CHINA’S top consumer protection organization has warned Canada Goose Holdings Inc. against bullying customers in China with its return policies, just three months after the winterwear brand was fined for false advertising.

The premium down jacket manufacturer has been a hot topic on Chinese social media in recent days over its handling of a case involving a customer who wanted a refund of her purchases amounting to 11,400 yuan (US$1,790.17) after finding many quality defects, including one on its embroidered logo.

She said she was told by Canada Goose that all products sold at its retail stores on the Chinese mainland were strictly non-refundable, according to her account which went viral online.

Domestic media such as the Global Times newspaper later cited Canada Goose as denying that it had a no-refund policy and that all products sold at its retail stores on the mainland were refundable in line with Chinese laws. The company did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.

That has not failed to quell criticism of the brand.

“No brand has any privileges in front of consumers,” the China Consumers Association (CCA) said in an opinion piece posted on its website Thursday morning.

“If you don’t do what you say, regard yourself as a big brand, behave arrogantly and in a superior way, adopt discriminatory policies, be condescending and bully customers, you will for sure lose the trust of consumers and be abandoned by the market,” the CCA said.

Representatives of the brand were summoned for talks Wednesday by the Shanghai Consumer Council to explain its refund policy in China.

Canada Goose was also fined 450,000 yuan in September in China for misleading consumers in its ads. (SD-Agencies)