HP Smart Install Missing From Printers, Class Action Says

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Hewlett Packard Company was hit with a false advertising class action lawsuit, alleging that the company marketed some of its printers as coming with a feature which allowed for software to be automatically updated but that this feature was in fact disabled.

Plaintiff Anne Wolf of California says in her Hewlett Packard class action lawsuit filed Monday that she purchased an HP LaserJet Pro P1102w printer in April for about $140.

“On the box of the printer defendant advertised easy printer software installation through the preinstalled HP Smart installed feature,” the HP printer class action lawsuit says.

Specifically, it was stated on the box: “Start printing right away with effortless setup — no CD installation required — using HP Smart Install.”

Because she believed this claim to be true, Wolf made the decision to purchase the printer.

“Plaintiff purchased the printer because of the assurance of easy installation that was advertised through the HP Smart Install feature included with the printer,” the HP printer class action lawsuit states.

However, when Wolf took the printer home and tried “to connect the printer to her HP 15 laptop, which runs a Windows 8 processing system, [Wolf] could not get the printer installed and connected to her laptop.”

Wolf claims that she “struggled, frustratingly, for some time” before she “discovered that the HP Smart Install feature had been installed.”

According to the HP printer class action lawsuit, the California woman found deep inside the box an “insert sheet,” which said: “The Smart Install feature is now disabled by default.”

Wolf says that when she read this she “felt ripped off and cheated by” HP.

“The Insert Sheet indicated that [HP] knew that the HP Smart Install feature would not be available despite advertising as such,” the HP printer class action lawsuit says.

Wolf alleges that the presence of the HP Smart Install feature was “expressly represented” to her that it “would be available for easy and quick installation.” However, HP made these claims as part of a “scheme” designed “to mislead customers and incentivize them to purchase printers in spite of the inhibition brought about by the difficulty of installing them.”

The California woman says she would not have bought the HP printer if she knew that the printer did not have the HP Smart Install feature, and she says “no reasonable” customer would have purchased the printer either, knowing that the claims made on the packaging were false.

Wolf is looking to represent a class of California customers who also purchased an HP printer that “was advertised to include the HP Smart Install feature.”

The HP printer class action lawsuit is charging the company with violating California’s False Advertising Act for fraudulent and unlawful behavior.

She is asking that HP be made to notify all Class Members of its allegedly “unlawful and deceptive” behavior, that the company correct all advertising materials connected to its printers, and pay damages that she and other Class Members have suffered.

The plaintiff is represented by Todd M. Friedman and Adrian R. Bacon of the Law Offices of Todd M. Friedman, PC.

There is no attorney information available for HP at this time.

The HP Printer Class Action Lawsuit is Anne Wolf v. Hewlett Packard Company filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

UPDATE: On Sept. 1, 2016, a federal judge certified the HP class action lawsuit to include all consumers who purchased one of the printers at issue at a physical retail location in the state of California.