Bedding and furniture retailer fined almost $60,000 and ordered to repay customers for failing to supply goods
- Stephen James Douglas and his business S Douglas Enterprises Pty Ltd have been found guilty of breaching the Australian Consumer Law and fined $59,000.
- The bedding and furniture retailer has also been ordered to repay more than $42,000 to a dozen customers, for goods they never received.
- One victim was an elderly consumer who Douglas visited at home with an Eftpos machine, demanding she pay for a layby.
A Jimboomba bedding and furniture retailer has been fined almost $60,000 and ordered to repay more than $42,000 to customers after being found guilty of six breaches of Australian Consumer Law.
Following a detailed investigation by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), Stephen James Douglas and S Douglas Enterprises Pty Ltd were sentenced in Beaudesert Magistrates Court last week.
Douglas was fined $28,000 and his company S Douglas Enterprises was penalised $31,000 with a conviction recorded.
The court heard that between December 2024 and July 2025, Douglas sold furniture and bedding items to consumers from his retail store in Jimboomba, south of Brisbane.
Douglas accepted $42,231 in full and part payments, ranging from $442 to $9000 for bedding and furniture items, and specified a delivery date for the goods.
However, Douglas redirected much of the money to his own personal accounts, while some items that had been paid for, were sold a second time.
Douglas even attended the home of an elderly consumer with a portable Eftpos machine and demanded payment for an outstanding layby.
The OFT’s investigation found that some goods had never been ordered from the supplier and Douglas had been evicted from his shop at the time.
Acting Commissioner for Fair Trading Allannah Traill said the conduct was unacceptable and commended investigators for their work, in bringing the case to court.
“When Queenslanders order and pay for goods, they quite rightly expect to receive them and behaviour like this is disgraceful,” Ms Traill said.
“Traders doing the wrong thing and breaking the Australian Consumer Law are on notice that the Office of Fair Trading will take enforcement action.”