Talbots Class Action Says False Reference Pricing Deceives Shoppers

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A California shopper says Talbots has been using made-up original prices to make its sale prices look like more of a bargain than they really are.

Plaintiff Lynette Fliegelman says that in December 2016, she spent more than $50 on purchases from a Talbots Outlet store in Camarillo, Calif. as part of an advertised sale offering up to 60 percent off every item in the store. The advertised discount was based on each item’s marked original price, she says.

Fliegelman says that for a total of $54.39, she bought two T-shirts marked with an original price of $26 each and a long-sleeve denim shirt marked with an original price of $74.50. Her purchase receipt shows that all three items were subject to a 60 percent discount off their marked original prices.

But those original prices were not the prevailing market price for those items for the 90 days preceding Fliegelman’s purchase, she claims. Filegelman alleges that those original prices were made up by Talbots in an effort to create a false impression of a discount. She says Talbots never intended to sell the items at their marked original price, and that those items were never actually offered for sale at those prices for any substantial period of time.

“Defendant’s false discounting practice, as described herein, has the effect of setting an artificially high market value for its ‘on sale’ merchandise,” according to this Talbots class action lawsuit.

Fliegelman claims this practice induces customers into “purchasing an item they would not otherwise buy and paying a higher price than they would otherwise pay were the products subject to fair market competition and pricing.”

Research shows that consumers are more likely to buy an item at a given price if they are under the impression that the price is a significant discount from the item’s actual market value, Fliegelman says. Marking an item with an artificially inflated reference price can falsely give this impression and deceive shoppers, she says.

Fliegelman says that by pricing items this way, Talbots is in violation of a California law that governs how sale merchandise is advertised.

Under that law, a price advertised as an original price must have been the prevailing market price for which that item was offered for sale during the 90 days preceding the advertisement of the sale price.

Fliegelman seeks to bring these claims on behalf of a proposed plaintiff Class consisting of all persons who, within the four years preceding the filing of this action, purchased an item marked with a purported discount off the stated regular price from any Talbots Outlet store in the state of California and who have not received a refund or credit for that purchase.

She is asking for a court order requiring Talbots to conduct a corrective advertising campaign. She also seeks an award of restitution and disgorgement of all profits Talbots has gained through its allegedly deceptive pricing, plus an award of court costs and attorney’s fees, all with pre-judgment interest.

Fliegelman’s attorney is Zev Zysman of Law Offices of Zev B. Zysman APC.

The Talbots False Reference Pricing Class Action Lawsuit is Lynette Fliegelman v. The Talbots Inc., Case No. 2:17-cv-04576, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.