LensCrafters Class Action Challenges ‘Accufit’ Superiority

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LensCrafters was hit with a class action alleging it trumps up its marketing claims that its prescription eyeglasses are superior and tricks customers into paying a premium.

Plaintiff Kathleen Infante alleges in her class action lawsuit that she was duped by LensCrafters’ claims that its superior technology allows it to produce more precise lenses. However, says the plaintiff, LensCrafters’ technology cannot actually produce a more accurate set of glasses.

According to the complaint, Lens Crafters markets its Accufit technology as able to produce prescription lenses five times more accurate than manual measurements.

The retail eyewear store charges customers a premium for its “more accurate” product, alleges Infante, but “LensCrafters cannot and does not translate the measurements taken from the Accufit system into its manufacturing process.”

The plaintiff says that she purchased LensCrafters prescription lenses after being convinced by employees and LensCrafters’ marketing claims that Accufit made a better product than she could have purchased elsewhere. She says that she never would have paid as much for the lenses had she known that the Accufit marketing claims did not translate into a better product.

“Because LensCrafters’ manufacturing process uses the same decades ­old traditional methods, the end-product sold to customers cannot and does not have PD measurements that are ‘five times’ more accurate than traditional methods,” alleges the LensCrafters class action lawsuit.

“LensCrafters promises better prescription eyeglasses that allow customers ‘to see your world more clearly,’ as ‘[y]our lenses are crafted based on exactly how glasses sit on your face, where your eyes line up in the frame, and the distance between your eyes—putting the prescription exactly where you need it to see your best,’” the lawsuit states.

However, says the plaintiff, LensCrafters and its employees know that the Accufit system does not provide any additional accuracy compared to standard measurements. The plaintiff alleges that LensCrafters trains its employees to avoid questions about how Accufit works and emphasize that LensCrafters is the only place to get Accufit glasses.

“When customers ask about the Accufit system and whether it will really make their prescription eyeglasses more accurate, LensCrafters trains its employees to avoid answering the question, and to reiterate that Accufit provides PD measurements that are ‘five times more accurate,’” alleges the LensCrafters class action.

“Because LensCrafters’ manufacturing process uses the same decades-old traditional methods,” continues the class action complaint. “The end-product sold to customers cannot and does not have [pupillary distance] measurements that are ‘five times’ more accurate than traditional methods.”

The plaintiff seeks to represent a Class of consumers who purchased prescription lenses from LensCrafters in California starting on Sept. 5, 2011. The plaintiff is seeking damages and disgorgement of any of LensCrafters’ profit from the alleged false marketing of Accufit.

Infante is represented by Charles P. Reichmann of the Law Offices of Charles Reichmann, Theodore J. Leopold, Andrew N. Friedman, Geoffrey A. Graber and Sally M. Handmaker of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, and Robert Gordon and Steve Calamusa of Gordon & Doner.

The LensCrafters Accufit False Advertising Class Action Lawsuit is Kathleen Infante v. Luxottica Retail North America, Case No. 3:17­-cv­-05145, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.