Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
A US cookware supplier has been penalised for falsely claiming that its products offered health benefits.
Salespeople working for Washington-based Rena Ware International went into customers’ homes under false pretences and then tried to sell them cookware on the pretext that it could cure certain diseases.
Ordering Rena Ware to pay over $600,000 in refunds, fines and costs, California Attorney General Edmund G Brown Jr said: “This company made fraudulent and unethical claims that its products cured serious diseases. Their illegal, high-pressure sales tactics preyed on the fears of vulnerable Californians.”
Rena Ware’s chief targets were Spanish-speaking immigrants in Los Angeles. Salespeople gave bogus reasons for wanting to enter their homes, and then told them that their existing cookware could cause diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, heart disease and diabetes.
The victims were told that Rena Ware’s expensive cookware could cure some of the diseases.
The company also offered finance at over 21% a year, failed to offer a cooling-off period following an order and employed intimidating tactics to recover debts.
