Justice Gordon today handed down a decision in the federal Court declaring that Bill Express contravened the Trade Practices Act by engaging in exclusive dealing and misleading and deceptive conduct. Action was brought by the ACCC on this matter. Click here for a copy of the ACCC press release on the matter.
The decision relives newsagents from making further payments on their Bill Express equipment.
Curiously, the ANF is yet to make peace with newsagents about Bill Express. The AN Board in 2003 endorsed Bill Express and robustly promoted Bill Express – without any due diligence on behalf of newsagents. Last year, while NANA, the QNF and this blog told newsagents to stop paying their equipment rental, the ANF told newsagents to pay. They then reversed this advice. I mention this because the ANF is likely to try and trade off the goodwill from this Federal Court decision. Newsagents need to remember who got them into this and who misinformed them for so long through the mess.
Newsagents ought to thank NANA and the QNF for their tireless work on this, work done using their own funds. Their efforts brought the matter to the attention of the ACCC. The ANF deserves no credit whatsoever.
Hey Mark;
A great result for newsagents.
Does this mean i can throw their equipment in bin where it belongs?
It means you can, can it or keep it!
Vaughan,
What I mean is that no more payment is required nor is it back dated as for who owns the equipmentwill become very clear in the full report.
Anf said we will be $200,000. repaid too newsagencys
Colin, the ANF republished what the Court said.
The anf and vana should hang their heads in shame at the pathetic service of newsagents. They told us to pay the fees. They said the ACCC would not fix this. I kept paying and now I have to try and get that back. If I was smarter I would have stopped paying like those who didn’t listen to vana.
Where is Ian Christiansen now?
Great stuff, well done QNF and NANA, a win for the little person!
I can’t help but say the following:
Recognition should really be given to a small group of newsagents in Sydney who initially gathered and started off the proceedings, approached ACCC and NANA to see what could be done about the BillExpress fiasco.
At that point in time it was like facing Goliath but am glad now the stance was taken to lodge individual complaints with ACCC and asked NANA for further assistance to bring the matter forward legally.
A contribution fund started via NANA of $495 each was requested towards the legal fees and 2 wks ago we received a refund of about $150 in settlement as ACCC took up the rest of legal proceedings.
so we can finally close off our books regarding BillExpress !!! although we did lose 3 mths lease payments b4 we were finally told we can stop payment 🙁
We should also place a large thank you to you Mark for putting the information out there, for providing a forum to talk about it and for keeping us all informed. On behalf of all, many thanks, much appreciated.
Congratulations to those Newsagents such as Mark and others in NSW who worked so hard to assist this Industry stay alive and be kept in tune with progress, as our associations did not want to return phone calls or assist us with any positive action.
The ANF cannot take claim for this pleasing result – that belongs in the hands of others.
To: Proactive Newsagent,
Your reference to ‘our associations’ should be qualified to ‘some associations’.
Both the QNF and NANA worked from day one to obtain a win – NANA under contract law, and QNF through the ACCC, under the advices of their legal adviser Hank Spier (a former ACCC CEO)
This was funded by the QNF and NANA, and the newsagents of Australia should be thankful for their energies and dollars – all done for everyone – not just members.
A huge thanks to the QNF and NANA from us all.
I agree Lance. The QNF and NANA lead the charge on this. the ANF and VANA failed their members. I co-hosted a meeting of newsagents in Victoria on this and it was only after this that VANA tried to take action on Bill Express.
Lance
I am sorry if I was not strategic in my comments. I agree NANA’s action of which I was a member paved the way together with a few loyal and forward thinking NSW Newsagents to attempt to bring out in the open the unfounded actions of others in this Bill Express saga.
It is a pity that blame is not accepted from within the Industry by those who were the guilty parties.
Gee,
Sounds like the mutual admiration society for QNF and NANA.
Well done boys give yourselves a pat on the back.
I for one realised myself that i would not let someone take money out of my account for no service or return.
I did not need someone to tell me that or to tell me otherwise.
I did not wait for the ANF or anyone else to make that decision. To me it was common sense.
Obviously some people need to be held by the hand, and guided through the maze that is business!!
Chris
reservoir
By the way,
Lance, Brett, proactive, and anyone else who does not have the intestinal fortitude to put their full name behind their comments on a blog site, show some spine and tell us where your newsagencies are!!!??
chris
reservoir
Click on the link
Chris,
Brett has said so before(D’Bay), Bario’s said Sydney, I have said before(Gold Coast)
Sometimes you only need a first name and that’s more honorable than just an anon.
Good to see the boys respond in such a quick manner.
Well done !
Sign off with your id under your name. Makes it more credible.
Chris
Reservoir
couldn’t agree more Chris
who the hell is anon???
Identify yourself pal, so that what yu have to say is worthy!!
Otherwise go get a life!
If people have something to say that is worthy or carries some cred then they must identify themselves!! You “anon” obvoiusly dont have the balls, courage, intellect etc to stand by your comments!!
Chris
reservoir
my my what an angry ant you are Chris.
Do you have the same feelings for Y&G, G,B, Proactive Newsagent, SApaperboy etc etc
I dont have balls as that would interfere with my genetic makeup. Now have a cup of green tea and good lie down
Who gets the equipment…..my guess is BNY will want them back to liquidate
Adam
Oatlands, Tassie
Chris,
I’m sure it didn’t seem right to a lot of newsagents that they should have to pay a monthly rental fee for equipment that wasn’t being serviced. However most would want to avoid getting dragged into a legal fight they couldn’t afford over it, and so would be looking to bodies such as ANF for advice.
Dave
Perth
anon, technically both males and females have gonads (testes/ovaries). Balls is just slang for courage I believe.
Oooh thank you Michael.
Where we would we be without your intimate understanding of the human body and lifes little foibles. However I often wonder why you have to comment on just about every posting on this interesting site?
Because I read the :
“0 responses so far ↓
There are no comments yet…Kick things off by filling out the form below.”
It tells me to.
Chris,
VANA and the ANF let newsagents down by advising newsagents to keep paying.
I would expect you as a Director of VANA to try and dilute the good works of NANA and the QNF.
my my how ugly can we get, the angst people can have for one another….a testimony as to how in a few seconds, words become ugly….
but then it’s a ‘free’ world we live in. ( but then again to some, it’s not)
definitely too much testoterone or oestrogen or whatever here….
Mark,
I certainly did not feel let down. I determined for myself to stop the direct debit from my account. I would have thought most competent people would have done the same.
In any case, there are times when this blog degenerates into the mutual admiration society of the QNF and NANA.
Would you have everybody believe that other Associations do nothing for their members? I think not.
Every Association tries to do what they think is in the best interest of their members at that point in time.
I feel as though this blog has painted the QNF and NANA as some sort of Mother Teresa’s!!
Lets give some credit to all who have given time and energy for their fellow newsagents with the hope to improve the newsagents lot.
oops!
forgot to sign off.
Chris
reservoir
You go girl!
Chris, On this issue VANA andd the ANF failed. The facts speak for themselves on this.
When you are new to this industry the assistance you receive is so limited that you look to associations that you pay over $150 per month for guidance. We did this with the Bill Express saga and it cost us another two months worth of rental before we made the decision to stop the direct debit payments. If we had of continued to listen to VANA we would be still paying to this day!!!!
thanks Mark for keeping us upto date and the outcome of BXP action
cheers
The ANF last March – 2008 did not want to know Newsagents who were involved with Bill Express contracts. Their messages were ambiguous and when NANA came out with the backing of Hank Speir we saw connectivity and legal comment that enabled us to have some hope for the right outcome in our minds.
To then stop the Monthly payments of $495 which were part of a signed contract which was at the time leaglly binding is a big decision for Mr and Mrs average Newsagent.
Personally I was not prepared nor were thousands of other Newsagents prepared to break a legal agreement as most of us are not Legal eagles.
However,being a part of Hank Speirs direction enabled me to stop the payments in June 2008 at his suggestion,and then claim three back payments from my Bankers – for which they obliged.
My point is that there is a right and wrong way of making a legal decision and “yes” NANA through Hank Speir gave us that direction while others refused to answer telephones.
rightly said, Proactive Newsagent in order to to answer Chris of Reservoir.
Chris as a Director of VANA would know very well what implications may happen should each individual go and do what they want without legal advice.
Yes, in the end we might have been driven to go and do exactly that (ie stop payments) if no further help or directions came through from NANA/legal representation.
But this would have been a last resort bcos of financial reasons as we could not sustain paying for something that doesn’t work.
Originally the legal advice to NANA from Hank Spiers was to keep paying the monthly instalemnts until such time as Bill Express was declared insolvent. They the (rightly) advised to cease. The victory is that those that obeyed the instruction will now get a refund or so the ACCC have ruled.
Graeme
It is my undrestanding that the refunds will be made to those who continually made the payments (up till today) not if they obeyed Hank Speirs recommendation or not.
Those that did adhere to Hank Speirs instructions have no money coming to them as presumably the Newsagent stopped the payment- say June 2008 and wnet to their Bank for refunds back three months which they were entitled to do.
All associations gave advice on the matter, in hindsight some of it was right, some of it was wrong. At the time, people took advice on the information they had. The advice people follow is entirely up to them and they have to take some responsibility for the outcomes. But in saying that, the ANF was in a compromised position, a position it should never have put itself in with Bill Express. This effectively muted their efforts when members needed them. Other association on the other hand were free to move and do what they could for newsagents. Hopefully, lessons have been learnt from the Bill Express experience on all sides of newsagent representation.
Daniel, you are right to point this out. The ANF Board which entered into the agreement with Bill Express in 2003 without any due diligence created the problem. However, the ANF Board of 2008 failed to manage the collapse of the company appropriately for newsagents.
The board today appears more interested in making themselves look good.
so at present we still store the equipment and wait to see who turns up for it.correct? thanks for all the tiring energy you put into this mark
re above, is this correct? or do we dispose of the equipment? Does anyone have an update re this?
actually, at the time when this happened I spoke to somebody who acts as receivers for companies when they go under. His simple advice was that whoever holds the money has the power. He said to stop paying immediately, and that the receivers would have to recover the debt. He said that if they were to pursue, stall for as long as possible. If it was to then go to court, offer them half a cent per dollar owing. He said they would accept that!!
The Golden Rule is “He who has the Gold Rules”
The receievers advice to you is over simplified A creditors petitition and a Court will deecide how much in the dollar. You can offer it can be accepted or rejected. The rest will be decided by the liquidator under Court order.