WELLINGTON - Four furniture retailers have been convicted of misleading advertising claims in the last three months and more prosecutions are to come, says the Commerce Commission.
In the most recent case, Auckland's Panmure Furniture City was convicted in the District Court. Judge Avinash Deobhakta ordered the company to pay an $8000 fine and $2000 in solicitor's costs.
The case followed action taken by the commission, chairman John Belgrave said yesterday.
The commission had argued that Panmure Furniture City breached the Fair Trading Act when it offered free gifts with the intention of not providing them as offered.
"We have been concerned for some time about misleading claims by furniture retailers," Mr Belgrave said.
The commission had carried out educational work, often in tandem with the Retail Merchants Association, but not all furniture retailers had taken notice.
"Investigations will continue and more prosecutions are likely."
Panmure Furniture City used voice-overs in television advertisements to offer "free mountain bikes and cordless phones," but its offer did not apply to all furniture advertised.
Conditions printed at the end of the advertisement were so fleeting and small as to be virtually unnoticeable.
Other firms recently prosecuted have been:
* Hazlewoods Home Traders, in the Upper Hutt District Court, fined $15,000 for not providing all items advertised in a "fantastic start-up package deal," and for describing pine furniture as solid rimu.
* Furniture Now, in the Napier District Court, fined $8000, for similar breaches to Hazlewoods'.
* Waitemata Backcare Beds and Waterbeds, in the Waitakere District Court, fined $3500 for an offer described as interest-free when it was not genuinely so.
- NZPA
Clamp-down on furniture firms for false claims
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