Two Pak’nSave supermarkets have been fined a combined $580,500 after pleading guilty to inaccurate pricing in breach of the Fair Trading Act.
In 2025, charges were laid in the Auckland District Court against Pak'nSave Silverdale in Auckland and Pak'nSave Mill Street in Hamilton alleging "inaccurate pricing and misleading specials that may have breached the Fair Trading Act".
Today, the Commerce Commission said the stores had been criminally convicted for repeated pricing errors that misled their customers.
Pak’nSave Silverdale was fined $234,000 on ten charges, and Pak'nSave Mill Street was fined $346,500 on eight charges.
Commerce Commission Deputy Chair Anne Callinan said "we're satisfied with the penalty we secured under the current legislation, but this case highlights the necessity of the Government's current review of the Fair Trading Act".
"Increasing the penalties and changing to a civil regime as proposed will give us the option to push for fines of up to $5 million for each breach, compared to our current maximum of $600,000," she said.
In addition to ongoing investigations, the Commission has current proceedings against Foodstuffs North Island and Gilmours alleging cartel conduct.
Separately, in August, the Commission announced civil proceedings against Foodstuffs South Island for allegedly implementing and enforcing a restriction on independently owned Pak'nSaves discounting selected products.
"We will continue to act within our current remit to hold the major supermarkets to account on behalf of Kiwis," she added.
Foodstuffs 'sorry that customers were let down'
In a statement, a Foodstuffs North Island said the company was "sorry that customers were let down".
"Customers should be able to trust that the price they see on the shelf is the price they’ll pay at the checkout. Our stores process millions of transactions every day and, while pricing errors are relatively rare, we know that doesn’t make it any less frustrating when we get it wrong," they said.
The spokesperson said the stores "have taken this matter very seriously and co-operated with the Commerce Commission".
"These matters related to issues identified up to September 2024. Since then, both stores have looked carefully at what went wrong, strengthened their processes and put additional training and checks in place to help prevent similar mistakes happening again."
"Our customers rightly expect us to get their prices right, and that’s what we’re committed to doing, every day and in every store."
The full judgment is yet to be released.
The morning's headlines in 90 seconds including a tornado on a Canterbury farm, and a dizzying new world record. (Source: 1News)
SHARE ME