In the past, we have talked about class action lawsuits where it is alleged that a clothing retailer used inflated regular prices to give customers the impression that their products were currently being offered at a great, low sale price. Now come two straight-shooting Texas consumers claiming that The Home Depot has been making exaggerated savings claims too by jacking up the so-called “regular” price of major appliances to levels at which they never or rarely ever sold. (See lawsuit.)
One of the consumers bought a Samsung gas dryer for $798 — that he thought was at a 33-percent discount from the $1199 “strikethrough” price. The other consumer bought a top loading Samsung washer for $578 that he was led to believe was usually $899. In the seven months since he purchased the washer, for example, his lawyers say it never sold for the $899 “regular” price.
In fact, they checked a variety of major appliances at Home Depot tracking their prices for months.
*MOUSE PRINT:
In this example, they tracked a washer like this one for four months. At no time in their checks was it ever off-sale or close to the $999 so-called regular price shown.
The lawyers say that The Home Depot engaged in unfair business practices, misrepresentations, and broke a specific regulation that specifically prohibits sellers from “making false or misleading statements concerning the reasons for, existence of, [and] amounts of price reductions.”
Time will tell if this case has legs, although MrConsumer has little doubt that the company uses strikethrough higher prices to make shoppers think they are getting a bargain.