The HelloFresh website in January 2023. Photo: RNZ / Dan Satherley
Meal-kit provider HelloFresh has pleaded guilty to misleading behaviour under the Fair Trading Act.
HelloFresh was charged by the Commerce Commission for misleading customers in cold calls trying to get discontinued subscribers to sign up again.
The claim related to conduct between February 2022 and July 2023, when previous HelloFresh customers were offered vouchers without being told that accepting them would reactivate their subscription.
At the time, Commerce Commission deputy chair Anne Callinan said there was concern that some customers had been "misled into paying for services from HelloFresh they did not want through the use of misleading working and processes in cold calls".
"Taking payment for services customers aren't aware they're buying or have not agreed to purchase is unacceptable behaviour," she said.
The commission started an investigation into HelloFresh after receiving a high number of complaints about its sign-up.
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