Bed company fined for misleading consumers.
Wenatex, a company that sells high-priced beds and bedding through "Healthy Sleep" seminars, has been fined $69,935 for misleading consumers about the right to cancel their contracts.
Many customers signed up to buy the beds – which could cost well over $5000 – on credit. But the company failed to inform them of their right to a "cooling-off" period under the Door to Door Sales Act and the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act. When customers did try to cancel, Wenatex ignored the requests and refused to refund deposits.
These are the same problems we reported on in March 2010. When we sent a mystery shopper to a Wenatex presentation, sales staff failed to provide information about how to cancel and refused to let our shopper take home a copy of the credit contract to read before going ahead with the deal.
Following a Commerce Commission investigation, Wenatex pleaded guilty in the District Court to misleading consumers and has been ordered to refund deposits to affected customers. The court's sentencing decision states that Wenatex had a turnover of around $7 million in the 15 months to 30 June 2009. The company's Australian owner has reportedly decided to stop operating here.
More information
- Wenatex "Healthy Sleep" presentations - our March 2010 article on the company.
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