The ACCC has instituted proceedings in the Federal Court against Miyagi Pty Ltd, a company offering health and wellbeing programs, and its founder and CEO, Shane Da Costa.

It is alleged that between November 2023 and January 2025 the company used contracts with unfair contract terms that prevented many consumers from cancelling the health and wellbeing programs, in breach of the Australian Consumer Law.

In addition, the ACCC alleges that between January 2022 and January 2025 Miyagi made false and misleading representations about the rights of consumers to cancel and obtain a refund for its health and wellness programs, and about its staff members’ professional affiliations.

The ACCC also alleges that Mr Da Costa, who was also the Head of Sales and Head of Marketing and oversaw the day-to-day management of Miyagi, was involved in the breaches, including by approving Miyagi’s contract terms and the telephone scripts that sales staff used when seeking to sign up consumers.

Miyagi provided programs to thousands of consumers experiencing health conditions including diabetes, heart disease, sleep apnoea and menopause. Consumers were charged total costs of between about $1800 and $7500 for six to 18-month programs, which had to be paid in full either up front or through a payment plan.

Miyagi denied the cancellation and refund requests of many consumers who bought programs, including when the consumers’ requests were made shortly after entering the contract and, in some cases, before they had accessed any services.

“We are taking this action because we are extremely concerned that consumers, including many with complex health conditions, signed up to Miyagi’s program on a false premise, under unfair contract terms and after having been given incorrect information about their consumer rights,” ACCC Commissioner Luke Woodward said.

“By providing consumers with information that we say was inaccurate and misleading, Miyagi diminished people’s ability to both make informed decisions and exercise their consumer law rights.”

Miyagi published advertisements on social media inviting consumers to ‘book an obligation free call’.

During the initial sales call, Miyagi directed its sales staff to make statements to consumers such as:

• In my professional opinion, with your [disease], it’s safe to say that you’re at risk of things getting worse…if things don’t change because it’s a scientific FACT that carrying extra kilos, leading a sedentary lifestyle, eating poorly and having risk factors such as [hypertension, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol]…reduce not just the quality of your life…but reduce your actual life expectancy.

The ACCC alleges these statements represented that Miyagi sales representatives were health or medical professionals and therefore had an approval from, or affiliation with, a professional health or medical institute or organisation. Miyagi’s sales staff did not possess any formal health or medical qualifications.

If consumers agreed to purchase a health program from Miyagi during this initial sales call, they were sent a copy of the contract by text or email, which included allegedly unfair contract terms. Consumers were asked to review and agree to the contract terms during the call while the Miyagi sales representative was waiting, which limited their ability to consider the terms.

The ACCC commenced an enforcement investigation after becoming aware of a large number of consumer complaints about Miyagi.

“Many consumers were left significantly out of pocket as a result of Miyagi’s alleged misrepresentations and reliance on unfair contract terms,” Mr Woodward said.

“As well as the human impact, we are concerned that a business which misleads consumers and uses unfair contract terms has an unfair advantage over its law-abiding competitors.”

“We are also taking action against Miyagi’s CEO, Mr Da Costa, who we say was involved in the alleged breaches of the Australian Consumer Law,” Mr Woodward said.

The ACCC is seeking declarations, consumer redress, penalties and other orders against Miyagi and Mr Da Costa, as well as an order disqualifying Mr Da Costa from managing a business.

Background

Miyagi is an Australian company that provides online health and wellbeing programs that include phone calls with dietitians, online educational content, and access to an online support group.

Miyagi offers programs under brand names such as Diabetes Wellness Australia, and Heart Smart Australia. It also previously offered programs under other brand names such as Healthy Gut Australia, Master Menopause Australia, and Defeat Sleep Apnoea.

This case aligns with three of the ACCC’s 2026-27 Compliance and Enforcement Priorities: improving industry compliance with consumer guarantees; unfair contract terms in consumer contracts; and manipulative and false practices and unsafe consumer goods in digital markets.

It also aligns with the ACCC’s enduring priority relating to consumers experiencing vulnerability and disadvantage, and our focus on the accountability of senior executives, particularly where there appears to be a poor compliance culture within the business.

Concise statement

This document contains the ACCC’s initiating court document in relation to this matter. We will not be uploading further documents in the event this initial document is subsequently amended.

ACCC v Miyagi and Mr Da Costa Concise Statement ( PDF 2.32 MB )