Electrical products company to be fined NIS 1.3 million for misleading customers

The Consumer Protection Authority announced its intention to impose a fine of NIS 1,291,880 on ONT Electronics Ltd., which operates the Electric Deal and Mahsanei Yokra websites.

The reason was an investigation that revealed signs of systematic violation of the Consumer Protection Law.

The investigation was initiated based on numerous consumer complaints that revealed a consistent pattern of violations. According to the case materials, company representatives in a number of cases informed customers that the ordered product was unavailable and offered to purchase a more expensive one.

When consumers refused and demanded to cancel the transaction, they were charged a refusal fee that exceeded what was allowed by law. In addition, the company systematically violated delivery deadlines: customers were promised specific deadlines, which were not observed in practice.

By law, the fine for refusing a transaction cannot exceed 5% of its value or 100 shekels, whichever is less, and only in certain cases. The company unilaterally established a fixed fine of 10% of the transaction amount. Moreover, even in cases of lawful refusal, the money was returned in violation of the deadlines established by law, and in some cases it was not returned at all.

Additional violations include failure to provide buyers with required information documents and improper execution of invoices. The company also discouraged termination of transactions: contrary to the law obliging it to accept refusal in any way, including verbally by telephone, the company accepted notification of refusal exclusively by email or through the website.