The company was fined AU$3 million for making misleading or false representations to both customers and retailers. 
ABC reported that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission took legal action against HP in October 2012. Since then, the Federal Court has discovered that the company had made misleading representations about its consumer guarantee rights, such as terms of product returns, warranties and repairs.
An out-of-court settlement was reached by both parties, and HP was fined AU$3 million ($2.7 million/€2.1 million). The company says that steps have been taken to change its policies concerning consumers, and retrain staff.
A statement by HP apologised for the misinformation: “We deeply regret that in the instances identified by the ACCC, HP fell short of our core commitment to high standards of service for Australian consumers who purchased our HP-branded computers and printers, and of our duties under Australian consumer laws.”
The chairman of the ACCC, Rod Sims, concluded by saying that “the ACCC believes that this penalty sends a strong message to all companies, particularly large multi-national companies, that the Australian Consumer Law is not negotiable”.