The District Court has fined a retailer after it was convicted of 10 charges relating to misleading advertising.

The advertising said that it was a liquidation sale when the business was not closing down.  This was misleading to consumers.

The advertising said that some prices were 84% off which was not true.

The business also told customers that the Consumer Guarantees Act did not apply when that was untrue.  This lead to consumers to purchase extended warranties when they would not need them.

The Court decided that fines of $47,000 on each of the liquidation sale and 84% off advertising were appropriate.  It also imposed fines of nearly $47,000 on each of eight other charges in relation to the extended warranty matters and a fine of $15,700 on the remaining warranty charge.  The total fines amounted to $438,000.

Advertisements need to be true and not misleading.  In this case the breaches occurred over a period of four years and effected many of thousands of transactions.