Lenovo SG and reseller called out for 'false or misleading' claims for gaming laptops by consumer body

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Lenovo Singapore and its former authorised reseller and partner Want Join Information Technology, were found to have made false or misleading claims about the screen refresh rate of certain models of the Lenovo Legion Y540 gaming laptop, the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) said.

Lenovo Singapore had, between April 2019 and June 2020, stated on its website that the screen refresh rate of its Legion Laptops could achieve “up to 144 Hz”. Screen refresh rate refers to the number of times per second that the image refreshes on the screen. In this case, a 144 Hz display will update the screen 144 times per second.

On 19 January 2020, the Lianhe Wanbao published a case study by the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) of a consumer who purchased a laptop after being misled by an online advertisement stating that the laptop had a 144 Hz screen refresh rate.

According to CCCS, the consumer claimed that the laptop he subsequently received only had a 60 Hz screen refresh rate and sought assistance from CASE. Following CASE’s engagement with Lenovo Singapore, the latter provided a full refund to the consumer. Months later in May 2020, CCCS began investigations against Lenovo and Want Join in relation to representations made in respect of the screen refresh rate of the Legion Laptop found on Lenovo Singapore’s website and product listings posted on the Lenovo LazMall flagship store.

During the course of its investigations, CCCS said that in a model comparison table for the full range of models of the Legion Laptop, only two specific models were stated to have a screen refresh rate of 60 Hz. In fact, four other models of the Legion Laptop could only achieve a screen refresh rate of up to 60 Hz.

"This information was omitted from the model comparison table on Lenovo Singapore’s website, giving rise to the impression that the 'up to 144 Hz' screen refresh rate also applied to these four models," CCCS said.

CCCS also ascertained that Want Join, in its capacity as a former authorised reseller and partner of Lenovo Singapore, had, between August 2019 and March 2020, posted product listings for two models of the Legion Laptop on the LazMall Website stating that the screen refresh rate could achieve “up to 144 Hz”, when these models could in fact only achieve a screen refresh rate of up to 60 Hz. Both Lenovo Singapore and Want Join have stopped selling the Legion Laptop since June 2020 and March 2020, respectively.

Lenovo Singapore and Want Join have each provided CCCS with an undertaking to cease the unfair practices described above and not engage in any other unfair practices under the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act 2003 (CPFTA).

Both businesses have also implemented an internal compliance policy to ensure that their advertising, marketing materials and listings of their retail goods and services do not amount to unfair practices under the CPFTA.

Lenovo Communications told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that the company acknowledges that some information published on our website in late 2019, about the specifications of one product series, was unclear.

"We have since updated our website to ensure that all information that would be relevant to consumer purchase decisions is listed clearly and prominently on Lenovo’s website, and have put in place an internal compliance policy to avoid future occurrences," the company said.

Given that Lenovo Singapore and Want Join had ceased claims of its Legion Laptops achieving a screen refresh rate of up to 144 Hz either before or shortly after CCCS commenced its investigations, CCCS has, taking into account the facts and circumstances of the respective cases, decided to accept the undertakings and closed its investigations. CCCS said that consumers who are affected by the unfair practices described above can consider approaching Lenovo Singapore or Want Join to seek redress.

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