Overview
- CHOICE released its 21st Shonky Awards on Wednesday, November 3, 2026, singling out companies it says misled or took value from consumers across retail, travel, entertainment and insurance.
- Hisense won a Shonky after CHOICE found its Series 8i washer-dryer achieved an advertised high energy rating only on a specific Eco program that takes more than 25 hours to wash and dry a load.
- Ticketek and Ticketmaster were criticised for adopting dynamic or ‘in‑demand’ pricing that pushed some ticket prices far higher than face value, including Tribute concert seats reported at up to $1,650 and NRL seats sold at marked-up in‑demand rates.
- Virgin Australia was named for retaining about $75 million in expired COVID-era flight credits after setting booking and travel deadlines that left some customers unable to use their value, a figure the airline says mostly reflected redeemed credits.
- CHOICE also flagged Sony’s move toward licence-only digital games, Petcover’s annual policy reset that treats prior conditions as pre-existing, and heavily marked-up ‘protein’ chips from Quest, and said the awards add momentum to planned Australian law changes to curb misleading pricing and protect consumer access.