz:

richms:

Now do mitre10 over the meaningless "trade quantities" BS that they have both pulled on me when getting sistemas on price match.

Any both them and bunnings for having the exact same product with a slightly different SKU so it doesn't qualify for matching

I've price matched Mitre 10 (Kapiti) against Bunnings (Porirua) several times, was always straightforward to match SKUs.

Beginning to think I must be living to a parallel universe, no issues here with price matching at both NL and Mitre 10 over the years.

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