Welcome to the Shonkys.

More specifically, welcome to the 20th annual Shonkys! That's right, here at CHOICE we've been putting together the Shonky Awards for 20 incredible years. That's two decades of calling out dodgy products, services and operators for the world to see.

Through these awards we've managed to enact some important changes for Australian consumers. We've sounded alarm bells, alerted you to multiple instances of shonkiness, and hopefully entertained you along the way. 

And we have some great awards for your reading pleasure in 2025. We've got a plug-in heater that doesn't plug in. We're calling out one of the shonkiest industries in Australia, and we're welcoming a major Australian household name back to the Shonkys Hall of Shame for the fourth time.

But first, the elephant in the room – sunscreens. 

There's no doubt that the biggest CHOICE investigation of 2025 revolved around our sunscreen testing. Many of you are probably wondering why Ultra Violette or any number of sunscreen brands aren't represented in this year's awards. The short answer is, it's hard to pin down the real villain. Do we call out the labs for their testing? Do we call out the sunscreen brands themselves when so many have now been removed from shelves? The manufacturers? Do we call out the TGA for not doing its own internal testing?

Ultimately we decided that our sunscreens investigation functions best as an important piece of work separate from the Shonkys. We're committed to seeing the sunscreen issue through to its natural conclusion, but that issue is ongoing and until it's finished, we decided to focus our Shonky efforts elsewhere.

And with all that being said, let's reveal this year's winners.

2025's Shonky Awards go to...

• Commonwealth Bank – for making bank off Australia's poorest
• Temu – for being an unsafe haven for dodgy sales tactics and fast fashion
• Energy retailers – for pricing tactics designed to confuse
• Handy Heater Turbo 800 – for being a plug-in heater that doesn't plug in
• HCF health fund – for a price rise in disguise

Commonwealth Bank

We've been doing the Shonkys for 20 years, so it's only fitting that our old buddies at CommBank return to the fold. All up, this is the fourth Shonky Award for CommBank and it's a well-deserved one.

In July, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) announced it had found many of the major banks had kept customers who were on Centrelink incomes in fee-charging accounts for years, when they should have automatically been transferred into low-fee or no-fee accounts. 

A few weeks after refusing to pay $270 million in refunds, CommBank celebrated a $10 billion dollar annual profit

Many of the banks called out by ASIC said they would engage in remuneration efforts to refund the financially vulnerable customers who had collectively been charged millions in unfair fees. 

Australia's biggest bank, Commonwealth Bank, was not among them. 

"A few weeks after refusing to pay $270 million in refunds, CommBank celebrated a $10 billion dollar annual profit. It is thumbing its nose at ASIC, and at its low-income customers," says CHOICE head of policy Morgan Campbell. 

Temu

Temu's problems are many. Shoppers often wait weeks for deliveries, only to receive products that don't match descriptions or photos. It uses manipulative "gamified" tactics and countdown timers to pressure people into buying. It's also a major contributor to fast fashion – cheaply made, short-lived clothing that quickly ends up in landfill. 

But what we think is especially shonky about the online retail platform is its failure to take adequate responsibility for product safety.

In late 2024, we anonymously bought 15 coin- and button battery-operated products from Temu at random – products like children's watches and electronic toys. Each and every one failed at least one safety requirement under the Australian button battery regulations. Regulations that are designed to protect children's lives. Temu has since removed the offending items from the store.

Waiting until consumer advocates call you out – or worse, someone becomes grievously injured – before acting on safety is simply unacceptable

Earlier that year in Queensland, eight-year-old Daniella Jacobs-Herd suffered burns to 13% of her body when sparks from a firepit ignited her glow-in-the-dark unicorn hoodie – a hoodie bought from Temu and lacking the fire warning label required under Australian law.

Yes, we have found unsafe products on plenty of other online marketplaces. But unlike Amazon Australia, eBay Australia and AliExpress, Temu still refuses to sign up to the ACCC's voluntary Product Safety Pledge, which commits online marketplaces to certain product safety-related responsibilities. 

Waiting until consumer advocates call you out – or worse, someone becomes grievously injured – before acting on safety is simply unacceptable, and extremely shonky indeed. 

Handy Heater Turbo 800

Why is this heater shonky? First off, it's a plug-in heater that doesn't plug in. That's strike one. You need to use an Australian power outlet adaptor just to get it to work. That goes against Australian standards.

To overcome this issue the Handy Heater came packed with a travel adaptor, but that also wasn't compliant. This heater ain't so handy is it?

Also, it fails at its key task: it doesn't put out anywhere near as much heat as its advertising claims. 

From top to bottom, the Handy Heater Turbo 800 is a shonkily made product that no-one should consider buying

"We strongly advise against buying any of these mini heaters that plug into the wall," says CHOICE heating expert Chris Barnes. "Although they may seem like a cheap and convenient option for heating, they carry serious risk of fire or electrical fault."

"Despite the advertising claims made about this type of heater, we found the Handy Heater Turbo 800 is extremely weak and would be pretty useless for heating any room."

From top to bottom, the Handy Heater Turbo 800 is a shonkily made product that no-one should consider buying.

Energy retailers

When 84% of households are worried about paying their energy bills, and one in five Australians are vulnerable to some form of energy hardship, you'd think the energy retailers would be making an effort to point their customers towards the cheaper plans.

But instead, the retailers are making it difficult for consumers to even figure out what the best deal is.

Exhibit A: the 'same name messaging' strategy. Energy retailers roll out new cheaper plans with the exact same name as existing ones.

Such a customer-friendly approach seems out of character for this industry

Why don't customers switch to the new plan with the same name? Logically enough, they think they're already on that plan.

We've estimated that energy customers as a whole could have saved around $65 million a year if retailers had made it clear that the new plan with the same name was cheaper than the existing one. But such a customer-friendly approach seems out of character for this industry.

HCF health fund

At CHOICE we call it "insurance phoenixing". And HCF is the worst offender.

Each year, health insurers must seek government approval to increase premiums. But this only applies to existing policies, not new policies. So what are insurance companies doing? They're closing existing policies, creating "new" policies that are essentially the same product with a new name, and charging whatever increase they like.

Over the past five years, the government-approved increase on health insurance premiums was 16%. HCF's increase? 97%

For example, this year, on the exact same day as the Minister for Health Mark Butler announced a 3.73% average annual increase to health insurance premiums, HCF closed its Premium Gold policy to new members and released an almost identical policy called 'Optimal Gold'.

With a 34.6% increase in price.

Multiple insurance companies are doing this, but HCF is amongst the worst. Over the past five years, the government-approved increase on health insurance premiums was 16%. HCF's increase? 97%.

Very shonky indeed. We believe this needs to stop.

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