Vacuum and cleaning retailer, Godfreys has responded to the New Zealand Commerce Commission’s inquiry into its extended warranties by stating the company has been cooperative and voluntarily responded to all requests by the watchdog.

The company has also sent out an apology to its customers who purchased extended warranties during the period.

The New Zealand Vacuum Cleaner Co, which runs the Godfreys vacuum cleaner retail chain across the Tasman, has pleaded guilty to 10 charges under the Fair Trading Act (FTA) in New Zealand over failure to disclose customer rights in extended warranty agreements.

“We apologise to our customers who purchased extended warranties during this period and who may have been impacted by the inadequate disclosure of the key terms of those warranties,” said Chris Mason, general manager of Godfreys New Zealand.

Mason said as soon as Godfreys became aware that its warranty agreements did not reflect recent changes to consumer law, they contacted customers who may have been affected, offering a full refund on their warranty cost.

“To date the majority of customers who were impacted have been contacted,” he said.

“We have fully co-operated with the New Zealand Commerce Commission in its enquiries and have taken decisive action to ensure our policies and procedures align with the changes to consumer law introduced in 2014.”

Mason added that the retailer has also engaged with Retail New Zealand to implement a full review of their policies and procedures to ensure compliance.

“Godfreys has a long history in New Zealand and we are committed to transparency and doing the right thing by our customers,” he said.

The NZCC has acknowledged that Godfreys voluntarily responded to all of its requests.

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