Australian Consumer Watchdog Choice's Shonky Awards Go to Big Brand Names
Qantas, L'Oreal, Uncle Tobys - a Few Companies that Have Aussie Consumers Annoyed
Consumers are sick of being taken for a ride and want fairness from manufacturers and service providers.
Qantas credit card payment fee rip-off
Qantas was given a Shonky for charging each passenger $7.70 for booking and paying with a credit card - irrespective of the flight fare or the fact that several fares are booked and paid in one credit card transaction. It means a family of 4 each traveling on a AU$300 ticked and paying in one credit card transaction would be charged an additional AU$30.00 by Qantas. Considering Qantas would be charged only 1% of the total fare cost for a credit card transaction by their provider, (AU$12.00 for the example) travelers are saying this is a case of "skyway robbery".
Unfortunately this practice seems to be the norm within the airline industry, so using another carrier will not make any difference.
L'Oreal conditioner claim
L'Oreal was given a Shonky for its claim that "Nutrileum", a substance said to be in its conditioner, actually does any good. L'Oreal claims this ingredient makes hair smoother if used after washing hair with L'Oreal shampoo. The container had the notation "when compared with hair washed with just shampoo". Go figure!
Uncle Toby's price hike
Downsizing packaging very slightly has scored Uncle Toby's a Shonky for its Honey Oat Crisp cereal. The downsize came with a 10% increase in price for overall cost per 100 grams (3.52739 ounces). This practice is rife in the food industry in Australia.
Newly introduced laws require retailers and supermarkets to display the cost per 100g for every fresh or packaged product. I guess that's okay if the shopper has an extra hour to spend reading labels and doing complication calculations while they fill their trolley. What consumers want is honesty and a fair go from manufacturers.
Choice happy with drop in number of unsafe products
Choice has reported the number of unsafe products it is reviewing or testing has dropped significantly. This has to be a plus for Australian consumers.
Source:
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/qantas-loreal-win-shonky-awards-20091028-hkqz.html
Published by Susan Jane
I am an Australian professional writer with with 28 years of commercial experience. In 2003, I became full-time carer for my mother (now 91) who has a form of dementia. I was recently appointed as a Featured... View profile
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6 Comments
Post a CommentHey, this is interesting - I use L'Oreal products and my sister in law works for them! Now I'll learn some new Aussie words!
Thanks for keeping us updated on things down under!
Good Article~
Karen - "Shonky" is an Aussie-ism that means "a bit off" or "not quite right" etc. We have some funny sayings over here.
Excellent, love this.... :o)
Interesting and an odd name for this award!