Court: BBBY misrepresented thread count

UNION, N.J. Bed, Bath & Beyond Monday announced that it is the subject of a pending lawsuit alleging that it misrepresented the thread count in some of its bedding products.

In a letter sent to customers, Bed, Bath & Beyond stated that lawsuit pending in the Federal District Court claims that the company, as well as Synergy Inc., misrepresented the thread count in its two-ply bedding products sold in stores and on its Web site by stating the number of threads in the warp and filling directions in one square inch of fabric, rather than the number of yarns.

The companies said they deny any wrongdoing and believe the signage, labeling and product samples available to their customers at the time of purchase provided their customers with complete and accurate information.

Bed Bath & Beyond and Synergy stated that they have reached a proposed settlement of the lawsuit that will affect those customers who purchased multi-ply sheet sets, pillowcases, down comforters, bedskirts, shams, duvets and down pillows from Bed Bath & Beyond that were labeled as ‘plied,’ ‘two-ply’ or ‘2-ply’ between Aug. 1, 2000 and Nov. 9, 2007.

Under the terms of the proposed settlement, eligible customers may be entitled to receive a refund of the purchase price of the bed products, a $10.00 gift card from Bed Bath & Beyond, or a 20% discount certificate off any Bed Bath & Beyond purchase up to $250.00 (maximum discount of $50.00). The settlement terms are subject to court approval.

Further, as part of this settlement, Bed Bath & Beyond has agreed that for a period of five years, to the extent it knowingly sells multi-ply bed products containing a specific reference to a numerical thread count, those products will be labeled in accordance with the ASTM Standard for determining thread count in multi-ply bed products.