CHOICE named five recipients of its 2025 Shonky Awards: Commonwealth Bank (CommBank), Temu, energy retailers as a group, the Handy Heater Turbo 800, and health insurer HCF. The awards mark the 20th year of CHOICE’s consumer-advocacy campaign, which highlights products, services and companies it believes let consumers down. They are criticism by a consumer organisation, not court judgments or regulator orders.
Who won a 2025 Shonky Award?
| Recipient | Issue CHOICE highlighted |
|---|---|
| Commonwealth Bank (CommBank) | Fees CHOICE says should not have been charged to low-income customers |
| Temu | Marketplace practices, sales tactics, fast fashion and product-safety concerns |
| Energy retailers | Pricing tactics CHOICE says can make it harder to identify a cheaper plan |
| Handy Heater Turbo 800 | A heater CHOICE says required an adaptor for an Australian socket and did not heat properly |
| HCF | A replacement health-insurance policy CHOICE characterised as a price rise in disguise |
CHOICE’s November 2025 media release said CommBank’s award was its fourth, making the bank the most awarded Australian company in Shonkys history, according to CHOICE.
Why was CommBank called out?
CHOICE linked the award to fees it says should not have been charged to customers on low incomes. Its coverage referenced $270 million in refunds and quoted head of policy Morgan Campbell criticising the bank’s response. Campbell said, “A few weeks after refusing to pay $270 million in refunds, CommBank celebrated a $10 billion dollar annual profit.” CHOICE’s wording describes its account of the dispute; the material available here does not establish that a remaining refund obligation has been legally determined or confirm the final remediation status.
CHOICE CEO Ashley de Silva described the awards’ purpose this way: “For 20 years now, CHOICE has been calling out dodgy products, services and companies through our annual Shonky Awards.”
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What’s shonky about Temu?
CHOICE’s concerns covered marketplace practices, sales tactics, fast fashion and product safety. Its strongest quantified safety finding came from testing conducted in 2024: all 15 randomly selected Temu coin- and button-battery products it bought failed at least one relevant Australian requirement, according to CHOICE’s 2025 media release. CHOICE said all 15 products were removed from sale. That is a result for the tested sample, not evidence that every product on the marketplace is unsafe.
CHOICE also reported that an eight-year-old Queensland child suffered burns over 13% of her body after sparks ignited a Temu hoodie. According to CHOICE, the ACCC found the hoodie did not meet mandatory safety standards because it lacked a fire warning label, and the item was later recalled after consultation with the regulator. This account and the description of the regulator’s finding are reported here as CHOICE presented them.
There is a useful distinction between these examples and a blanket claim about all Temu goods: CHOICE’s individual Temu feature says a musical birthday card it later tested did not present safety issues, although it failed to play music. CHOICE’s feature also said Temu had not signed the voluntary Product Safety Pledge at the time of publication, while noting that Temu later told CHOICE it was in discussions with the ACCC. That pledge status is time-sensitive and should not be read as a current update.
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Why did energy retailers receive an award?
CHOICE criticised pricing tactics it said were designed to confuse customers about available plans. It estimated that customers could collectively save about $65 million per year if retailers made clear that a cheaper new plan with the same name was available alongside an existing plan. This is CHOICE’s 2025 estimate; the coverage cited here does not provide a full methodology or an independent calculation.
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What is wrong with the Handy Heater Turbo 800?
The Handy Heater Turbo 800 was the only named physical product among the 2025 recipients. CHOICE described it as “a plug-in heater that doesn’t plug in” and said it did not heat properly. In its testing account, the heater’s plug did not fit an Australian power point, so an Australian buyer would need an adaptor. CHOICE said the supplied adaptor was non-compliant and left pins exposed when plugged into an Australian socket. This is a safety warning about the specific model, not a recommendation to use an adaptor. The cited material does not establish whether the model is currently available to buy.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What did HCF change, and how did CHOICE calculate the comparison?
CHOICE said HCF closed its Premium Gold policy to new members and released an almost identical policy called Optimal Gold with a 34.6% price increase in its example. CHOICE characterised this as a price rise in disguise and said the approach avoided the approval process applicable to increases on existing health-insurance policies. That is CHOICE’s analysis, not an adjudicated finding established by the material cited here.
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CHOICE made a separate comparison of selected Gold policies available to new customers in January 2021 and April 2025. Its figures below compare NSW policies except for HBF, which was in Western Australia; they are CHOICE’s reported five-year changes, not a like-for-like national measure.
| Insurer or policy group | Reported change | CHOICE comparison context |
|---|---|---|
| HCF | 97% | NSW; selected Gold policies available to new customers in January 2021 and April 2025 |
| HBF | Up to 82% | Western Australia; selected Gold policies available to new customers in January 2021 and April 2025 |
| NIB/Qantas | 72% | NSW; selected Gold policies available to new customers in January 2021 and April 2025 |
| Medibank | 68% | NSW; selected Gold policies available to new customers in January 2021 and April 2025 |
| Bupa | 56% | NSW; selected Gold policies available to new customers in January 2021 and April 2025 |
How to read the awards
The five awards cover different consumer issues, so they are not a ranking of comparable products or companies. CHOICE’s criticisms and examples can help readers identify questions to ask—such as whether a fee is justified, whether a plan’s price is clear, or whether a product meets Australian safety requirements—but an award alone does not decide a legal dispute or establish a regulator’s conclusion.
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