Fourth furniture retailer convicted in three months: Panmure Furniture City pays $10,000 Fair Trading fines and costs
Published20 Jun 2000
Commerce Commission action against misleading claims by furniture retailers has continued with the Auckland District Court ordering Panmure Furniture City 1983 Limited to pay an $8,000 fine plus $2,000 solicitor's costs.
Commission Chair John Belgrave said that the Commission alleged that Panmure Furniture City breached the Fair Trading Act by offering free gifts mountain bikes and cordless telephones with the intention of not providing them as offered. Panmure Furniture City admitted the breach.
This was the fourth Fair Trading conviction of a furniture retailer in three months. It was part of the crackdown on what the Commission believes are widespread problems among furniture retailers.
"We have been concerned for some time about misleading claims made by furniture retailers," Mr Belgrave said. "We have done much educational work, often in conjunction with the Retail Merchants Association. Disappointingly, not all furniture retailers have taken notice.
"Investigations will continue and more prosecutions are likely."
In sentencing Panmure Furniture City, Judge Deobhakta said that in the last few years there has been a consistent need for the Commission to be involved in the furniture retailing industry. Now there is a need for the courts to impose deterrent sentences.
Panmure Furniture City used voice-overs in television advertisements to offer "free mountain bikes and cordless phones". However, the offer did not apply to all the furniture advertised.
At the end of each commercial a number of conditions appeared in small print. One of the conditions was "free phone and bike offer on selected items". This notice was not included in the voice over and was so fleeting and small in size that it was unnoticeable.
Background
Recent Fair Trading Act prosecutions of furniture retailers:
Hazelwoods Home Traders Limited, Upper Hutt District Court, total fines $15,000 for not providing all the items advertised in a "fantastic start up package deal", and for describing pine furniture as "solid rimu"
Furniture Now Limited, Napier District Court, total fines $8,000 for similar breaches to those committed by Hazelwoods, and
Waitemata Backcare Beds and Waterbeds Limited, Waitakere District Court, $3,500 fine for an offer described as "interest free" that was not genuinely interest free.
The most common Fair Trading Act issues among furniture retailers are:
offering gifts or prizes and not providing them
false or misleading claims about prices
false claims about the composition of furniture, and
