Complaints Handling Policy

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Complaints Policy

We are committed to resolving any complaints as quickly as possible including those complaints that relate to your rights and our obligations under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) (competition and consumer law complaints). This policy sets out our process for recording, storing, responding to, and resolving any such complaints.

For complaints about how we handle your personal information, please see 'Privacy questions, requests and complaints' in our Privacy Policy or email privacy@petcircle.com.au.

What is a competition or consumer law complaint?

A competition law complaint is a complaint that Pet Circle has engaged in anti-competitive behaviour in breach of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth). Examples of this sort of conduct include:

Price fixing
Agreeing to act in a cartel with another business instead of competing with that business
Misuse of market power

A consumer law complaint is a complaint that Pet Circle has engaged in conduct that is in breach of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL). Broad categories of conduct that might breach the ACL together with a non-exhaustive list of examples are set out below:

Category of Conduct

Examples

Pet Circle has engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct

A charge (e.g., shipping costs) is not disclosed until after the customer has purchased the product
A product is advertised at a specific price but the product is not available or is only available in limited quantities (unless this is clearly stated)
It is advertised that a customer will save a certain amount by purchasing a product but the amount saved is less than the amount advertised
A customer does not receive an advertised discount despite meeting the requirements for the discount

Pet Circle has not complied with consumer guarantees such as merchantable quality and fitness for purpose

A product is not able to do what that type of product is normally able to do (e.g., a ball does not bounce, a travel water bottle leaks)
A customer receives a bag of cat food which has a rip in it and biscuits have ended up in their Pet Circle delivery box.
Defects in a product (e.g., the door of the dog crate is jammed and won’t open, a dog toy is ripped at the seam with stuffing coming out)
Durability of products (e.g., a pet water fountain stops working after normal use within 2 weeks)
A product claims to be 100% natural but contains synthetic ingredients

There are problems with goods and services supplied by Pet Circle

An order has not been delivered at all
The wrong product is delivered to a customer
A customer received a Delivered notification but it appears their order has been delivered to the wrong address.

Pet Circle has charged excessive payment surcharges

If Pet Circle’s cost of acceptance of a payment processing service such as Amex is 2%, Pet Circle cannot pass on a charge greater than that to its customers.

How to make a complaint

Please contact us via your preferred method.

What happens after you make a complaint?

We are committed to resolving your complaint fairly and as quickly as possible. Our experienced Customer Service agents will seek to resolve the complaint as soon as possible. Depending upon the nature of the complaint and your preferred resolution method, this might involve providing a refund, store credit, or replacement goods. If our front line Customer Service team is unable to resolve your consumer law complaint promptly or to your satisfaction, they will follow Pet Circle’s internal documented procedure to escalate resolution of your complaint to Pet Circle’s Customer Service Senior Leadership Team and, depending on the nature of the complaint, to Pet Circle’s Compliance Officer, Head of Finance, and/or Head of Legal.

Our commitments to resolution of complaints

Pet Circle is committed to the following principles in resolving any competition or consumer law complaint:

Acting quickly to investigate and resolve the complaint
Giving the customer regular updates in relation to the investigation
Informing the customer of the outcome of the review of the investigation together with reasons in support of Pet Circle’s determination
Letting the customer know of the regulatory bodies they may wish to contact if they are not satisfied with the outcome

We will maintain a record of your complaint, subject always to compliance with our Privacy Policy.

What to do if you are not satisfied with our response

If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint, you may contact the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) at https://www.accc.gov.au/ or the fair trading body in your state or territory (listed below):

State / Territory

Contact Information

ACT

Access Canberra - Fair Trading

https://www.accesscanberra.act.gov.au/consumer-rights/fair-trading-and-consumer-rights

Northern Territory

Department of Consumer Affairs

www.consumeraffairs.nt.gov.au

NSW

Department of Fair Trading

www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au

Queensland