Westfield Kotara — Local services in Newcastle-Maitland

Subject: Formal Complaint – Breach of Consumer Law at Westfield Kotara

To whom it may concern,

I am writing to raise a formal complaint regarding an unacceptable experience at Westfield Kotara on 3 May 2025, at approximately 12:15 PM.

I was at the customer service desk to redeem a promotional gift after making qualifying purchases. While a staff member was reviewing my receipts, another employee, Lisa, served a couple who had arrived after me and gave them the free gift. I was then informed that there were none left. The other couple knew I was there first and they took it. I can’t believe it occurred. I would never take something from someone who deserved it first.

When I pointed out the issue, Lisa simply said, “Oh well, can’t do anything about it.” I responded, “You will hear about this through a complaint,” because I was clearly there first and followed all the required steps. The staff member assisting me even admitted that Lisa had done the wrong thing.

I spent considerable time and money at Westfield Kotara under the belief that I would receive the advertised promotional gift. Instead, I was treated unfairly, dismissed, and left empty-handed due to your staff’s mishandling of the promotion. If there were no free gifts there when I arrived at the desk it would be a completely different situation!

This incident may breach Australian Consumer Law, particularly Section 18, which prohibits misleading or deceptive conduct in trade or commerce. Failing to honour a promotion after it has influenced consumer spending is not only unethical but potentially unlawful.

If this matter is not resolved promptly and appropriately, I will be escalating my complaint to NSW Fair Trading and pursuing it further.

I trust that as CEO of Westfield, you will take this matter seriously and ensure it is addressed. Do not give out free advertised products if you can’t live up to the expectation of handing them out. Train your staff to understand customer...

An up market shopping centre in heart of Newcastle. A shopping centre with a multitude or large common shops and numerous boutique shops. Clean tidy place and has recently added a new rooftop alfresco dinnning area, with many restaurants and a new cinema too

Of the main shopping centres in Newcastle this one is more upper market and has a bit more show of class rather than gleam and glamour. This place has all the common stores like, Woolworths, coles, Target and Kmart. Plus it has hundreds of speciality stores. The store is clean and well maintained. The toilets are modern and kept very clean, the childrens feeding/change room is great too. They have a few kids play areas which are well designed and kids love them. Also closely located to a coffee shop. The food kiosk is large and has a great verity to select from. They have recently added a new alfreco dinning area on the roof, which is hosted by a range of restaurants. Its the new highlight for Westfield. Also there is a new cinema which is getting alot of thumbs up.

The only few probs I had here all comes down to busy time and crowds. Parking is murder at this time. Same can be said for the food kiosk at lunch time. Its a pain trying to get a table. The new rooftop area, even if it's the bees knees is annoying when there are flys all over your food and you. They seem not to have come up with a practical means to controle this annoyence.

All in all a great placd to shop and have meal or coffee. This place definitely not just for the...

Not considerate of People with disabilities. Not enough scooters yet staff say they have enough, yet they have a time limit that no other shopping centre have. Other centres also have many more scooters. Disabled parking is not compliant in many places, like the ones up from Park Ave entry. not compliant with Australian Standards nor have they complied with any standards in the past. Even to the point where just a normal spot but with cross beams on side which prevents doors being opened full width which people with wheelchairs or other mobility equipment need to get in and out of their car. On the upper level they removed all disabled parking. Only worried about Parents with Prams as they think they spend more money. they stereotype presuming people with kids have more money to spend and all disabled are on disability pensions. 20% of population have disabilities and they then have family and friends who support so it is a large chunk of the population you are dissuading from visiting your centre. Most disabled are not on a pension and some have high qualifications and earn good money, so get out of the dark ages and get up to scratch in your compliance, otherwise the media publicity from a Human Rights complaint may not be good...