Harbor Freight Tools Class Action Alleges ‘Fake Sale’ Pricing

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

A California man claims in a new class action lawsuit that Harbor Freight Tools has been using several different deceptive pricing schemes to induce sales.

Plaintiff Ted Shimono says that discount tool retailer Harbor Freight Tools advertises “fake sale” prices to make customers think certain items are being offered at a significant discount when they’re actually not.

He says this tactic entices customers to buy lower-quality merchandise at inflated prices.

According to the Harbor Freight Tools class action lawsuit, many items for sale were marked with a purported original price, described in the store’s advertising as a “regular,” “retail” or “comp[are] at” price.

Shimono claims these prices are artificially inflated. He also says the merchandise was never offered for sale at the purported original price.

Shimono argues that many of these “original” prices are inherently arbitrary and contrived by Harbor Freight Tools. He says many of these items are sold exclusively by Harbor Freight Tools, such as the store’s own house-brand products. Since these items are sold through only one retailer, there is no actual market for them – and therefore no determinable market price, Shimono says.

In comparison to these advertised “original” prices, the prices at which the items for sale seem significantly lower, creating the impression of a discount that doesn’t actually exist, Shimono claims. He says Harbor Freight Tools uses this allegedly false discount to induce customers into making purchases.

The Harbor Freight Tools class action lawsuit argues this pricing tactic specifically runs afoul of particular California state consumer protection laws. Shimono argues the retailer’s pricing violates the California Unfair Competition Law, the False Advertising Law, and the Consumer Legal Remedies Act. The tactic also violates the Federal Trade Commission Act, the plaintiff says.

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.”

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.

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.

Shimono proposes to represent a plaintiff Class consisting of all persons in the U.S. who bought products from the defendant for their own personal use at an allegedly false “sale” price within the four years prior to the filing of this Harbor Freight Tools class action lawsuit.

He seeks an award of damages and restitution of the money with which the defendant has been allegedly unjustly enriched at Class Members’ expense.

Counsel for the plaintiff and proposed Class are Ronald A. Marron, Skye Resendes, William B. Richards Jr., Michael T. Houchin of the Law Offices of Ronald A. Marron; and David Elliot of the Law Office of David Elliot.

The Harbor Freight Tools Fake Sale Class Action Lawsuit is Ted Shimono v. Harbor Freight Tools USA Inc., Case No. 5:16-cv-01052, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

UPDATE: On May 16, 2017, a settlement has been reached in a class action lawsuit alleging Harbor Freight Tools USA Inc. deceptively advertised products as being on sale by listing an inflated “compare at” price.