So ACCC rules coles advertised their bread "baked instore today, sold instore today" is misleading cos they partially bake bread then freeze it in another location for up to 6 months. in the shop they will finish the baking process.
so for the past year if I bought bread at coles (I can show receipts) can I get a refund even though I ate the bread? is that anything I'm entitled to?
Funny you say that, we only eat Woolies bread, baked fresh and taste better than other breads if eaten within a few days. The no preservatives mean anything longer than a couple of days mean it doesn't last.
Maybe you like the Coles bread coz it's made in Ireland. You should pay a premium for the European import luxury
I don't buy it often cos Coles isn't handy for us, usually when we are up at Noosa we buy it. I like their cibiatta (hope I have spelled it correctly). And the Woolies fresh version is $5.xx compared to $3 at Coles.
To be honest most times we buy Bakers Delight but at $4.80 its way too dear as well.
Jesus, why are you paying so much for bread? It's less than $1.50 where I work
$5 for a loaf of bread, Bakers Delight = Bakery is delighted.
I pay $6.60 for two.
I'm with PVA… prefer the Coles bread. Their soy & linseed :-)
they only had Danish's from Ireland and it was stated on the label,
woolies olive oil and garlic sourdough is great, not cheap though its one of the premium breads.
Do Woolworths say the sourdough is "baked fresh today"? A year or so ago the sourdough they sold were baked and frozen a couple of days earlier by another company.
(How do you do quotes? I'm testing this)
A year or so ago the sourdough they sold were baked and frozen a couple of days earlier by another company.
That's generally what they do. They buy the most of the sourdoughs, the ciabatta/turkish etc in parbaked (which is literally baked until the yeast has been killed and there's some structure to the bread and then snap frozen straight away) and then just have to bake it for maybe 10-20 minutes or so at the shop and it's good to go.
Only if you kept the crusts of your purchases…
This is almost ridiculous…Seriously.
How much money do you intend to save? How much money will you spend taking the matter to court? How much time will you spend doing it?
It doesn't add up to go through with this.
I think the OP's intent is to have Coles be financially accountable for their fraudulent claims. Perhaps "suing" wouldn't be the right way to phrase it, but I certainly hope that Australia hasn't sunk to the U.S. level where the corporates can say and do as they please. No 'Murica branded Corporate Dictatorship here please.
In that case the ACCC should go after them. Individual customers going after them for a few hundred dollars of bread is a bit pointless.
Not really, Coles have already paid a fine for their conduct and have been named and shamed, meaning that they lose reputation with buyers.
Again, a lot of people don't seem to understand what "suing" actually means. When you "sue" someone, you are attempting to recover a loss. You can't simply "sue" someone because they've done something you don't like.
If you want to actually get money off Coles here, you have to be able to prove that by their actions (i.e. not baking the bread in-store and saying that it is), you have suffered as loss and you are seeking financial claim to compensate yourself for that loss.
That's easier said than done, especially for the small amount of money involved.
You can still use for emotional distress… LoL
But… seriously, what wrong with society today and always having/wanting to take legal action?
No you can't, you have to be able to show that due to that emotional distress, you have suffered a loss, for example, not being able to go to work.
Unfortunately it's the way most people are trained to think. It's the entitlement mentality, just like in OP's post here, one of the things that was instantly said was:
Is that anything I'm entitled to?
Said as if it was implied that there was something he/she should be entitled to, which at the moment, there isn't.
can we sue for money?
is that anything I'm entitled to?
Yes, you can sue Coles, and sue them for a lot of money. A LOT. And yes, you're entitled to it. On top of that, you'll be making society better for everybody.
So I think you should find a lawyer, a REALLY expensive one, and sue the pants off Coles. Some lawyers will be too scared of Coles and will decline to represent you, so you may have to visit a few lawyers. And don't take no for an answer!
Then please please please come back here and tell us what they said. In detail.
You are my hero blitz, I am still laughing my F****ing pants off!!!
You already ate the bread, you must have thought it was nice enough, to do so and it was probably cheaper than buying it at Bakers Delight, for example. Coles did the wrong thing and they should get fined for it, plus all the bad publicity, etc. I don't believe however that you should be entitled to a refund when you happily ate the product. Just out of curiosity, why did you keep all the bread receipts?
It isn't "fake" bread, and if you really believed for the past 12 months that it was baked entirely from scratch on the day, you've been living in a fantasy world. It's been well known for at least 12 months that it's par-baked and frozen.
Fake bread?
What. lol
you claim bread on your tax return?
So you feel you are entitled to a lot of cash, exactly how much bread did you buy? How much compensation do you feel would compensate your "loss of money"?
Subway do the same thing. They just get frozen dough, heat it up and call it "fresh".
I am surprised people did not notice this earlier most Coles (Cules) stores don't have a proper bakery…
They call it fresh because fresh is a subjective term. Coles failed when they said baked today. Today isn't subjective.
Like that freshly thawed Vietnamese fish caught 6 months ago?
Not sure what you're referring to, but the Seafood dept at my Woolworths displays thawed fish as "Frozen".
Subway in the west uses bread made in New Zealand. So much for 'fresh'.
You've been eating the bread for the last 12 months & now you're butthurting about Coles playing "trickseys"? In the broadest of broad strokes… Want real bread? Go to your local baker, wanna save a penny? Buy whatever snot the supermarket giants are plugging and be content.
I hope to everything you're trolling…
The local bakery, or mine at least, is much cheaper than Coles, Woolies or Iga. People really need to step outside these supermarkets and realise what else exists in the world.
Just to clarify, we weren't trying to trick our customers lol, we just get some weird ass people coming in
No no, that's not what I meant! I know you weren't tricking customers… I was actually comparing how the OP wants to sue the store for something they bought and ate (with seemingly no ill effects) lol.
My [lame] point is to lol @ the whole "omg I'm gonna sue you!" thing. Basically what you just said:
some weird ass people coming in
… but my post was bad, and now I feel bad. lol
haha, it's all good :)
half baked idea ..
Before you hire a lawyer, write to Coles customer relations with a photocopy of all your receipts, tallied up for the bread portions and your concerns. Ask for a refund. You might just get one. That will save you $100,000 + in legal fees and at least half that again when you lose in court.
Only people who have never gone through a legal proceeding that actually makes it to court can live in a fantasy land where justice is free and suing is the first and best action that springs to mind. Ask anyone who has any experience and they will tell you, $10k a day minimum for your solicitor and barrister, thousands of dollars in prep work, all the other myriad of costs just to get into open court, then if you lose you pay part of the other side's legal fees or if you've been a complete moron wasting the court's time then all the other side's costs, not to mention the pain and anguish that most good people suffer at the hands of fools, liars and conmen who don't give a toss about lying under oath.
Then if you are successful, getting the money out of the other party is another adventure in itself, including… you guessed it, going back to court.
Agree. Let the right authorities kick Cole's butt for what they have done wrong. Let's not get like the USA where people sue other people for the most trivial things. The only people who get rich are the lawyers.
You bought and ate the bread because you liked it, correct? I'm assuming you found no other fault with it?
ACCC is punishing them financially for their deceptive practices. The only way you, as a consumer get to do so it to no longer buy the product. My guess is that you have, and will continue to do so.
"so for the past year if I bought bread at coles (I can show receipts) can I get a refund even though I ate the bread? is that anything I'm entitled to?"
You may get some money but why bother when you already have had the dough.
Did the ACCC find this via a court finding or was it their own decision?
EDIT: Court decision.
Lol…… suing somebody over a $4 loaf of bread.
Hmmmmm reminds me of this case:
Man sues over £1,449 however racks up a legal bill of £250,000.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2537034/Father-two-t…
He did win the case, however now he is in a debt of £250,000. Awesome Win!
If the bread rises and browns a litte instore I dont see it any more misleading than buying a bigmac which looks nothing like its advertised on tv.
Also does this mean that those par baked, bake at home rolls cant be considered freshly baked after baking them at home?
Consider a dinner guest scenario: one host makes bread rolls at home from yeast, flour, water, and bakes them. She declares 'I baked them myself'. At another dinner the host buys bread rolls and browns them at home. 'I baked them myself', they declare. Which one are the dinner guests going to say is genuine baking?
Alternatively, if I buy a frozen pizza from the store and declare 'I made this myself' is anyone not going to laugh?
It seems to me Coles' 'baked today, sold today' is a marketing line only lawyers could love. Yes, looked at it from one particular and quite narrow point of view one could make the argument that it was baked 'today', but why leave out the other true part of the statement: It was baked 3 months ago, and baked today.
The word "BAKED" is not the same as the word "CREATED". One perfectly legitimate definition of the word "BAKED" is "heated in an oven". I'm surprised that they were ever penalised at all/in any way. In accordance with that basic definition, they did "bake" the bread onsite, that day (i.e., the consumer could be assured that it had not been sitting around growing bread-mould for days, before they bought it), before selling it.
They were just trying to earn an honest crust… a pretty crumby decision by the powers-that-be I reckon.
Why don't people just go to their local Vietnamese/Asian bakery and buy their freshly baked loaves of bread for $1 ???
I use to, but I don't like the taste of their loaves. I find that they are too chewy also they dob't taste very nice the day after, just my personal perception,cause my husband and kids love their kaiser rolls.
I always wanted to be a baker. I saw an advertisement looking for an apprentice baker at Coles, and applied. Got the job!
I signed on for a two year apprenticeship, did my time at TAFE, and then started working in-store after a couple of months. I quit almost immediately, when I realised that the 'baking' consisted of putting frozen loaves in the oven.
That having been said, Coles Pane Di Casa is an amazing bread!
anyone knows where the fines resulting from the sue are going to?
the government? to tony aboat and joe hockey??
Any court fines that are decided in ACCC action is returned to consolidated revenue (EG The Government)
The ACCC has got Coles on toast, but I can't see you getting any dough out of this.
We kind of do get the money back indirectly, revenue usually gets spent during the Government budget, however, most of it is going to be spend on paying back out large debt bill.
I buy Coles rolls regularly, especially the Sunflower Triangles and Ancient Grains Panini, and I never thought that they were made fresh from scratch in store every day (they simply wouldn't have the resources). I have no problem with frozen par-baked bread. It can still taste good.
I think you're missing the point of the case. The ACCC didn't have a problem with frozen par-baked bread. Their issue was that Coles was promoting bread as “Baked Today, Sold Today’’ or “Freshly Baked In-Store’’ when the bread was actually partially baked and frozen off site, transported to Coles stores and “finished” in-store.
That's not 'freshly baked', or 'baked today' and Coles deserve to be fined for this. They clearly set out to mislead imo.
Yes, I know that's the point of the case, but I don't believe a reasonable person would have been misled by the wording. Coles did finish the baking in store and they did not claim it was "completely baked today". It was partially baked in store on the day, so IMO, it was "baked today". So basically I disagree with the decision.
I disagree with the Australian Consumer Law too. It says that "A person must not, in trade or commerce, engage in conduct that is misleading or deceptive or is likely to mislead or deceive."
So, it doesn't actually have to mislead or deceive anyone, it just has to be likely to. I think this is too much in favour of consumers, who seem to want to be spoon-fed on everything these days.
no more ancient grains panini for you :( they've been deleted
Since when? They still had them last Wednesday.
And they were still available at Coles Norwood SA this morning.
I thought everyone already knew where the bread came from, this is really old news…
Yeah, nothing is worse when it is stale.
If you could sue-for-bread, it would be money-for-jam… (provided you'd frozen the bread).
You kept all the bread receipts over years?
No wonder you tend to sue for money over bread!
some People are very funny. What I am doing here!?!!!!
Aldi's not bad.
I wonder if op keeps a receipt for everything, just in case he/she needs to sue one day
no, he keeps it to claim back his bread on his tax return.
having worked at both supermarkets- and still working at a major one, baking from frozen is all the 'fresh' baking they are doing, from the baguettes to the cookies. Even the cakes and the much loved mud cakes are only defrosted.
Just when you thought people couldn't get any more tight, you read a post like this…geez.
The OP would have enjoyed the bread at the time, I'm sure. If he hadn't, he would have sought compensation back at the time of consumption.
I'm still trying to wrap my head around how it could possibly be cheaper to have the bread made in Ireland and sent on a luxurious 3 month cruise half way around the world. How much supply would a shipping container of bread distributed around Australia last?
Hahahahahahahahaha god I love ozbargain.
Thanks for the laugh, OP
i remember seeing on the checkout that "fresh" apples sold by woolworths can be stored for a year to two before being sold in stores
hate people like OP.
Coles will be fined. That'll pay for some fatcats salary at the ACCC and maybe their Christmas party. People who bought the "misleading" bread get nothing. End of story.
Unless they sue.
I just realised that this post was written by suicine94, who has been a huge troll on the whirlpool forums for a few years now.
Everyone, feel free to disregard all his posts.
First was the guy who argued with the manager for 20 minutes trying to save $6 for a pricing error, and now here's a guy who wants to sue Coles after hearing about their ACCC fine. So disappointed with the community lately :(
Love people like the OP… what can I get for free!? this world owes me something for sure!
Want more money? work harder. My money would be you dont have a job in the first place however.
You want to spend a few thousand dollars on lawyers to recoup a handful of dollars worth of bread? If you lost the court hearing, will you pay Coles' legal costs as well as your own? A good barrister will cost you around $3000.00 per day and let me tell you that Coles will have an army of them in court.
Get real bloke and move on.
look at it as a dollar spend cost. How much every 5 minutes does Coles make = $14712 for 2013. How much do we earn every 5 mins. hahah hee hee. Many of us its negative. In reality how do we compete?
@OP: Freaking troll, can you just f off?
Just when you thought people couldn't get any more tight-arsed, you see a person like the OP….geez!!
I don't think so
<— current law student, so knowledge very limited
My thoughts:
You'd want to sue them for lying/misleading product as that is probably the most $ in terms of what you can get.
Though it has been a while, and you've been going along your life w/o detriment so far so courts might say that it's too late.
Making analogy with: Leaf v International Galleries [1950] 2 KB 86
- UK case (meaning it's 'persuasive')
- guy bought a painting from museum (museum said it was legit)
- held it for 5 years, found out it was a fake and asked for refund
- court held that he 'held' it for too long. ;)
While circumstances a bit different (Coles knew they were using 'old' bread/were lying whereas Museum curator thought it was genuine)
- fact is that they both are guaranteeing that it was 'genuine' or 'fresh'
There is no direct 'party', as in if courts allowed you to go up and sue them and you WON. Then might be massive floodgate for everyone else (too much pressure on the courts)
Like I read in a comment above, it's more likely they will be held accountable and have to pay a sum of damages to ACCC/Government (idk).
That's my 2 pennies. I took this question as a question on how our legal system works rather than a 'i want $'
There is no direct 'party'
Sure there is, those that bought the bread.
Ya, though it's unreasonable if say they set up a 'refund' program where you have to prove you've bought bread and they'll refund it, that you have to show your receipts.
The 'real' parties would be a lot more than those who can find a receipt with bread on it. As well as issues with receipts possibly being used more than 1 time and so on and so forth.
Identifying each and everyone of the people who bought bread within the past year or so isn't practical.
Coles will pay a fee to government who will then use it for stuffs. if ACCC win. imo.
This^ . I mean I'm OCD and all but…bread receipts who keeps those! (other than the OP,for who knows what reason)
there's no need to even speculate. The fact is if this stupid person was to sue coles individually, it would only get to small claims court and the only two scenarios that would play out is that the judge would laugh and throw it out, or coles would never show up and never pay up. End of story. The plaintiff will spend time money and lots and lots of energy and emotion all for nothing
I think you're being a bit harsh on the op. If he thought he was eating fresh bread for years, then finds out it wasn't, surely he has a right to be offended?? I agree with the advice that it probably isn't worth the battle though.
right to be offended?!? ahahahahahahaahahahhahahahaha!!!
We should sue woolies as well
Fresh food people?? apples, grapes and bananas can be months if not years old
This thread is what is wrong with society at large.
You consumed the bread and was happy with the results and yet you want money for… pain and suffering?
pretty pathetic
i'm not saying coles are right but you have to show damages to make a claim for punitive compensation.
Why couldn't Coles just be upfront that the bread was not fresh.
There is no such thing as punitive compensation, it goes to the state which was the whole point of the ACCC lawsuit.
Maybe OP can sue for chronic depression suffered as a result. /s
Dear everyone suggesting Coles did little wrong:
Are you suggesting it is ok to sell a placebo, eg. a homeopathy water product labelled as an anti-depressant. You've been feeling good, but suddenly you find out homeopathy is bullshit. You guys are suggesting this person has no claim because they didn't know any different and enjoyed it.
Or if Coles sold bread that was "product of Australia" but really wasn't. Are you really suggest no one would have a claim under the Australian Consumer Laws?
Neither of those was the case here.
The maximum you can claim back is the cost of goods purchased. Considering they have a fairly lenient returns policy, might want to take them up on that offer.
Re "The maximum you can claim back is the cost of goods purchased", that's not entirely true… you can also claim for any damages arising from their shenanigans…
So, for example, you'd tell the judge some bird rocked in to your joint and you offered her a sanga in an effort to pull, and she was nae-impressed with it, called it 'stale', and gave you the evil eye. You could then SURMISE that it was the fault of the bread-maker, and present said facts to the judge, along with your assumed 'damages'.
I strongly advise the original OP of this thread to take this course of ('lack of') action.
It'll cost us more to sue for a "Bread case" then what we would benefit wouldn't it?
Bread-gate
I reckon email the ACCC and ask them first.
But for me I don't really care. I know it was a bit crooked but that bread is still pretty nice and cheap as well, especially for supermarket bread. Compare it to Woolies bread - which is either yuck or $2 more than Coles.