Choice Shonky Awards 2021 winners: here are some of Australia’s worst products
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Choice, Australia’s leading consumer advocacy group, handed out five unenviable gongs for the country’s worst goods and services.
Alan Kirkland, Choice’s chief executive, said, “These are our 16th annual Shonky Awards, and it amazes me that we have to keep giving them out.”
“It’s easy to avoid getting a Shonky Award. Don’t promise things you can’t deliver, don’t rip your customers off and don’t sell unsafe products.”
“Sadly, we keep finding businesses that fail these basic tests.”
Without further ado, here are the shonkiest products and services that took advantage of Australian consumers in 2021:
The annual Shonky Awards shine a light on dodgy products or services to inform consumers and encourage businesses to do better. Photo from Choice.
Breville’s FoodCycler
One of the awardees is Breville’s FoodCycler, which was marketed as an alternative way to reduce food waste in households by turning them into “eco chips”, which would then be sent into landfill each week, in turn lessening one’s contribution to greenhouse gas production.
Fiona Mair, Choice’s home economist, tested the appliance with a range of food waste to see whether it's a viable alternative to other composting methods and if it’s worth the investment.
The result: she found it wasteful, expensive and complicated.
“Why would you want to spend money on an appliance to reduce your food waste going into landfill when you can buy something that virtually costs nothing to do the same thing?” questioned Ms Mair.
“It’s just another appliance that sits on your bench. It’s really quite unnecessary. There are so many other, cheaper ways of composting,” she added.
“We think Breville are taking advantage of people who want to look after the environment.”
The running costs of the FoodCycler over five years were calculated to a total amount of $2,000 across the appliance’s lifespan. A do-it-yourself compost set-up was estimated to cost only $57.
Fiona recommends having your own DIY compost set up. Photo from Choice.
SmarterHome™ Bladeless DC Motor Slim Smart Fan from Kogan
It may seem like an innovative cooling device but steer clear of these knock-off bladeless fans, which scored an embarrassing 44 per cent in independent lab testing.
These fans cost $150 and can be found through retailers Catch.com.au, Kogan, Big W and Harvey Norman, which seem to only slap their logos on the same dodgy product and give it a different name, including:
“For the entirety of the test, it could barely reach 0.04 cubic metres per second. It pretty much has no output whatsoever, and that’s why the score is so terrible.”
The $150 electric device was beaten by fans as cheap as $45. Photo from Kogan.
Kiddylicious Strawberry Fruit Wriggles
Described by mums as “a shonky sugar bomb”, Kiddylicious Strawberry Fruit Wriggles contain 68 per cent sugar and cost $150 per kilo.
The product was marketed as a “healthy” and toddler-friendly snack to reduce parents worrying about what their child is eating.
Pru Engel, Choice’s audience editor and a mother of two, said that the product deliberately misleads parents, making their job “harder than it needs to be”.
“Toddlers are being targeted with a shonky sugar bomb, and parents deserve better,” Ms Engel said.
They're described on the pack as "thin strips of real fruit" that are "made with real fruit", but they're really just jelly strips made from concentrated fruit sugars. Photo from Choice.
Airline Customer Advocate
The free “service” described itself as facilitating “the resolution of current unresolved complaints about airline services”, but Choice consumer rights expert Alison Elliott described it more accurately as a “window dressing to help the airline industry pretend it cares about managing complaints”.
“It’s an airline-industry funded scheme that’s meant to solve your problems, but really it’s a forwarding service,” said Ms Elliott.
The Airline Customer Advocate was established after a 2009 report into the aviation sector found that the airlines weren't treating customers well and needed to improve their complaints-handling processes.
“The Advocate can’t look at your problem and make an independent decision. Instead, it will forward your complaint back to the airline, asking nicely for the airline to respond to you in 20 days. And that’s about it.”
“You might as well put your complaint in a shredder than waste your time,” she added.
“It has no power to make airlines do anything.”
In a recent national CHOICE survey, only 32% of Australians said they were aware of the service, and only 15% had used it. Photo from Traveller.
Humm’s buy-now-pay-later
Choice described the buy-now-pay-later service provided by Humm as a way of “sending customers into growing levels of unaffordable debt”.
“They don’t need to check whether you can afford to repay a debt before they lend you money,” chief executive Alan Kirkman said.
“Humm – which is lending people up to $30,000 without a safe lending check – demonstrates just how dangerous these products are.”
“Choice asked Humm four times how they check whether they are lending safely, and we could not get a straight answer. This is unregulated credit, pure and simple.”
A recent survey of Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) services conducted by Financial Counselling Australia concluded that Humm was the worst for helping customers in financial difficulty.
Chief executive Fiona Guthrie said, “The industry overall is not doing well. It’s so easy for people to find themselves with multiple accounts and in over their head.”
“We need to see buy-now-pay-later properly regulated like all other credit products.”
Humm proudly markets itself as the BNPL for the "big things" in life. Photo from IRELAX.
Alan Kirkland, Choice’s chief executive, said, “These are our 16th annual Shonky Awards, and it amazes me that we have to keep giving them out.”
“It’s easy to avoid getting a Shonky Award. Don’t promise things you can’t deliver, don’t rip your customers off and don’t sell unsafe products.”
“Sadly, we keep finding businesses that fail these basic tests.”
Without further ado, here are the shonkiest products and services that took advantage of Australian consumers in 2021:
The annual Shonky Awards shine a light on dodgy products or services to inform consumers and encourage businesses to do better. Photo from Choice.
Breville’s FoodCycler
One of the awardees is Breville’s FoodCycler, which was marketed as an alternative way to reduce food waste in households by turning them into “eco chips”, which would then be sent into landfill each week, in turn lessening one’s contribution to greenhouse gas production.
Fiona Mair, Choice’s home economist, tested the appliance with a range of food waste to see whether it's a viable alternative to other composting methods and if it’s worth the investment.
The result: she found it wasteful, expensive and complicated.
“Why would you want to spend money on an appliance to reduce your food waste going into landfill when you can buy something that virtually costs nothing to do the same thing?” questioned Ms Mair.
“It’s just another appliance that sits on your bench. It’s really quite unnecessary. There are so many other, cheaper ways of composting,” she added.
“We think Breville are taking advantage of people who want to look after the environment.”
The running costs of the FoodCycler over five years were calculated to a total amount of $2,000 across the appliance’s lifespan. A do-it-yourself compost set-up was estimated to cost only $57.
Fiona recommends having your own DIY compost set up. Photo from Choice.
SmarterHome™ Bladeless DC Motor Slim Smart Fan from Kogan
It may seem like an innovative cooling device but steer clear of these knock-off bladeless fans, which scored an embarrassing 44 per cent in independent lab testing.
These fans cost $150 and can be found through retailers Catch.com.au, Kogan, Big W and Harvey Norman, which seem to only slap their logos on the same dodgy product and give it a different name, including:
- Fenici Bladeless Tower Fan with DC Motor (from theitmart.com.au)
- Zhibai (Xiaomi Eco-Chain Product) Smart APP Pedestal Bladeless Leafless Electric Floor Fan (from catch.com.au)
- Dimplex 96cm Bladeless DC Tower Fan with remote control (from harveynorman.com.au).
“For the entirety of the test, it could barely reach 0.04 cubic metres per second. It pretty much has no output whatsoever, and that’s why the score is so terrible.”
The $150 electric device was beaten by fans as cheap as $45. Photo from Kogan.
Kiddylicious Strawberry Fruit Wriggles
Described by mums as “a shonky sugar bomb”, Kiddylicious Strawberry Fruit Wriggles contain 68 per cent sugar and cost $150 per kilo.
The product was marketed as a “healthy” and toddler-friendly snack to reduce parents worrying about what their child is eating.
Pru Engel, Choice’s audience editor and a mother of two, said that the product deliberately misleads parents, making their job “harder than it needs to be”.
“Toddlers are being targeted with a shonky sugar bomb, and parents deserve better,” Ms Engel said.
They're described on the pack as "thin strips of real fruit" that are "made with real fruit", but they're really just jelly strips made from concentrated fruit sugars. Photo from Choice.
Airline Customer Advocate
The free “service” described itself as facilitating “the resolution of current unresolved complaints about airline services”, but Choice consumer rights expert Alison Elliott described it more accurately as a “window dressing to help the airline industry pretend it cares about managing complaints”.
“It’s an airline-industry funded scheme that’s meant to solve your problems, but really it’s a forwarding service,” said Ms Elliott.
The Airline Customer Advocate was established after a 2009 report into the aviation sector found that the airlines weren't treating customers well and needed to improve their complaints-handling processes.
“The Advocate can’t look at your problem and make an independent decision. Instead, it will forward your complaint back to the airline, asking nicely for the airline to respond to you in 20 days. And that’s about it.”
“You might as well put your complaint in a shredder than waste your time,” she added.
“It has no power to make airlines do anything.”
In a recent national CHOICE survey, only 32% of Australians said they were aware of the service, and only 15% had used it. Photo from Traveller.
Humm’s buy-now-pay-later
Choice described the buy-now-pay-later service provided by Humm as a way of “sending customers into growing levels of unaffordable debt”.
“They don’t need to check whether you can afford to repay a debt before they lend you money,” chief executive Alan Kirkman said.
“Humm – which is lending people up to $30,000 without a safe lending check – demonstrates just how dangerous these products are.”
“Choice asked Humm four times how they check whether they are lending safely, and we could not get a straight answer. This is unregulated credit, pure and simple.”
A recent survey of Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) services conducted by Financial Counselling Australia concluded that Humm was the worst for helping customers in financial difficulty.
Chief executive Fiona Guthrie said, “The industry overall is not doing well. It’s so easy for people to find themselves with multiple accounts and in over their head.”
“We need to see buy-now-pay-later properly regulated like all other credit products.”
Humm proudly markets itself as the BNPL for the "big things" in life. Photo from IRELAX.
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