JB Hi-Fi Group Proceeding (class action)

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Background

Between 1 January 2011 and 8 December 2023, JB Hi-Fi sold extended warranties (A.K.A Extended Care or Extra Care) to its customers. It is alleged that the extended warranties provided little to no value to consumers, over existing Australian Consumer Law provisions. Consumer protections are relatively strong in Australia, and therefore a faulty product outside of the advertised warranty period may still be the responsibility of the retailer to organise a repair or replacement.

Lawsuit

Claims

In 2025, Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, filed a class action lawsuit in the Supreme Court of Victoria alleging that JB Hi-Fi used misleading or deceptive conduct or unconscionable conduct in selling the extended warranties, including by telling customers either directly or by implying, that the extended warranties:

• operated for longer than their rights under the Australian Consumer Law;
• provided benefits that the Australian Consumer Law did not; and
• were of value to customers.

Rebuttal

JB Hi-Fi's defense is that information about the extended warranty, as well as the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) was available to the consumer at the time of purchase. This meant that the consumer could have made their own assessment of the extended warranty's value. They further argue that the extended warranty provided further value. beyond what the ACL grants consumers.

Outcome

The class action is still ongoing in the The Supreme Court of Victoria, Australia. The initial trial will begin on 5 October 2026.

Consumer response

Due to the widespread prevalence of the JB-Hi-Fi retailer in Australia, the lawsuit generated widespread discourse on Australian consumer protections and extended warranty services. Advertising campaigns by the law firm organising the lawsuit provided a large amount of media coverage, with scams texts also taking advantage of the situation to provide phishing links to consumers. Reddit posts discussing the event brought attention to the fact that due to strong consumer rights protections in Australia extended warranty services are almost always a waste of money in Australia.

Public pushback or outrage directed solely to JB-Hi-Fi was not too prevalent during this news cycle, due to other ongoing lawsuits from competitors Harvey Norman and the almost ubiquitous practice within the Australian retail landscape. JB-Hi-Fi still continues to sell these warranties online and in-store however, demonstrating that the potential backlash has not dissuaded the company from continuing the practice.