Pakistani bedding sold as Australian - refunds to follow

Vita Pacific, a Pacific-Dunlop company, will offer full cash refunds to customers who bought Manhattan brand bedding ensembles through K-Mart stores nationally.

The offer is one of several enforceable undertakings given today to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission after a recent investigation.

The investigation revealed that for the past four months K-Mart stores have been selling Manhattan bedding ensembles in a sealed package labelled "Proudly made in Australia". However, the care labels sewn onto the enclosed sheets and pillow cases state "Made in Pakistan". The ACCC believes that the labelling was likely to be a false or misleading representation in breach of the Trade Practices Act.

Vita Pacific, who supplied the ensembles to K-Mart, admitted that the sheets and pillowcases were imported from Pakistan, but said that the comforter was in fact Australian. The company claimed that the country of origin labelling had been overlooked when making up the ensembles as a special order for K-Mart.

K-Mart has cooperated by withdrawing all stocks from sale immediately after being alerted to the problem and have sent them back to Vita Pacific.

The ACCC believes that the undertakings will go some way toward redressing detriment not only to consumers but also to competitors of Vita Pacific.

In addition to the refunds, Vita Pacific will publish an apology in a national daily newspaper and pay $3000 toward the legal and investigation costs of the ACCC.

Consumers who seek refunds should phone Vita Pacific (03) 9728 3055 for details.