Real estate firm Ray White has taken rival LJ Hooker’s as NSW’s most complained about business according to the latest figures by NSW Fair Trading Department.
In second place on the list was electronics retailer Harvey Norman, online retailer Zoxoro.com.au was the third most complained about business and LJ Hooker fourth. Among debutants to the list were Samsung with its exploding smartphones, Qantas and gym chain Anytime Fitness.
In better news, NRMA, Groupon, Grays Online and Valuebasket.com.au all dropped off the list from the month previous.
To make the list a business has to have received 10 or more complaints from the public relating to dodgy or misleading practises.
However, some believe the list is unfair to larger companies who naturally have more customers and hence more propensity of complainants.
As an example, Anytime Fitness has almost 440 clubs Australia-wide with 175 in NSW. Its CEO Arthur McColl told Fairfax Media that the complaints had risen from a misunderstanding of the chain’s T&Cs.
“The small minority of our members that don’t know the terms of membership can lead to complaints, like when they can’t cancel a 12-month contract without appropriate evidence or don’t want to provide 30 days’ notice,” McColl told Fairfax.
