:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/48988857/DrielyS-7314.0.0.0.0.0.jpg)
Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.
You know that feeling when you see that 40% off sale on J.Crew.com for the upteenth time in a month and wonder if the site is ever not running sales? Turns out, the constant discounts were so irksome to one customer that he is now trying to sue J.Crew.
Law360 noted that Joseph A. D'Aversa filed a complaint in New York federal court on Tuesday accusing the retailer of perpetually discounting some of its clothes, making the full price of the item a false promise.
D'Aversa bought two sweaters on J.Crew Factory's site at 30% off the "valued at" pricing. (Every item on J.Crew Factory's site has a "valued at" price, and then a lower number dubbed "your price.")
After he bought the sweaters, he kept watching the site. The sweaters went from 30% off to 50% off, then back to 30% off. Never once did the price ever get near the original "valued at" cost.
Now, D'Aversa is saying that J.Crew's discounts are misleading, and that customers were never informed that J. Crew’s "valued at" pricing was arbitrary.
"Because defendants’ purported sale prices never end, but rather continue on a daily basis and are available anytime a customer visits the website, they are not actually discounted or sale prices at all, but rather constitute the everyday, regular prices of the items," the complaint reads.
Retailers are getting sued left and right for "valued at" or "compare at" prices, with shoppers alleging that those prices are totally arbitrary. Customers sued T.J. Maxx over misleading price tags in July of last year, and Michael Kors settled a class action lawsuit over deceptive discounts last June. Other brands facing legal action over allegedly misleading price discounts include DSW, Guess, Kohl's, and Burberry.
Loading comments...