EziBuy Ltd has offered refunds to purchasers of its 'Mohair Throws' and 'Pashmina Shawls' after acknowledging its fabric labelling and advertising may have been misleading and deceptive.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has accepted a court enforceable undertaking from EziBuy, a company incorporated in New Zealand, over labelling and advertising of its items described as 'Mohair Throws' and 'Pashmina Shawls'.
EziBuy retails clothing and home wares throughout New Zealand via the internet, mail catalogues and retail outlets. In Australia, EziBuy sells its products via mail catalogues and its internet website www.ezibuy.com.au.
EziBuy incorrectly labelled and advertised a throw as a 'Mohair Throw' or 'Pure Mohair Throw' when the fibre content of the throw was approximately 65 per cent acrylic and 35 per cent mohair.
EziBuy also incorrectly labelled and advertised a shawl as a 'Pashmina Shawl' with a fibre content of 70 per cent pashmina (cashmere wool) and 30 per cent silk in circumstances where the fibre content of the product was actually a cotton/polyester blend.
More recent representations concerning the shawl followed earlier problems with the labelling of the throw which Ezibuy had previously drawn to the ACCC's attention following action in New Zealand.
EziBuy has acknowledged that the labelling and advertising of the throws and shawls is likely to have been misleading and deceptive in contravention of sections 52, 53(a) and 55 of the Trade Practices Act 1974.
The ACCC has accepted a court enforceable undertaking from EziBuy that:
- all future advertising (whether in the EziBuy mail order catalogues, on the EziBuy websites, in-store or any other advertising) for all of its product range will accurately describe the composition, quality or standard of the product range
- it has published corrective advertising in its Home Holiday Catalogue and its Autumn Directory Catalogue
- it has placed corrective advertising on its Australian website
- it has re-labelled all current stock and new season stock of the throws
- by its corrective advertising, made an offer of a full refund to any customer who purchased the throw and considered they had been misled by the labelling of the throw
- it has or will communicate as soon as possible with Australian purchasers of the pashmina (for whom they have records) and has or will make an offer of a full refund to any customer who purchased the pashmina and considered they had been misled by the labelling of the pashmina
- it has implemented a Trade Practices compliance program and will administer the compliance program for a period of two years.
ACCC Chairman, Mr Graeme Samuel, said labelling and advertising must accurately describe the product.
A copy of the undertaking will be available on the public register section of the ACCC's website.