ACCC “Aware” Of Click Frenzy Fiasco

The ACCC is “aware” of the concerns raised following the Click Frenzy crash yesterday, a spokesperson confirmed.

However, in a statement it said representations about future events are likely to “raise concerns” if they create a misleading overall impression about the goods, price, demand or value.

After the frenzy that was ‘Click Frenzy’ with consumers and retailers alike annoyed at the website crash that took place over the 24 hours of the mass online sale, thousands of  consumers unable to access the deals website it had registered with for several hours, and retailers unable to sell goods after paying Click Frenzy up to $33,000 in fees.

Read: ‘Virtual Stampede’: 2.6M Clicks (In A Frenzy)

Several retailers including The Iconia and Deals Direct issued their dismay at the situation, yesterday, citing possible refund demand from organisers of the event.

Click Frenzy says it was genuinely blown away by demand, saying it expected 1 million visitors to its site but instead 2.6 million visitors, stats revealed today.

It also says it warned retailers to be prepared for high traffic volumes, but IT experts say both retailers and Click Frenzy’ web infrastructure alike were illequipt for the traffic volumes.

Australian consumer law states a company could only be found in contravention of the law if it knew the statement was “untrue or incorrect.”

“Businesses must give careful consideration to claims they make when selling goods and services to other businesses or consumers,” the ACCC spokesperson said.

Consumer Law allows for individuals and businesses to undertake private action by seeking damages but “in considering matters like this [the ACCC] would take into consideration any effort made to address any consumer or business detriment.”

But there are also fears from privacy experts that the information the Click team collected from consumers who registered for the event may be sold to third parties for marketing purposes, which could mean a hell of a lot of spam in e-mail inboxes.

However, the ACCC spokesperson told SmartHouse the issues raised over privacy is a matter for the Privacy Commissioner.

The company’s privacy policy states “with your consent, we may share your personal information that you provided to when you register (including registration for specials, updates or promotions via email) with our affiliates for direct marketing purposes.”

However, Click Frenzy Director, Grant Arnott, is denying the company will share any personal information with third parties saying it “has not and will not happen.”

The Privacy Commissioner was not available for comment at the time of writing.