Pantyhose Firm Agrees To Refund Customers

The strings attached to a pantyhose giveaway will cost a Pennsylvania company more than $300,000, and Idaho will get 10 percent of it.

Hosiery Corp. of America has agreed to provide refunds to customers in Idaho and 10 other states to finance the costs of future consumer litigation. Idaho will get $30,000, Attorney General Al Lance said.

Lance said his office received numerous complaints from residents who responded to a direct mail offer of a free pair of pantyhose.

Under the offer, customers also got two more pairs of hosiery, which they could buy or return at their expense, and keep the original “free” pair. What some consumers did not realize was that the hosiery company would continue to send them pantyhose automatically until they included a written cancellation with their payment.

Other victims claimed they were sent nylons without a request, after other people sent in their names.

Although the company admitted no wrongdoing, it did agree as part of the settlement with the states to disclose the terms of its offer more clearly in future ads.

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