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A new class action lawsuit alleges Carter’s and OshKosh B’gosh stores are using deceptive pricing tactics to boost sales.
Plaintiffs Siobhan Morrow of California and Ashley Gennock of Pennsylvania are suing Carter’s Inc. and OshKosh B’gosh Inc. and their related companies. They say the two retailers are marking merchandise with false “original” prices that, when compared to the advertised “sale” price, create the illusion of a nonexistent bargain.
“The advertised discounts were nothing more than mere phantom markdowns because the represented market prices were artificially inflated and were never the original prices for children’s apparel and accessories sold at Defendants’ retail and/or outlet stores,” the plaintiffs allege.
According to the Carter’s and OshKosh class action lawsuit, the plaintiffs made purchases at defendants’ stores in reliance on these allegedly false representations of a discount. In November 2015, Morrow says, she bought some baby accessories from a Carter’s store in California, then bought two pairs of girl’s jeans from an OshKosh B’gosh store.
All the items she bought were marked as being discounted “50% off,” she says. Morrow claims that Carter’s and OshKosh never offered these items for sale at their supposed original prices and certainly not within 90 days immediately preceding her purchase.
Gennock describes a similar experience at a Carter’s outlet store in Pennsylvania. She says she bought two girls’ dresses marked as being “$2.00 off” the original price of $12.00. Gennock says Carter’s never offered those dresses for sale for $12.00.
The plaintiffs further argue that there can’t be a true “market” price for either of the retailers’ merchandise since it is exclusively branded merchandise sold only at Carter’s and OshKosh stores. Therefore the retail price for those items can be whatever those retailers want it to be.
The Carter’s and OshKosh class action lawsuit alleges that the retailers have violated a slew of consumer protection laws including the Federal Trade Commission Act, California’s Unfair Competition Law, the California False Advertising Law, the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act, the Pennsylvania Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law, and similar laws in other states.
If certified, the proposed nationwide plaintiff Class would include everyone who bought items from Carter’s and OshKosh marked as having been discounted down from a supposed “original,” “regular,” or “market” price within the applicable class period. Morrow and Gennock also propose two subclasses to represent customers who live in California and Pennsylvania.
They are seeking an award of damages and restitution of all profits the defendant gained as a result of their allegedly deceptive conduct, plus court costs and attorneys’ fees. They are also asking for a court order prohibiting the defendants from continuing the practices at issue and requiring them to conduct a corrective advertising campaign.
The plaintiffs are represented by Thomas A. Withers and Anthony C. Lake of Gillen Withers & Lake LLC, and by Todd D. Carpenter, Edwin J. Kilpela, and Gary F. Lynch of Carlson Lynch Sweet Kilpela & Carpenter LLP.
The Carter’s and OshKosh Fake Sale Class Action Lawsuit is Siobhan Morrow, et al. v. Carter’s Inc., et al., Case No. 1:16-cv-01485, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
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10 thoughts onCarter’s, OshKosh Class Action Says Stores use Deceptive Pricing
I love Carter’s. Are outlet stores pricing not really good deals? No, they are not as they advertise 50% off a lot of items in the store but even the 50% brings them close if not more than their actual online or Regular locations pricing.
Either way I shop here for all my children and I always use Retail me not codes for an extra 20% off. But Outlet stores advertising has been doing this for years. Its all the Outlet Stores.
Basically your paying the same price no matter what. But People always want to save money so they shop at Outlet Stores. It is genius of the store to have done that.
Is it False Advertising? Absolutely.
But if you want what they have then shop there. If not then maybe Walmart is the go to for some of these people. I know I don’t buy cheap crap. Quality means a lot and you get what you pay for.
Is it worth a Lawsuit and a bunch of time ? No , If people are that cheap they don’t deserve to shop at high end stores.
I can tell you when I spend 10,000 on a couch and some cheap bastard thinks he should have the same quality for 3k. I laugh that is just not going to happen.
If you spend your time Penny pinching or cutting coupons well then you should just stick to good old Walmart, target ect. but don’t expect to have quality. All the ridiculous lawsuits these days.
They just had a doorbuster shoe and boot sale. I bought a pair of slippers for $15 and boots for $20 along with some bodysuites for $13. When I pressed the submit button to confirm my order, the price said abouy $51 (total plus tax)….when I checked my email confirmation the price was suddenly $18 for the slippers and $36 for the boots. I called customer service and they said they had no way to verify the website prices for the sale and could not honor it. They refused to pay for shipping back as well and said when hte package arrives, I can pay to ship it back myself or make a trip into a store to return it. I know the prices shown were sale prices because I looked long and hard to decide which ones to get (there were several) and had a long discussion with my husband about how much they cost. I am so annoyed right now and was looking into filing a class action when I saw this has already been filed. What a scam. Next time I’m taking screen shots of my order confirmation on screen. I hope they lose this case big time. I’m sure there are many people who see the confirmed lower price and then never re-check the email confirmation to find out they’ve been billed a higher price. Everything about this is wrong!!
If you don’t like the prices then don’t shop there. I have been shopping there for 16 plus years. And I have purchased $1000s in clothes from them. Plus I have received a lot of cash back coupons from them for the next time I shopped there. If you use their coupons and with their sale items you will make out very well.
I always shop at Carter’s and found that the sale items are not available
I have bought both, Carters & OshKosh B’gosh for ALL my grandkids…. starting in 1996 to present… I have 13 grandkids ranging in age from 11 months to age 19. (Not smiling) at being ripped off.
I have shopped at these stores for years
These are only some of my latest orders (I shop at Carters for my great granddaughter). How do I get in this one? 05/10/2016 CAR18772456 $23.25 SHIPPED
05/07/2016 CAR18743316 $153.03 SHIPPED
02/01/2016 CAR17142992 $45.15 SHIPPED
01/14/2016 CAR16952393 $13.58 SHIPPED
12/12/2015 CAR16677047 $42.00 SHIPPED
Went to purchase an item that was 9.00 original price, forgot my coupon so I didn’t purchase it. Went back a week later the same item was now 10.00 instead of the original 9.00. Since I had a coupon I did purchase it, but I couldn’t understand why the price went up 1.00
I had shopped at the Oshkosh Store last year for baby clothes and i was in a hurry to get to a baby shower to go someplace else there pricing for Carters were to be 50% off and yet there 50% off was like full price at Walmart, Target etc for Caeter baby stuff
I have shopped for many years at birth stores and always said their sale prices were inflated