CHOICE just named Australia's biggest consumer fails
From ticket platforms charging "ridiculous prices", to flight credits that turned into pure airline profit, Australia's leading consumer advocate has called out the worst products and services of 2026.
CHOICE has announced the winners of its 21st annual Shonky Awards, bestowing the dubious gong on the businesses whose products and services it says are the worst it's seen all year.
The recipients range from major ticket-selling platforms and appliance brands, to food manufacturers and pet insurance providers.
"At a time when most consumers are doing it tough, you'd think that companies might give us all a break," said CHOICE CEO Monique Perry.
"Unfortunately, consumers continue to be treated badly by businesses across Australia, so there was no shortage of contenders for this year's awards".
Ticket giants slammed for high prices
Ticketek and Ticketmaster were joint winners of the first of this year's Shonky gongs, for "sneaky tactics" and high prices on their ticket-selling platforms.
CHOICE says wording on these websites suggested they had been applying dynamic pricing algorithms.
These cause ticket prices to fluctuate depending on how popular they are.
CHOICE gave the example of tickets to a John Farnham concert, sold on Ticketek, that had been "inflated" to as much as $1650.
For Ticketmaster, it highlighted seats at an NRL game that were $50 more expensive than others in a similar location because they were deemed to be "in demand".
In a statement to Money, Ticketek denied the $1650 John Farnham tickets were the result of dynamic pricing.
It said customers are notified when dynamic pricing does apply.
Ticketmaster denied using "surge pricing or algorithms that automatically increase prices in response to real-time demand".
It added that it doesn't set the prices of tickets on its platform, which it says are decided by event organisers.
Airline called out for banking customer credits
Virgin Australia is another Shonky recipient, for giving customers limited time to use flight credits before banking them as profit.
CHOICE says a swathe of service cancellations by the airline during the COVID pandemic left customers holding $93 million worth of credits to use on other flights.
Consumers had until June 30 this year to use these vouchers to book a flight scheduled no later than May next year.
CHOICE says this timeframe allowed Virgin to take back tens of millions of dollars worth of expired credits for itself as profit.
The airline told Money it extended the cut-off date for customers to use these credits several times.
It added that more than 93% of COVID credits were redeemed.
Pet insurance accused of offering little protection
CHOICE has also given a Shonky to pet insurance provider Petcover's Economy policy.
Instead of having their cover renewed every year, CHOICE says customers are being sold a new policy every 12 months.
This classifies any conditions their pet suffered in the previous year as pre-existing and therefore excluded from cover.
What's worse, CHOICE says, is that the policy's definition of a pre-existing condition is one of the broadest it's seen, refusing to help pay for a large range of ailments.
"Basically, you're covered until you have something that needs cover," summarises CHOICE pet insurance expert Daniel Graham.
Petcover told Money it strongly refutes CHOICE's characterisation of its policy.
It says its Economy plan is designed for pets aged over eight years and is the only policy offering such cover to pets of this age.
The washer-dryer taking 25 hours
It wouldn't be a Shonky Awards without an under-performing household appliance.
This year, Hisense's HCF8I1215HB washer-dryer was included for apparently selling customers short in order to secure a higher energy rating.
CHOICE says the machine's eight-star commendation for drying came courtesy of its 'Eco' mode's "ludicrous" 13.5 hour running time.
Using the Eco setting for washing also takes more than 12 hours.
CHOICE says Hisense is "gaming a broken system", which allows appliance manufacturers to nominate which program its efficiency rating applies to.
It says the machine's 25-hour washing and drying run time is not designed to benefit consumers, but rather to get the machine a better energy rating.
Sony charging to play, but not own
Sony Interactive Entertainment has received a Shonky for announcing that all new games on its PlayStation system will only be available via digital download from next year.
CHOICE is warning gamers that this will mean they'll no longer own games, but rather just hold a licence to access them from Sony.
The advocate has pointed to examples overseas of Sony ending licensing agreements with content distributors.
This left consumers no longer able to access the games and other content they had paid for - something CHOICE says could happen here.
'Rip-off' protein chips
Lots of food products are promising extra protein these days, but CHOICE found you're usually paying 50% more per 100g for these than for standard versions of the same product.
The biggest offender, and a recipient of a 2026 Shonky, are the Nacho Cheese Tortilla Style Protein Chips made by Quest Nutrition.
According to CHOICE, 32g packets of these "protein-forward" snacks can cost up to $6.50.
When the cost is broken down per 100g, it's a more than 800% markup from Doritos' similar nacho cheese flavoured snacks.
CHOICE says this "hefty protein tax" makes the chips well-deserving of a Shonky.
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