Staples Rewards Customers Getting Short Changed, Class Action Says

A Staples Rewards customer says the office supply retailer has been under-crediting its rewards program customers by misapplying their retail coupons.

Plaintiff Neil Torczyner says that by improperly applying coupons for non-qualifying merchandise across the customers’ entire purchases, Staples has been short-changing customers of its Staples Rewards program.

That misapplication allows Staples to credit customers for fewer rewards points than they’re properly owed, he claims.

According to the class action lawsuit, the Staples Rewards program lets customers build up credit based on a percentage of the dollar amounts of their qualifying purchases. The credit can be redeemed for discounts on future Staples purchases.

Torczyner says that in February 2013, he bought two packs of sanitizing wipes for $3.99 each and some bottled water for $4.49. He redeemed a coupon for the water worth $1.50. (The bottled water was not a qualifying purchase for rewards points purposes, and Torczyner does not dispute that here.)

According to the cash register receipt, Staples applied the coupon only to the price of the bottled water – and did so correctly, Torczyner says.

However, upon logging into his Staples Rewards account on the retailer’s website, Torczyner says he found that for purposes of tallying his rewards points, Staples had applied the bottled water coupon on a pro rata basis across the entire purchase.

The net result of that application was that Torczyner received only $7.02 in rewards points for that purchase. He argues that he should have received $7.98 in rewards points, representing the price of the two packs of sanitizing wipes.

“It is simply unfair and deceptive to apply coupons redeemable only for non-qualifying purchases under the Program on a pro rata basis across all purchases made in the same transaction—including merchandise qualifying under the Program,” Torczyner claims.

“Indeed, Defendant’s sale receipts conceal this practice and apply coupons only to a single item—the item for which the coupon applies. This practice violates statutory and common law.”

Torczyner claims Staples’ misconduct as to its Staples Rewards program is an unfair and deceptive business practice that violates the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act. He is also raising claims for breach of contract and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing.

He proposes to represent a plaintiff Class consisting of all Staples Rewards program members who, between Mar. 24, 2009 and the present, bought both qualifying and non-qualifying merchandise in a single transaction and used an item-specific coupon for a non-qualifying item, and who were negatively impacted by Staples’ pro rata application of that coupon.

He is asking the court for an award of compensatory and punitive damages, restitution of the amounts by which Staples benefited from the practice complained of, reimbursement of plaintiff’s attorney fees and costs of litigation, and any other relief the court deems appropriate.

The plaintiff is represented by attorneys David R. Stickney of Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP and Frank R. Schirripa and Michael A. Rose of Hach Rose Schirripa & Cheverie LLP.

The Staples Rewards Miscalculation Class Action Lawsuit is Neil Torczyner v. Staples Inc., Case No. 3:16-cv-02965, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

UPDATE: On Dec. 14, 2016, Staples agreed to pay $2 million to resolve allegations that the company under-credited customers’ Staples Rewards accounts by misapplying coupons.

UPDATE 2: The Staples Rewards Class Action Settlement is now open! Click here to file a claim. 

UPDATE 3: On March 8, 2018, Top Class Actions viewers who filed a claim for the Staples Rewards class action settlement started receiving $10 coupon codes via email. Congratulations to everyone who filed a claim and got PAID!