Leon's and The Brick buried financing fees in fine print — settled with $1.5M donated

Leon's and The Brick — two banners of Canada's biggest furniture retailer — sold deferred-payment plans with ads that made borrowing look free. The Bureau alleged the buy-now-pay-later promotions left customers paying more than the advertised price: processing and administrative fees, delivery fees and taxes sat in the fine print instead of the offer.

The Bureau had launched legal proceedings in July 2013, calling the advertising deceptive; Leon's defended the plans as good for consumers. Five years later, after mediation in the Ontario Superior Court, the case settled on 20 February 2018: each banner agreed to donate $750,000 worth of home furnishings to Canadian charities over two years, and both committed to the Bureau's guidance on disclaimers and fee disclosure in financing ads.

Deputy Commissioner Josephine Palumbo's line carried the standard: consumers expect and deserve truth in advertising. The case was Canada's marker on deferred-payment marketing — and the pattern outlived it: in November 2024 the Bureau obtained a court order advancing a new investigation into Leon's and The Brick's marketing practices.