Consumers won their first lawsuit against a luxury furniture retailer as a district court in Hangzhou, Zhejiang ordered Da Vinci to pay 3.23 million yuan (HK$3.94 million) for making false claims about its goods.
The plaintiff was a 48-year-old businessman who paid Da Vinci the sum to design a set of furniture in May last year. He sued the firm after an expose by China Central Television in July last year that revealed Da Vinci was making furniture in the southern province of Guangdong rather than in Italy, as it had claimed. The report also said the material used was not expensive solid wood, but synthetic, high-density polymers.
It was the first successful lawsuit against the company by a consumer following the scandal.
Lawyers for the plaintiff, whose full name was not given, argued in court that he and others had bought furniture from Da Vinci because they trusted it, as it had a good reputation.
The man never collected his furniture, and the court dismissed the sales agreement, refunding him the total amount paid.
The court rejected the plaintiff's additional claim of 700,000 yuan for travelling costs between China and Canada, where he now lives.