Bed, Bath And Beyond Sentenced Over Record Number Of Unsafe Products

The Commerce Commission has secured a $230,000 fine against Bed, Bath and Beyond for five breaches of the Fair Trading Act related to the sale of non-compliant children’s pyjamas and hot water bottles.

“Businesses must ensure the products they supply comply with legal requirements and are safe for the intended user - especially requirements about fire safety and burns which help keep consumers safe,” Commerce Commission General Manager of Competition, Fair Trading, and Credit Vanessa Horne says.

“It was important for us to take this case as this is the largest number of items that didn’t comply with product safety requirements the Commission has seen,” Ms Horne says. “The failures in this case increased the risk of harm for the over 27,000 consumers who purchased these products.”

From March to October 2023 Bed, Bath and Beyond sold 27,374 products that did not include the safety information in the locations required by law. This included at least 3,753 children’s pyjama sets that did not have the fire hazard information in the required visible spot or in the online descriptions, and 23,801 hot water bottles that did not provide instructions about safe usage and storage.

In the sentencing decision, Judge Bonnar stated that “by virtue of the number of non-compliant goods supplied by Bed, Bath and Beyond on a nationwide basis, and having regard to the duration of the offending, the offending must be considered as serious offending.”

“The required fire hazard labels and hot water bottle instructions are there to inform consumers about the risks of products so they can keep themselves and their families safe. Its vital businesses have rigorous compliance processes to ensure they follow all labelling obligations,” Ms Horne says.

Bed, Bath and Beyond was sentenced in the Auckland District Court.

Note:

Product Safety Standards (Children’s Nightwear) and Unsafe Goods Notices (Hot Water Bottles) apply to some products which pose increased risks of harm to consumers.

The legislation prescribes minimum standards and format of information when higher risk products are sold, to ensure that consumers are aware of the relevant dangers, so they can better reduce the risk of harm occurring.

Hot water bottles need to include detailed instructions for their safe use, and children’s pyjamas need to have permanent warning labels in specific locations (at the top of the garment and in online descriptions) to outline the level of potential fire risk.

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