UPDATE 1-Fitbit sued in Australia for misleading consumers on faulty devices - Yahoo Finance

(Adds details connected lawsuit, allegations)

Oct 24 (Reuters) - Australia's contention regulator has begun tribunal proceedings against Fitbit LLC for allegedly making mendacious oregon misleading claims to consumers astir their warrant rights connected faulty devices, it said connected Monday.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said betwixt May 2020 and February 2022, Fitbit claimed consumers volition not beryllium entitled to a refund unless they returned a faulty merchandise wrong 45 days of acquisition oregon shipment, which is successful not successful accordance with Australian Consumer Law.

"All consumers have... automatic user warrant rights that cannot beryllium excluded, restricted oregon modified. The user warrant rights beryllium successful summation to immoderate warranties offered by manufacturers," said ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb.

The regulator said Australian Consumer Law does not enforce a 45-day refund period, nor bash user rights successful respect of faulty replacement goods beryllium connected erstwhile the archetypal merchandise was purchased.

Additionally, Fitbit told consumers that erstwhile they received a replacement instrumentality for an primitively faulty product, they were not entitled to a 2nd replacement if Fitbit's two-year 'limited warranty period' for the archetypal instrumentality had expired, ACCC alleged.

The Google-owned institution did not instantly respond to a Reuters petition for comment.

The ACCC, which is seeking penalties and injunctions, said their lawsuit includes 58 examples of consumers who were allegedly misled by Fitbit erstwhile they complained astir faulty devices. (Reporting by Harish Sridharan successful Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)