July 7, 2015 4:00pm by David Farrar

Should NZ Commerce Commission be acting?

A controversial slip and slide event that originated in New Zealand could face a hefty financial penalty as it comes under scrutiny from an Australian consumer watchdog.

The Queensland Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said it had received three complaints from Monster Slide customers seeking refunds for an event scheduled for May in Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast.

Monster Slide organisers postponed it until September because ticket “sales were not high enough to make the event viable”.

They did the same scam in Wellington. And they have not come back with a new date, and as far as I know not a single person has been refunded who paid in advance for the Wellington event.

So shouldn’t the Commerce Commission here be acting, like the OFT is in Queensland?

The spokesman said OFT had contacted Templeton, who indicated Monster Slide would refund customers.

The spokesman said OFT was also aware that Monster Slide did not have approval of the Sunshine Coast Regional Council to hold the September event.

A Monster Slide Australia Pty Ltd spokesman said all customers who requested had been “promptly refunded” but the company was made aware of two customers who were “delayed”, which it was resolving.

You shouldn’t have to request a refund. The event people purchased tickets for never happened. Everyone should get a refund automatically.