Commbank, Temu and HCF under fire in Choice’s Shonky awards

Security has been marked as Temu’s biggest issue. In 2024, Choice purchased and tested 15 randomly selected coin and button battery operated products from Temu; Every product tested failed to meet at least one requirement of Australian coin cell battery regulations designed to keep children safe. The products were later removed from sale.

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De Silva said that in July 2024, an eight-year-old boy in Queensland “burned 13 percent of his body when the Temu hoodie he was wearing burst into flames when several sparks from a fire pit fell on his sweater” and noted that the consumer watchdog later found that the hoodie did not comply with mandatory safety standards because it did not have a fire warning label. Four months later, Temu recalled the hoodie.

Choice also chided Temu for not joining other online marketplaces by signing up to a voluntary Product Safety Pledge designed to protect consumers.

“Temu’s lack of attention to the safety of the products it sells means it very much deserves the Shonky Award this year,” De Silva said.

A Temu spokesperson said security was a top priority and action was taken quickly to remove non-compliant listings.

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Health fund HCF was awarded Shonky for bypassing the government approval process for health insurance premium increases on existing policies by “secretly closing” its Premium Gold policy and opening a new policy with almost identical cover called Optimal Gold, with a 34.6 per cent price increase – a tactic that required no government approval. De Silva described HCF’s actions as “disrupting the system.”

HCF said in a statement that it had updated its gold policy to keep it “accessible, fair and sustainable”.

“The challenges surrounding the sustainability of the Gold hospital reflect wider industry pressures driven by high costs resulting from complex demands, particularly in mental health,” he said.

Choice research has found that customers could save nearly $65 million each year if retailers made cheaper options clearer.

De Silva said some energy retailers are deceiving customers by offering new, cheaper plans with the same name as existing plans. “As a result, many consumers were led to believe that they were already on the best plan because their existing plan names were the same, and as a result, they potentially missed out on savings,” he said.

The Handy Heater Turbo 800, a plug-in heater sold by various online retailers, was also snubbed for shipping with a foreign power plug that didn’t fit directly into Australian sockets.

Sales rules mean it must fit into local sockets, but the heater came with a non-compatible travel adapter that left the pins exposed when plugged in, posing a safety risk.

Other safety issues include the absence of any thermal protection devices, unsafe wiring, and a heating element mounted directly on thermoplastic, a material that softens when heated,” de Silva said.

“Aside from numerous safety issues, our testing also revealed that the Handy Heater does not actually produce as much heat as advertised,” he said.

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