NDIS registered provider of healthcare equipment, Aidacare, has admitted it likely made false or misleading representations to some customers about their consumer guarantee rights. It has also admitted to using terms in standard form contracts that were likely to have been unfair as they limited consumers rights and remedies in relation to faulty products.
Aidacare sells and hires healthcare equipment to aged care facilities, hospitals, wholesale traders and individual consumers.
In a court-enforceable undertaking given to the ACCC, Aidacare has admitted that its conduct likely contravened the Australian Consumer Law.
As part of the undertaking, Aidacare has agreed to remediate affected consumers and provide interim solutions to customers who experience extended delays when assessing faulty or defective goods. It has also undertaken to stop using or relying on the unfair contract terms and making false or misleading representations about consumer guarantees. Aidacare will also establish an Australian Consumer Law compliance program for its employees.
“Under the Australian Consumer Law, consumer guarantees automatically apply when consumers buy products or services, giving them a range of rights, including where the product is faulty. These rights cannot be taken away by anything a business says or does,” ACCC Deputy Chair Catriona Lowe said.
“As part of their consumer guarantee rights, consumers may be eligible for a repair, refund or replacement for faulty goods, even after the express warranty period given by the supplier or manufacturer has expired.”
The ACCC was concerned that in responding to consumer requests for repairs, replacements or refunds for faulty or non‑conforming products, Aidacare represented that consumers were required to pay for repairs or replacements, or were not entitled to a repair, replacement or refund, outside of a warranty period, when statutory consumer guarantees applied or may still have applied.
Aidacare has admitted that from 1 January 2022 to 21 May 2025, it likely made false or misleading representations to some consumers about their consumer guarantee rights.
“Aidacare’s actions may have stopped consumers from accessing their consumer guarantee rights. This is unacceptable, and may have led to consumers not seeking remedies they were legally entitled to,” Ms Lowe said.
“Given the essential nature of the healthcare equipment it supplies, Aidacare’s failure to comply with its consumer guarantee obligations may have created risks to consumer safety and physical wellbeing and resulted in inconvenience and financial loss for its customers.”
Aidacare entered into standard form contracts with its customers between 9 November 2023 and 21 May 2025 which it admitted likely contained unfair contract terms. The terms limited consumers’ rights and remedies in relation to faulty products, including by imposing short timeframes (24-72 hours) for consumers to report product faults, restricting consumers’ rights to reject defective goods, and included broad limitations of liability.
“We will not hesitate to take appropriate action against businesses that seek to limit or deny a consumer’s right to seek a remedy for a faulty product or service. Whilst consumer guarantee rights cannot be contracted away, we know that the presence of contract terms that purport to have this effect can have a chilling effect on consumers taking action. This is why the removal of these terms is an important part of the resolution we have achieved,” Ms Lowe said.
Further information about consumer rights and guarantees is available on the ACCC website.
Further information for NDIS participants and providers is available on the ACCC website.
A copy of the undertaking is available at: Aidacare Pty Ltd.
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