A FURNITURE company which continually advertised about closing down while constantly remaining open has been banned by a judge from publishing misleading advertisements.
Oisín Quinn SC, for the National Consumer Agency, told the Circuit Civil Court yesterday that Emerald Fine Furnishings Ltd, with showrooms in Dublin and Cork, had been advertising false closure and reduced price sales for almost a year.
He said the company's advertisements in national newspapers, including The Irish Times,the Irish Daily Mail, Irish Independentand Irish Examiner, misled consumers into thinking they were being offered last-minute bargains at huge reductions over the "last few days" of closing-down sales.
Circuit Court president Mr Justice Matthew Deery told Mr Quinn that it was in the public interest that the court grant the agency orders restraining Emerald Fine Furnishings from misleading consumers it was closing down or moving premises when it was not.
He also banned the company from stating it was clearing the entire contents of its showrooms when this was not the case or making false representations that furniture was for sale at reduced prices for limited periods.
Mr Quinn said this was the first time such an application had been brought before the courts under recent legislation and followed Consumer Agency concerns in relation to promotional activity in the furniture sector generally.
Catherine Lenihan, assistant director of the National Consumer Agency, said its inspectors had been investigating the commercial practices of the firm since last July.
Of particular concern were ads referring to claims of closing down its business and cancelled trade orders giving rise to allegedly advantageous prices to consumers when this was not so.
Agency inspectors had pointed out to Emerald Fine Furnishing representatives that company ads consistently listed the same level of availability of product as was being sold out months previously.
Geoff Ginster, director of Emerald Fine Furnishing, had indicated that he was willing to address issues raised by the agency but a further advertisement had appeared in November 2008 claiming to clear the entire 7,000 pieces in its Dublin and Cork showrooms at falsely reduced prices.
Mr Quinn said that despite this ad, the company continued to trade over Christmas and since and had continued to advertise price comparisons of a dubious nature.