Harbor Freight Class Action Suit.

[leehljp]

Have any of you received an email to join in on a class action suit against HF? It has something to do with their advertised prices, their non-sale prices and their receipt's stated "savings" prices. There are three ways to join in.

I have had receipts from HF sent to me electronically (email) and the ones in question that pertain back to the suit indicate that I can get about $70.00 in a HF gift card or about $42-43 in cash.

[atgcpaul]

Not yet but I haven't spent much there in the past few years. What I'm always more surprised about is how seemingly easy it is for the lawyers/companies to track me down.

[twistsol]

I got the notice, but couldn't remember the last time I shopped at Harbor Freight. I looked and had one receipt that would have netter me a whopping $1.30 gift card.

[dangre]

When they add up all of my receipts, it will probably be cheaper to put me on the Board of Directors and give me stock options.

[cwsmith]

Yes Sir,

Received the e-mail yesterday. Some of our receipts are so old that they have faded to nothing. However, we do have a number of receipts dating back the five or so years ago that we got our local store. I have no idea at this point what the numbers will add up to at this point, but I do take note that they are still advertising in the same manner.

I often joke with my wife about their pricing, as I often notice that many of the products never sell for the price they value them at. Mostly the joke is that you get many different flyers at the same time and the products are all over the place.

Still, I sort of thought this was a rather superfluous lawsuit as we all know their pricing habits and most all of us just accept it as sort of a joke... stuff is still cheaper there than most anywhere else, so who cares? It isn't the price so much, as it is the value at the time you buy it. That's not to say however, that I won't be adding up the receipts.

CWS

[tfischer]

I fear the only people that win on these nitpicky lawsuits are the lawyers. I'd join in for my piece anyway, but I haven't bought anything significant at HF recently... just little things here or there. Unless it goes back 10 or 12 years when I bought my DP and band saw.

[LCHIEN]

Looksed up the class action suit. Some of the claims are:


Shimono further takes issue with another of the defendant’s advertised discounts. Harbor Freight Tools publishes coupons that say “20% off your purchase” in large bold print, but then qualify that offer with much smaller print that reads “of any one item.” I always understood that and it seems fair. Considering you get a coupon every week, you can get multiple items if you are patient.

Shimono says not only does the advertisement obscure the fact that the discount applies only to a single item and not the entire purchase, but also that Harbor Freight Tools will apply the discount only to the lowest priced item in the purchase – not “any” item, as advertised. I think they actually apply it to the highest item for me... unless it is one of the restricted items.

Finally, Shimono says Harbor Freight Tools advertises multiple different prices for the same item, then charges customers the highest of those prices when they make their purchase.Theyre good about applying the sales price automatically.

My comments in red.
Seems to me people will file lawsuits for anything.

[phrog]

I have not received an email about the lawsuit but will refuse to join in it if I get the letter. Like Loring, I believe the coupons have been fair. Also, like Loring, they have always applied the discount to the most expensive iten I have bought. Although SOME of the items I have bought have not been of the greatest quality, they offer a cheaper alternative to the big box stores and, in many cases, I'm looking for a cheap one-time use item that I can throw away. HF has always been good about swapping any questionable item I have returned. I bought the 34706 lathe and it had a bad motor. They took my word for it and didn't even test it before offering me a free exchange or a refund. I don't really understand the basis of this suit and, quite frankly, hope that it fails. As Loring stated, "Seems to me people will file lawsuits for anything."

[tfischer]

Yeah this seems to be a nuisance lawsuit that is probably easier/cheaper for HF to settle vs fight. It's sad, really, and I respect those who qualify but won't participate... even though I'm not sure that helps solve the problem as they typically set up a "pool" of money to be divided among all the class members.

The multiple prices thing was common on their website... they would have a SKU like 1234567-0. A trick that was commonly promoted on this site when it was BT3Central was to take that last digit after the dash, and change it (e.g. 124567-1, 1234567-2). You would often find the same product at a different, perhaps better, price, as they would advertise things differently in different publications. At some point HF caught on and quit doing that (I think they went to different unique sku's instead).

It seems they should be able to charge whatever they like, so I don't see how this is illegal. If the store tag says a price and that's what you're charged at the register, that seems fair. HF has always been excellent about matching prices to a flyer if you bring it to their attention.

Their prices are so dirt cheap I don't see how anyone can ***** about them.

[Pappy]

I got the email but it would probably more trouble than it is worth to dig out the receipts that I kept. I only keep receipts on tools or big ticket items.

[cwsmith]

I don't know what other State's rules might be that govern retailers and their use of discount coupons or their particulars with individual product pricing, but here in NY retailers pretty much specify coupons as being "total purchase" when that applies. Otherwise, discount coupons are for a single item purchased.

Personally, I have never had a problem with HF; if I purchase several items at one time and I have a discount coupon, it is my choice which item that is to be applied to and the only time that has ever been called into question is when there is a "Parking Lot" sale in which additional discount coupons are not allowed. Certainly a reasonable condition.

Likewise are the free-coupon items, which in most all cases stipulate that you get one free item per visit. I've always found some humor in those people who show up at my local HF with a handfull of "free" coupons and expect that they can walk out with a basket full of items... they get very upset when they are told that they can only have one item.

I'm happy to see that the legal action does not take account of the so-called "compare to price" (while "comp. to" is mentioned, the options don't take that into account, at least as I read it). Many retailers, including my local grocery chains, use that ploy. HF does so of course, and in almost any example would show that HF is by far the lowest price, albeit at time they are lowest quality too. It is rightfully up to the customer to access the level of quality that they need or the value of the purchase that they perceive it to be.

Somehow I think such legal actions are silly and really aren't worthy of proceeding, but apparently these individuals found a sympathetic ear. While I agree that HF's advertising is often questionable, I have never really been upset by it. Their prices are most always lower and their quality reasonable for the price; and, their service is exceptionally good.

My wife keeps receipts forever and they are categorized, so this will be a fairly easy task of accounting. I keep a log of any larger tool purchases, but in all honesty I simply don't document the stuff from HF, as the pricing is so low, it isn't worth the effort for warranty concerns. The log is helpful for general conversation, whenever I need to go back in time to discuss a tool's particulars. In any case, I am curious as to what value I may have accumulated with these past HF receipts.

CWS

[leehljp]

This item: http://www.harborfreight.com/6-gal-1...sor-62380.html
was going for $49.99 minus 20% and I got it for $39 plus tax in 2011 and I bought one. Still have it. and now it is $119 retail and about $89-99 on sale.

It was my understanding and I did read about a conflict between the original owner and his son in the operation of HF. HF used to have many more products 10 and 15 years ago. And they used to have better prices and sales. But now, many of their products are priced equivalent of the same item as Northern Tool and some other companies without being any better quality than before.

Several items that I used to look at, I now look at other companies. HF is not the lower priced tool company that it used to be. My beef with HF started when I went to their Memphis store on New Years Day 2010-11 with a 25% coupon for that one day, and pulled an available card (showing three in stock) from the Band Saw display, paid for it and then they told me they didn't have one and told me I would have to wait 3 or 4 days to get the refund back to my credit card. And they would not let me have a band saw at 25% on a rain check either.

Shortly after that, HF opened a second HF that was about 15 miles closer to me in the MS suburb of Memphis. This store would not apply the 20% discount to any item that had "store/web site sale" listed. For instance, the current Air Compressor listed above is listed at $119 and often on sale at $89. At other HF stores, we / I could apply the 20% coupon on sale items (This is NOT about COUPON sale items). I went round and round with them. They changed managers and finally about 6 months into their opening, they changed to allow the 20% coupon and normal sale items - After I complained every time I went in and the 5 or 6 times I called HF headquarters and registered complaints.

I think their pricing is overpriced now as compared to 6 years ago, but I have to travel 15 more miles to get to Northern Tool in city traffic. HF changed their policy considerably in the past several years too.

I have no problem with getting money back since it has already been decided that I can, if I prove my purchases. It is not like I am GOING to charge them, it has already been decided and the moneys are already there. I know some don't see these pricing schemes as deceptive but I do. I lived with it and let it slide, but since they offer it for free after then fact, and with proof, I will take it.

[cwsmith]

Lee,

I certainly can't and won't disagree with you at all. The decision is made and I think any one of us would probably be foolish not to add our receipts to whatever gain that adds up to. However, your experience is different than mine and it certainly goes back well before I had any experience with HF. We didn't get a local store until 2011 and I was just going through the beginning our our receipts to see what we had.

Just in 2011 alone, I would have about $48 coming back, using option A. It might have been more, but I have several receipts that are faded beyond any chance of reading. I bought my first woodworkers bench from HF and all that receipt shows is "You saved $70".... no discernible text beyond that: no date, no total, or what the actual items were beyond "bench" and saved $.

So, I've still got to go through the rest the more recent years and even some of them are severely faded. Personally, I think there ought to be a prohibition on using thermal printing of receipts, as they are not at all reliable, fading all to fast. With Home Depot, I scan them in as a matter of practice, knowing that proof of purchase with the Ridgid LSA is vital. With HF, I never gave it much thought.

(Does anyone have any knowledge as to how to recover from "faded" receipts?)

CWS

[Bill in Buena Park]

Interesting - with as much as I've purchased there, I haven't received an email. I wonder if this applies to only certain states, and maybe not California residents?

[cwsmith]

Well, I just tried to go to the website referenced in the e-mail (www.nationalsalepricesettlement.com) and got this sort of chalkboard like screen with not information other than the headline and a statement which reads:

2017 Copyright. All Rights Reserved.

The Sponsored Listings displayed above are served automatically by a third party. Neither the service provider nor the domain owner maintain any relationship with the advertisers. In case of trademark issues please contact the domain owner directly (contact information can be found in whois).

After that, there is a Google Chrome privacy statement.

No Links and no further information.


So, has anyone been successful in finding out further information with this?


CWS



OOPS: I don't know what I did wrong, but I typed in the web address and got what I stated above.

But then I thought it over and went back to the e-mail and tried the link and got the correct page. Wheeeeew, thought maybe it was a scam or something but apparently it works from the link okay.