Are Walmart Fake Sale Prices Deceiving Customers?

Walmart is the most profitable retailer in the United States. However, many customers are claiming that Walmart fake sale prices deceive customers.

Walmart was founded in 1962 by Sam Walton and was a publicly traded company by 1972. It boasts nearly 12,000 stores across the world and in 2016, reported having 2.3 million worldwide employees.

Walmart seems to have the monopoly on “discount prices” among retailers in the United States, and its strongest presence is in the Midwest, South and Southeast.

The retail giant regularly enacts a sales promotion program advertising “Rollback” pricing. What this means is that they “roll-back” the prices to reflect a lower sales amount. Some customers, however, have claimed that Walmart’s rollback pricing schemes are actually not discounts at all.

Those who shop at Walmart do so for their low prices, so an advertisement for a product with a rolled-back price will catch the eye of most savvy shoppers.

On a rollback sign, the “sale” price is advertised in large print, while the “original” sale price is also listed.

In April, a class action lawsuit was filed against Walmart, alleging the company has been using Walmart fake sale prices to attract customers even though they were not really getting a discount.

This Walmart fake sale pricing lawsuit claims that many times the “original” price listed on the rollback sign is not accurate, giving shoppers the false sense that the item has been discounted when it actually has not.

The class action lawsuit alleges that Walmart, in seeking to increase its bottom line, has misled customers by making up the actual original prices using Walmart fake sale pricing programs. It says that the largely displayed “sale” price is purposefully displayed so that it contrasts with the “was” price.

However, this “original” price never existed, the Walmart fake sale lawsuit claims.

In fact, the Walmart fake sale lawsuit includes photos of signs displaying “Rollback” prices and “original” prices that are the same price.

The entire sales program relies on the idea that a rolled-back price is less than the original, or “was” price. But when this is not the case, customers are tricked, the Walmart lawsuit states.

Additionally, the plaintiff in the Walmart fake sale pricing lawsuit claims that one some signs, the original price is not even listed. This deceives customers because a shopper should be able to look at both prices and make a smart decision about a purchase.

She claims that California law prohibits this type of advertising when promoting “sale” prices. Reportedly, if a retailer promotes a price as a “former price,” that price must have been the prevailing price within three months previous to the date it was advertised.

If this is not the case, according to the Walmart fake sale lawsuit, the advertisement should note the date on which this price was actually in place.

Indeed, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) suggests that a false former price leads the purchaser to believe that he or she is getting a better deal than he or she thinks, which is creating the impression of false value.

This is unfair, the Walmart fake sale pricing lawsuit claims.

The Walmart Fake Sale Class Action Lawsuit  is Brenna C. v. WalMart Stores Inc., Case No. 2:17-at-00427, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.

Join a Walmart ‘Rollback’ Sale Pricing Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you shop at Walmart and you purchased products that are part of a “Rollback” sale, you may qualify to join this Walmart class action lawsuit investigation.

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