Lawsuit: Jos. A. Bank Deals Use Fake, Inflated Original Prices

Plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit say Jos. A. Bank deals are based on artificially inflated retail prices that violate California consumer protection law.

The retailer of men’s suits and other dress clothing has built itself a reputation for offering merchandise at hard-to-believe discounts.

Frequent sales at the retailer’s stores offer a Jos. A. Bank deal on buy-one-get-one terms, sometimes offering several suits for the price of one.

But the retail price of that one suit could be artificially inflated to give customers the impression they’re getting a more valuable suit than they are, according to the plaintiffs in this Jos. A. Bank false advertising lawsuit.

Both plaintiffs say they bought multiple suits under advertised buy-one-get-one Jos. A. Bank deals. They say they got heavily discounted suits while paying the advertised full price for one suit. One plaintiff says he paid as much as $2195 for a single suit in order to get two additional suits purportedly for free.

However, they allege that the purported “full price” were completely artificial and made up by Jos. A. Bank, and that no shopper ever paid those prices for the suits. These “regular” prices are artificially inflated to give consumers the impression they’re getting a more valuable suit than they actually are, the plaintiffs claim.

What’s more, the purported “regular” prices are so inflated that they cover the cost of the other suits purchased in the buy-one-get-one deal, the plaintiffs allege.

Had they known about these allegedly false pricing schemes, the plaintiff say, they never would have made the purchases at issue. They say these pricing tactics run afoul of California’s Unfair Competition Law and are inconsistent with pricing guidelines published by the Federal Trade Commission.

Instead of suing only on their own behalf, the two plaintiffs seek to make their claim a Jos. A. Bank class action lawsuit that represents California consumers who bought sale-priced clothing from Jos. A. Bank sometime during the past 5 years.

New Business Strategy May Temper Jos. A. Bank Deals

The company says it has found other reasons – besides avoiding litigation – to move away from its extreme discount business model. A couple years after being acquired by Men’s Wearhouse, the company’s current leadership says its reputation for extraordinary Jos. A. Bank deals doesn’t result in better sales figures.

The store’s buy-one-get-one sales were running almost constantly, sometimes with dozens of such sales running in a single year. The steep discounts, frequently as deep as 66 percent and supposedly as much as 90 percent off with free shipping included, only serve to damage the brand, they say.

The company says its current strategy is to move away from its old “discount brand” image. It hopes to broaden its appeal to more shoppers, without driving away those who’ve come to expect those super-discounted Jos. A. Bank deals. The company hopes to do that by stabilizing prices and offer sales on single items rather than bulk deals.

The company does not plan to eliminate sales entirely, though. So it’s not certain that the new strategy will resolve the allegedly fraudulent discounts that the two California plaintiffs accuse the company of offering.

The Jos. A. Bank Fake Deals Class Action Lawsuit is David Lucas and Eric Salerno et. al. v. Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc., Case No. 14-cv-1631-LAB-JLB in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

Join a Jos. A. Bank Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you purchased a Jos. A. Bank clothing item that was advertised as on “sale” at a California Jos. A. Bank clothing store over the last 5 years, you may be eligible to join a free class action lawsuit investigation and pursue compensation.

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