Legal threat after Consumer NZ puts laundry product through wringer

The Kiwi owners of a laundry detergent brand labelled “worse than water” in recent Consumer NZ tests are disputing the results and could take legal action.

Grant Taylor and Renee Lee’s Re. Stor laundry sheets performed “terribly” at removing stains according to the Consumer NZ test out this week.

The tropical scented Re.stor

Concentrated Laundry Detergent Sheets performed worse than a water-only wash and put the product on the Consumer NZ “do not buy” list.

The other laundry liquids not to make the grade included Essentials Laundry Liquid (2L) and Value Laundry Detergent (2L).

Taylor and Lee are refuting Consumer NZ’S claim the Re.stor product was the “most expensive” and say due to the price per wash the laundry sheets were more economical.

The Consumer NZ test compared 55 laundry detergents, powders and sheets on performance.

Products were tested to see how well they removed stains such as make-up, grass, blood and engine oil.

“Consumer NZ has firstly misled the public and the media claiming we are ‘more expensive than the leader’ and the ‘most expensive’,” Lee said.

“We are actually 8th from the top on purely the pack sizes they’ve included, which firstly proves this statement incorrect.”

Lee said there was “no physical way we can be worse than water given that mixing and dissolving our sheets with water is part of the washing process”. The pair accused Consumer NZ of “hunting for a headline”.

Lee said the claims by Consumer NZ were damaging to their small business and the company would consider legal action if there was no retraction.

But Consumer NZ is standing by the test results and said all testing was done independently.

“We have been testing laundry detergents for a decade and are proud to provide the results free to the public,” product test writer James le Page said.

Le Page said there would be no retraction or retesting at this stage.