Commerce Commission says complaints about the tutoring firm added up to more than 180.

An Auckland firm that visited people's homes and persuaded parents to buy maths tutoring software for their children is facing 37 charges.

The Commerce Commission has accused the company, Auckland Academy of Learning (AAL), of misrepresenting its service and breaching consumer credit and direct selling laws.

The watchdog said it had received more than 180 complaints about the activities of AAL, whose sales practices were featured on current affairs show Campbell Live last year.

The commission had previously said AAL was the third largest source of Fair Trading Act complaints in 2014, after Spark and Vodafone.

READ MORE: Spark NZ's most complained about company last year

AAL owner and director Craig McPherson said he only learned of the commission's statement when contacted by Stuff, and did want to make immediate comment.

The commission said AAL staff visited families of school-aged children on the pretext of providing an "evaluation and tutoring session" but said its goal was to sell them a software programme called CAMI (Computer Aided Mathematics Instruction) at a price of between $6000 and $11,000.

The educational assessment AAL provided did not correspond with the New Zealand curriculum and was "inadequately set for the level of learning that AAL said they were assessing", the commission said.

It also alleged AAL failed to tell consumers, before agreements were entered into, that they had a right to cancel the "uninvited direct sales agreement", and in some cases misrepresented CAMI's pricing.

AAL says on its website that it provides a package of education software and tutoring support which has "equipped millions of students across the globe with the knowledge and confidence to achieve great results".

It customised CAMI, which was developed in 1984, to suit individual learning needs and coupled that with tutoring support, it said.