Retailers and other businesses have been warned that providing unsolicited goods or services and then charging consumers for them is illegal.

The warning, from the Commerce Commission’s GM of fair trading, Vanessa Horne, follows a case where five garden bag brands delivered spare garden bags to customers’ homes before telling them an annual rental fee would apply if the bag was not returned by a certain date. 

The commission has warned the companies – Gabco Garden Bags and Bins, The Garden Bag Company, Manukau Garden Bins, Clippa Garden Bags and Bins and Greenfingers Garden Bags – that potentially creating the impression their customers were required to pay for additional garden bag services they did not request breaches fair trading laws.

“As the customers did not request the bag or any additional services, the product was, therefore ‘unsolicited’,” explained Horne. “It is illegal under the Fair Trading Act for any business to ask for payment or expect a customer to take any action to avoid a payment, on an unsolicited good or service.”

The commission was alerted to the service providers’ behaviour after a series of customer complaints after spare bags were dropped off to 40,000 existing customers who had not asked for them between October 2020 and January last year. 

While no customers were subsequently charged additional fees, the complaints prompted the commission to warn the companies. 

“The brands have since reviewed their marketing material and internal sign-off processes to help ensure the conduct does not occur again,” said Horne.

The commission understands other associated brands have also offered the ‘spare bag’ trial and has provided subsequent compliance advice to them, as well: Auckland Garden Bins, North Shore Garden Bins, Counties Garden Bins, Waitakere Garden Bins, North Harbour Garden Bags, GardenBags.co.nz, GardenBins.co.nz, Baycomp Garden Bags, Waikato Garden Bins, and Rotorua Garden Bins. All of the brands are owned by three related companies across the country.