These bedbug treatments were bogus -- the refunds are real
When it comes to eradicating a company's bogus pest-control claims, the Federal Trade Commission is finding one particular producer of "natural" pesticides to be a recurring nuisance.
Five years after agreeing to a consent order settling an FTC complaint about deceptively marketed bedbug and head-lice products, Chemical Free Solutions, or CFS, has reached another settlement.
Beyond acknowledging it violated the 2013 order, the company is banned from selling eradication products, and it will have to make refunds to consumers, the FTC said in its latest settlement with CFS.
The FTC on Monday said it's mailing refund checks totaling more than $224,000 to 852 consumers across the country who bought Cedarcide Original, a line of CFS products that claim to use cedar oil to stop and prevent bedbug infestations. Those getting the checks, which average $252, are recouping 95 percent of what they spent on the deceptively advertised products, the agency said.
According to the FTC's September 2012 complaint, CFS falsely claimed its natural Best Yet! bedbug and head-lice products were not only invented for the U.S. Army, but that the U.S. Department of Agriculture viewed them as the top choice of bio-based pesticides. The company also falsely told consumers the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had warned people not to use all synthetic and chemical pesticides to get rid of bedbugs.
Pest-control company Orkin notes that bedbugs are always moving -- traveling from luggage, clothing and other belongings. In addition to family homes, the pests can be found in apartments, hotels, hospitals and public places, including public transportation, schools and offices.