Macy’s Inc. and Bloomingdale’s Inc. are facing a proposed class action accusing them of misleading customers through deceptive pricing. The department stores have falsely priced items above the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) to reflect a bigger discount when the items go on sale, according to a complaint filed in California federal court.
Plaintiffs allege the sham pricing involves stores regularly labeling their products with inflated and arbitrary prices and then reducing those prices to represent a substantial discount off the “original, regular or compare at price.” In some instances, the complaint claims, the labeled price would be two or more times the MSRP. The retailers would then claim to have discounted an item by 50 percent – when the new price was merely the actual MSRP.
The plaintiffs say they would not have purchased certain items or paid the amounts they did, had they known the items’ actual retail value. In addition to urging the court to bar the stores from continuing these practices, the plaintiffs are seeking damages and restitution on claims of unfair and fraudulent business practices and false advertising.
Contact our firm today for assistance if you believe you made a purchase that might have been involved in this practice. We can help.