Shutterfly Class Action Says Groupon Deal Comes with Restrictions

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A Shutterfly deal offered through Groupon fails to let purchasers know it can’t be combined with other offers, according to a recent class action lawsuit.

Plaintiff Megan Taylor says defendant Shutterfly misrepresents this Groupon deal as a credit with a specific dollar value when it actually works like a promotional code, which can’t be combined with other promotional codes in a single purchase.

Taylor says Shutterfly doesn’t alert purchasers to that restriction until after they purchase the Groupon deal. Shutterfly offers photo publishing services through its retail website. Customers can use Shutterfly to turn their existing image files into photo books, cards, and photo gifts.

The company offers many different promotional deals that customers can take advantage of by using either a promotional code or a shipping code when they purchase Shutterfly services. Shutterfly limits customers to using one promotional code and one shipping code per order, according to the Shutterfly class action lawsuit.

Taylor argues that the Shutterfly deal she bought through Groupon was misrepresented as a cash credit, when it was actually a promotional code that could only be used by itself with a single order.

The Groupon deal at issue was promoted in an email Tayler received in November 2017. It allowed customers to buy what Taylor believed were discounted credits for Shutterfly services, she says. Customers could use the Groupon deal to buy a $20 credit for $10, a $40 credit for $20, or a $75 credit for $50.

The Shutterfly class action says Taylor chose to buy the $75 credit option. It wasn’t until a few days later when she tried to use the credit that she discovered it was actually a promotional code that cannot be used with any other promotional code.

Taylor further discovered that using the $75 credit would prevent her from taking advantage of Shutterfly’s free shipping offer on orders greater than $49 – unless she purchased an order worth at least $124, so that the final price would still exceed the $49 threshold.

The Shutterfly class action lawsuit claims Taylor used the promotional code a few days later on a purchase of Christmas cards and photo prints. But she says that using the promotional code prevented her from taking advantage of that day’s Shutterfly discount offer of 40 to 50 percent off certain products.

Taylor argues Shutterfly should have clearly disclosed that the Groupon offer was a promotional code. Similar offers promoted by Shutterfly competitor Vistaprint came with a clear disclosure stating “Cannot be combined with any other offers, promotions or coupon codes,” she says.

Taylor seeks to represent a plaintiff Class covering all persons who between Dec. 8, 2013 and the present purchased from within the U.S. a Groupon deal for a dollar amount good toward a purchase on the Shutterfly website. She estimates this Class will cover more than 10,000 Class Members.

She is asking the court to award compensatory damages, restitution, and injunctive relief, and any other remedy the court sees fit to grant.

Taylor is represented by attorneys Marie McCrary, Adam Gutride and Seth Safier of Gutride Safier LLP.

The Shutterfly Deceptive Groupon Offer Class Action Lawsuit is Taylor v. Shutterfly Inc., Case No. 5:18-cv-00266-HRL, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE: On Sept. 11, 2018, a Shutterfly deceptive Groupon offer class action lawsuit will be sent to an arbitrator, according to a recent ruling by a California federal judge.