Linen House Pty Ltd - s.87B undertaking

Linen House Pty Ltd, trading as Linen House, has provided a court enforceable undertaking to the ACCC in respect to representations concerning its own-brand ‘Linen House’ goose down quilts.

Linen House has represented to consumers that its ‘Linen House’ quilts contain 100% goose down.  It is widely acknowledged in the down products industry that it is highly unlikely that 100% down content could be achieved under normal commercial manufacturing processes.

ACCC and Linen House testing (by independent, professional testers based in Australia) of a sample of ‘Linen House’ quilts represented as containing 100% goose down showed that the quilts contained in the range of 50% - 55% goose down, substantially less than the represented 100% goose down.

Linen House advised the ACCC that its 100% down content claims were made in reliance on incorrect test reports provided by its overseas supplier and on labelling percentage ‘tolerances’ allowed under the Australian Standard (AS) 2479-1987 (Down and/or feather filling materials and filled products), and that it had not intended to mislead or deceive consumers.

Linen House has undertaken to:

• not promote that any of its products contain 100% down;
• not make any other down content percentage representations which include any percentage tolerance or allowance;
• not make any down content percentage representations that it cannot substantiate by way of testing of its finished down products in accordance with the testing method specified in AS-2479 or International Down & Feather Bureau approved testing methods;
• place a corrective notice on its web-site for 90 days;
• place corrective newspaper advertisements in each State and Territory in which ‘Linen House’ quilts have been sold, offering full refunds to consumers who purchased ‘Linen House’ quilts and wish to return them; and
• implement a trade practices compliance program including independent reviews.