GraysOnline

I purchased a 7-year-old VW Golf from Grays Online in May 2022, based on their advertisement claiming the vehicle had heated front seats. Upon collecting the car, I discovered this feature was absent.

Despite numerous attempts to resolve the issue, Grays Online offered only $500 in compensation, which I found inadequate. This led me to escalate the matter to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT)a process that took nearly three years. The excessive delay, which was entirely of VCATs own making, ultimately worked against me.

False and Misleading Evidence at VCAT

During the hearing, Grays Online falsely claimed that my case was an isolated incident caused by an operational error, suggesting it was merely a mistake in ticking the wrong box. They failed to disclose that their misleading vehicle advertisements were not an accident but part of a systemic pattern of deception a fact that had already been investigated by the ACCC and ruled against in the Federal Court.

In reality, between July 2020 and June 2022, GraysOnline engaged in widespread false advertising, misleading thousands of consumers by falsely listing vehicle features, incorrect transmission types, and failing to disclose vehicle damage.

The Federal Court found them guilty of these deceptive practices and fined them $10 million, ordering them to compensate all affected consumers. My VW Golf was purchased within this period, making me one of the very consumers that Grays Online was ordered to redress. Yet, they never did. Instead, at VCAT, they deliberately misled the tribunal by pretending my case was a one-off mistake.

(ACCC source)

VCATs Failure to Protect Consumers

Despite clear evidence of Grays Onlines systemic misconduct, VCAT failed to hold them accountable, proving itself completely unequipped to handle corporations that engage in fraudulent and deceptive practices. The tribunals slow and ineffective process allowed Grays Online to manipulate the proceedings, and instead of recognizing their wrongdoing, VCAT ruled against me.

Their decision? I was awarded only $790just half the cost of installing after market heated seats because VCAT ruled that, due to the cars age, the seats might have been at the end of their service life. This completely ignored the fact that I had been misled from the outset and that I was legally entitled to a remedy.

Shockingly, the reimbursement did not even cover the costs I incurred to take the matter to VCAT in the first place.

Grays Online Continues to Defraud Consumers

It is deeply concerning that VCAT did nothing to protect consumers, even when the Federal Court had already ruled against Grays Online and ordered them to compensate affected buyers like me.

This shows a fundamental failure of consumer protection mechanisms in Australia.

Grays Online continues to operate, misleading buyers and avoiding accountability, even after being found guilty of widespread fraud. I strongly urge consumers avoid Grays Online and to be extremely cautious when dealing with companies that have a proven track record of misleading their customers.

My car got sold, and I still haven't received my payment, which is *** I have rung up a number of times, and all I get back is, 'We'll call you back.' No one calls you back. I was promised last week that my payment would be made.

Nothing happens now. I've got an email to say that I'll be paid today, and still, nothing happens. This is a *** joke. And I would not recommend your company to anyone.

You are messing with people's *** lives.

People sell their *** because they need the money, and nor do you *** care!! If my payment isn't made, expect me to go into your store tomorrow, and it won't be a good day for anyone!

i made a complaint and was offered a refund i agreed and explained it needed to happen before xmas as im going away with my whole family this year and my terminaly ill father who hasnt got long to live its the first and last family trip in over 20 years and because grays didnt get back to me about the day the car was getting collected they told me within 2 days then asked me what i would pay if they gave it to me cheaper i gave them an offer and its now christmas eve and ive had to stay home with my kids due to having no car money this has been an awful expierience for me and i still havent had any type of communication with grays

Brought a 4WD in October 2022 from Victoria auction.

Got the car delivered in Newcastle NSW. When the car got delivered the car courier driver had trouble starting it and when he finally did it just blow heaps of smoke.

Couple of weeks later I took it down to my mechanic to get a blue slip for it and on the way it overheated.

My mechanic pulled down the top end of the motor and found that the motor has been fully overheated (cooked) before I bought it. So I was up for $10,500- for a secondhand motor after zI just paid $10,570- for the car.

Put a complaint in to Grays and after 3months of them reviewing it they wouldnt come to the party for the motor.

I've been using Grays Online for over a decade for wine purchase and for the most part have been happy with the product. Lately we have had 2 boxes of sparkling wine that don't sparkle.

Grays give a 30 day money back guarantee which sounds good but the devil is in the detail. I live in Perth and it takes up to 3 weeks for the wine to arrive, the best I have had is around 2 weeks. But Grays start the guarantee from the invoice date which is really dishonest. Assuming it takes an average of 2 weeks to arrive that leaves 2 weeks to drink a carton of wine, we would drink 2 bottles a week on average.

The other gamble is that quite often you can't compare wines on Grays to other wine merchants as they are usually odd bods or wines that were meant for export, it's rare that they auction off everyday names that you would see in Liquorland etc. There are plenty of wine merchants (eg Vinomofo) that sell reputable brands at good discounts so it's bye bye Grays.