The New Zealand Commerce Commission (NZCC) has recently cracked down on breaches of consumer protection laws, especially by mobile traders, with multiple successful prosecutions in 2016 and early 2017. These prosecutions were part of the NZCC’s response to issues identified in its Mobile Trader 2014-15 Report.
The mobile trader Bestdeals 4 You Limited was fined $47,250.00 in February 2017. Bestdeals had been entering into credit contracts and layby sales agreements with customers. However, Bestdeals breached disclosure requirements in relation to various agreements, for example by failing to provide customers with information as to their right to cancel, and eventually pleaded guilty to charges brought by the NZCC.
On 3 March 2017, Vikram Mehta was sentenced to two years imprisonment, the first jail sentence in a NZCC prosecution. In R v Vikram Mehta [2016] NZDC 23773 (28 November 2016), Mr Mehta had been found guilty of accepting payments for goods without intending to supply them. Between 2012 and 2014, the mobile trader Flexi Buy Limited had assured customers that they would receive goods after a certain number of payments, but supplied goods to under 1% of customers. Mr Mehta was Flexi Buy Limited’s sole shareholder and director at the time of its offences, and was convicted under the Crimes Act 1961 as a party to Flexi Buy Limited’s offending.