Victim speaks out over bedding company's illegal actions

Bedding company Wenatex chose the wrong person to mess with when they took on retired Dunedin businesswoman Nancy Durst.

Ms Durst's complaint to the Commerce Commission over the company's hard-sell tactics was the catalyst for an investigation which led to the company being fined $69,935 in the Auckland District Court.

The company pleaded guilty to 34 charges brought by the Commerce Commission over its seminars, held at community centres, where its "sleep systems" - beds and bedding - were for sale.

Bedding packages were often priced at about $5000, and a large, non-refundable deposit was payable on the day.

However, Wenatex failed to advise customers they had a right to a "cooling-off" period, which is applicable to all goods sold door-to-door or in other high-pressure sales situations such as seminars.

Ms Durst was invited to a Dunedin seminar and took five friends. She and one of them suffered from bad backs and both signed up for a package.

When the other four friends said they would think about it, the salesman told them "it won't be this price tomorrow".

"I think he put pressure on us," Ms Durst told APNZ.

The four stuck to their guns but Ms Durst and her neighbour, believing the mattresses would leave them pain-free, paid $1000 and $40 in deposits respectively.

Ms Durst signed up for a $2497 mattress and a $242 pillow. With delivery, it came to $2788.

But within two days she was having second thoughts, as was her neighbour.

The neighbour wrote to Wenatex cancelling her order and was told she would forfeit her deposit - no big deal as it was only $40, which was all she had on her on the night.

Ms Durst had put her $1000 deposit on her credit card and decided that was too much to lose, so proceeded with the purchase.

But a week after her mattress and pillow arrived she contacted the company, saying they were "terrible" and not helping her back at all.

"They said 'you have to give it a fair go'," she said.

She contacted them regularly over the next few months but was put off each time, or could not contact the manager. By the time she tracked him down - in Australia - he told her it was too late for a refund.

Ms Durst persisted and, nine months after arriving, her mattress was taken away. However, they refused to take the pillow, and charged her 10 per cent for paperwork, another $49 delivery fee and to sanitise the mattress, leaving her about $700 out of pocket.

"At the time I was so happy to get (the rest) back and get rid of the bloody mattress," she said.

Ms Durst was also left kicking herself that she did not recognise the sales tactics employed on the night.

"I went to a training session to sell [another product] and they adopt that same policy, and I should have recognised it, but I was desperate," she said.

"I thought 'I don't want to pay more for this mattress, I'm going to have to have it, the astronauts are using it' and I took them on face value.

"I don't think I was silly, I think I was desperate. Desperate for comfort."

Commerce Commission competition manager Graham Gill said businesses needed to ensure they did not mislead customers on their consumer rights.

"The cooling-off period gives consumers the chance to cancel a contract and receive a full refund of any amount they have paid," he said.

"Wenatex's sales contracts did not set out this right of cancellation and, in addition, the contracts misled customers by stating that deposits were not refundable. When some customers legitimately attempted to cancel their contracts, Wenatex representatives told them that their deposits would not be refunded."

Wenatex was also ordered to make refunds of $1285 and to pay costs of $4518.