Consumer concerns: The companies most often flagged to official watchdog

The big supermarket chains were second only to a cancelled music festival in the list of the Commerce Commission’s most enquired-about businesses last year.

Figures released to 1News under the Official Informational Act found Juicy Festival drew the highest number of enquiries in 2025, with 493.

The January 2025 festival — which had stops in Christchurch, Wellington, Auckland and Tauranga — was cancelled when promoters failed to get a liquor licence for its Auckland date.

Supermarket operator Woolworths New Zealand followed with 322 enquiries, ahead of Pak'nSave (260), Timeless Events NZ (235), and One New Zealand Group (233).

Rounding out the top 10 were New World (190), Air New Zealand (180), Trade Me (162), Sky Network Television (149), and Spark New Zealand (139).

The Commission said the figures reflected enquiries it has identified as potential concerns — not proven breaches — and did not necessarily mean a business has done anything wrong or that an investigation has been launched.

Rebecca McAtamney, its general manager for competition, fair trading and credit, said not every enquiry resulted in an investigation, or was necessarily valid. But they provided important insight into market behaviour.

“These enquiries give us important information and critical intel that helps us understand trends in the market,” she said.

Several companies told 1News the number of enquiries needed to be viewed in the context of the scale of their operations. A spokesperson for Foodstuffs, which operates Pak’nSave and New World stores, said the Commission had received about 450 enquiries across its brands — roughly 1.7 enquiries per million customer visits.

"We encourage customers to let us know when they believe things have gone wrong so we can resolve any issues quickly and thoroughly," the spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, the Juicy Festival's liquidator described what happened as "an unfortunate situation" which led to lots of people being owed money.

Common issues in 2025 included complaints about refunds, promotions, pricing inaccuracies and non-delivery — all things the Commerce Commission say risked being breaches of the law.

"Any representations about price must be clear, accurate and unambiguous. Businesses must not mislead consumers, including when it comes to the delivery of goods – information must be clear and accurate," McAtamney said.

"If a business’ ability to deliver a product is compromised, we would expect this to be made clear to the consumer. Under the Fair Trading Act, it is illegal for anyone in trade to mislead consumers, give false information, or make misrepresentations."

The Commission continued to encourage people to report potential breaches, with a range of enforcement options available from warnings and compliance advice through to investigations and court action, McAtamney said.

"We are also committed to working positively and proactively with businesses to ensure compliance with the laws we enforce, and we regularly engage with companies small and large."

A Woolworths New Zealand spokesperson said the business handled more than 3.5 million transactions each week across more than 180 stores, and while it aimed to provide a strong customer experience, "we sometimes do get things wrong".

"When that happens we try to make things right," the spokesperson said, pointing to its refund policy where customers charged more than the advertised price receive a full refund and can keep the product.

The company has also invested in electronic shelf labelling to improve pricing accuracy.

Air New Zealand acknowledged the Commerce Commission had one active investigation underway against it.

"This relates to whether the airline has breached the Fair Trading Act when communicating with consumers who have directly contacted the airline about their rights when flights are delayed and/or cancelled for reasons within its control," a spokesperson for the national carrier said, adding that the airline was cooperating.

Trade Me policy and compliance manager James Ryan said the platform facilitated millions of trades each year, and enquiries should be viewed in that context.

“An enquiry to the Commission does not necessarily mean a complaint has been made, that anything has gone wrong, or that any consumer has been harmed,” he said.

"We have dedicated New Zealand-based support teams who work hard to resolve any issues our members raise with us, and we maintain an open and constructive relationship with the Commerce Commission."

A spokesperson for Spark New Zealand said while it was disappointed by the number of enquiries, its ranking had improved in recent years and needed to be seen alongside its large customer base.

"We have over 2.6 million mobile customers and almost 700,000 broadband customers, which means we receive hundreds of thousands of calls every month, and this ranking is not adjusted for size."

One New Zealand and Sky Network Television were contacted for comment but did not reply by deadline.

Commenting specifically on Juicy Festival, liquidator Ben Francis, of Blacklock Rose, said the situation had left a significant number of people out of pocket, though no wrongdoing had been identified.

“It’s an unfortunate situation with a large number of people owed money,” he said.

Francis said investigations into the company’s directors had not found evidence of misconduct, with issues instead centred on payments to artists that liquidators were now trying to recover to pay creditors.

“We are aware there are approximately 30,000 people out of pocket.”

Francis said a large number of complaints from ticket holders was unsurprising given the scale of the impact, but noted that did not necessarily mean any laws had been broken.

“When you have that number of people, you’re going to get a large number of complaints,” he said.

1. Juicy Festival - 493 enquiries

2. Woolworths New Zealand - 322 enquiries

3. Pak'nSave - 260 enquiries

4. Timeless Events NZ - 235 enquiries

5. One New Zealand Group - 233 enquiries

6. New World (New Zealand) - 190 enquiries

7. Air New Zealand - 180 enquiries

8. Trade Me - 162 enquiries

9. Sky Network Television - 149 enquiries

10. Spark New Zealand - 139 enquiries