Furniture and Bedding Concepts Ltd - s.87B undertaking

Furniture and Bedding Concepts Ltd, formerly known as Sleep City Holdings Ltd  (FBC) is the parent company which owns and operates businesses under the following brand names:

• ‘Sleep City’, regarding the manufacture, importing and retailing of bedding products; and
• ‘Everyday Living’, regarding the manufacture, importing and retailing of furniture and home wares. 

In August 2008, FBC published a Spring ‘08 catalogue on behalf of its Sleep City and Everyday Living businesses for the period of 14 August 2008 until 30 September 2008 (“the sale”).

Many of the products in the Spring ’08 catalogue were promoted by comparison pricing in the “Now $X Save $Y” format (“the products”).

FBC admits that the represented savings for the products were determined in comparison to FBC’s own internally determined recommended retail prices, rather than the prices at which the products were offered for sale or sold immediately prior to the commencement of the sale.

FBC admits that the prices at which many of the products were offered for sale or sold for a reasonable period immediately prior to the commencement of the sale were lower than the recommended retail prices.

Accordingly, FBC admits that the representations made in the ‘Now $X Save $Y’ format in the Spring ’08 catalogue did not accurately reflect the actual savings available for many of the products for the duration of the sale, and were likely to breach sections 52 and 53(e) of the Act.

FBC has ceased the conduct of conern and offered the ACCC a section 87B undertaking that it will:

• not make misleading price representations for a period of 3 years;
• offer affected consumers a $100 gift voucher;
• send a letter of apology to affected consumers and offer them a $100 gift voucher;
• publish corrective notices on its websites and in its retail stores;
• publish an information article in a relevent industry magazine; and
• strengthen its existing Trade Practices Compliance Program.