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A California man claims in a new class action lawsuit that Harbor Freight Tools has been using several different deceptive pricing schemes to induce sales.
Plaintiff Ted Shimono says that discount tool retailer Harbor Freight Tools advertises “fake sale” prices to make customers think certain items are being offered at a significant discount when they’re actually not.
He says this tactic entices customers to buy lower-quality merchandise at inflated prices.
According to the Harbor Freight Tools class action lawsuit, many items for sale were marked with a purported original price, described in the store’s advertising as a “regular,” “retail” or “comp[are] at” price.
Shimono claims these prices are artificially inflated. He also says the merchandise was never offered for sale at the purported original price.
Shimono argues that many of these “original” prices are inherently arbitrary and contrived by Harbor Freight Tools. He says many of these items are sold exclusively by Harbor Freight Tools, such as the store’s own house-brand products. Since these items are sold through only one retailer, there is no actual market for them – and therefore no determinable market price, Shimono says.
In comparison to these advertised “original” prices, the prices at which the items for sale seem significantly lower, creating the impression of a discount that doesn’t actually exist, Shimono claims. He says Harbor Freight Tools uses this allegedly false discount to induce customers into making purchases.
The Harbor Freight Tools class action lawsuit argues this pricing tactic specifically runs afoul of particular California state consumer protection laws. Shimono argues the retailer’s pricing violates the California Unfair Competition Law, the False Advertising Law, and the Consumer Legal Remedies Act. The tactic also violates the Federal Trade Commission Act, the plaintiff says.
Shimono further takes issue with another of the defendant’s advertised discounts. Harbor Freight Tools publishes coupons that say “20% off your purchase” in large bold print, but then qualify that offer with much smaller print that reads “of any one item.”
Shimono says not only does the advertisement obscure the fact that the discount applies only to a single item and not the entire purchase, but also that Harbor Freight Tools will apply the discount only to the lowest priced item in the purchase – not “any” item, as advertised.
Finally, Shimono says Harbor Freight Tools advertises multiple different prices for the same item, then charges customers the highest of those prices when they make their purchase.
Shimono proposes to represent a plaintiff Class consisting of all persons in the U.S. who bought products from the defendant for their own personal use at an allegedly false “sale” price within the four years prior to the filing of this Harbor Freight Tools class action lawsuit.
He seeks an award of damages and restitution of the money with which the defendant has been allegedly unjustly enriched at Class Members’ expense.
Counsel for the plaintiff and proposed Class are Ronald A. Marron, Skye Resendes, William B. Richards Jr., Michael T. Houchin of the Law Offices of Ronald A. Marron; and David Elliot of the Law Office of David Elliot.
The Harbor Freight Tools Fake Sale Class Action Lawsuit is Ted Shimono v. Harbor Freight Tools USA Inc., Case No. 5:16-cv-01052, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
UPDATE: On May 16, 2017, a settlement has been reached in a class action lawsuit alleging Harbor Freight Tools USA Inc. deceptively advertised products as being on sale by listing an inflated “compare at” price.
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50 thoughts onHarbor Freight Tools Class Action Alleges ‘Fake Sale’ Pricing
yeah they sale their tools at a cheap price making it appear that,you are getting a deal.About two months later they break
My late husband really liked them… bet he didn’t know about this, though.
Very deceptive advertising. Please include me in the lawsuit.
Should a class action materialize, I would like to join
Hi there, what do you think about this: hf stores get crazy in North Texas and I know they get well over 1000 customers in the 3 days they run their sales: what if this happens in 3 days to 1000 (¢66 each) customers wouldn’t this add to $1800.00 in hfs pocket????, hf pulled that scam on me, 20% coupon on the highest item, however I had a coupon for the highest item which was original price of $10.99 coupon was for $8.99 (with the 20 % coupon it was $8.79, any anyone would say wow I saved money). However I purchased another item at 3.99 which I receive no discount and actually that’s the item I was going to use the 20% coupon on since I already had a coupon of 8.99 for my pliers set. they thought they were saving me money however they actually made $0.66 off of me by taking the item with the highest price and taking 20% off of it and not the $3.99 as I intended. I went back into the store and explain to them that the 20% off was supposed to be from the 3.99 item and the other item I had a coupon for $8.99 needless to say they gave me my $0.66 back. I can only imagine as many people as I see in that store $0.66 per person can turn into quite a bit of money in their pocket for false advertisement. Original: tool bag 4.99 (coupon); pliers set 8.79 (20% coupon) 3.99 jewelers clip = $17.77 + tax =$19.24, my way: 4.99tool bag; 8.99 pliers coupon; 3.99*20%=3.19 = $17.17 + 8.25 tax $1.42=$18.59. So 18.59-$19.24=.65 difference. So I went back not for the .66 but to let them know that was not right what they did. Lady was rude about it but manager was nice.
You have to be pretty lame if you are arguing about sixty-six cents!
I have bought thousands of dollars of stuff there and could never tell if I was getting a deal or not. I did notice when things went off sale on a lot of things, that the normal price that they set was right at or right around the sales price, which really did irritate me. I brought it to the attention to one of the store managers. Their canned answers were always, well we didn’t sell enough while on sale so we decided to just keep it at the sales price on the shelf until we got rid of what we had for the sale. Well it stayed at that price for months and months or till the next sale. I did notice on numerous things when they went on sale they were still at the normal regular list price. When I pointed that out to one of the managers, they said if I wanted to purchase any of these item they would take 20% of the sales price. So I could get that item at 20% off and still use my 20% coupon on another item, yippee !!! . A couple of times I really rose a stink in front of other customers and to stop other customers from hearing what I was saying I got 35% off the items. :-) , I did it because they were trying to pull a fast one, but a lot of times I did not want what they supposedly put on sale so I did not buy anything I just left irritated once again. Since they didn’t have another product like it at another store like it, I could never tell if it was a fair price or not, but that is why I shopped there, you could buy a tool at a cheap price that you only needed a couple of times or you couldnt find elsewhere.
My husband gets their catalog has been buying for years told him to watch prices wouldn’t listen until he realized how cheap product was made will not buy again.
If you buy “Pittsburgh” brand hand tools, they do come with a lifetime warranty…you can return them without a receipt, and have them replaced for FREE!!! I wouldn’t trust the power tools to last long, they don’t have a lifetime warranty, but @ the time of purchase, they do offer you an extended warranty beyond the 1-year manufacturer warranty for a small fraction of the item price!!! I only go to Harbor Freight for inexpensive items to do temporary jobs, for tools, I go to Sears and buy Craftsman, I think the quality is better!!!
Yes, their Pittsburg brand of hand tools does have a lifetime warranty BUT you have to be careful because not all the Pittsburg tools are stamped Pittsburg, some are stamped Only with Made in India or Made in China so they can argue that the broken wrench you are trying to return, is not theirs and refuse a return/exchange. I have had this happen to me twice. Even though Craftsman; Husky and Kobalt hand tools are made in china, they all have a lifetime warranty too and Sears, Home Depot or Lowes does not argue when you return their items when they break.
I buy stuff from HF fairly often. Their quality has improved over the years. If you cant read the coupon where it says on any one item, then you probably should not be using (especially power) tools anyway. They have ALWAYS applied the 20% coupon to the highest price item in my purchases. I enjoy their FREE (usually with ANY purchase) coupons. I am not happy that I am sending my money to China, but when US retailers charge twice as much for the same product, it is a simple choice for me.
Hi Ford perfect, hf pulled that scam on me, 20% coupon on the highest item, however I had a coupon for the highest item which was original price of $10.99 coupon was for $8.99 (with the 20 % coupon it was $8.79, any anyone would say wow I saved money). However I purchased another item at 3.99 which I receive no discount and actually that’s the item I was going to use the 20% coupon on since I already had a coupon of 8.99 for my pliers set. they thought they were saving me money however they actually made $0.66 off of me by taking the item with the highest price and taking 20% off of it and not the $3.99 as I intended. I went back into the store and explain to them that the 20% off was supposed to be from the 3.99 item and the other item I had a coupon for $8.99 needless to say they gave me my $0.66 back. I can only imagine as many people as I see in that store $0.66 per person can turn into quite a bit of money in their pocket for false advertisement. Original: tool bag 4.99 (coupon); pliers set 8.79 (20% coupon) 3.99 jewelers clip = $17.77 + tax =$19.24, my way: 4.99tool bag; 8.99 pliers coupon; 3.99*20%=3.19 = $17.17 + 8.25 tax $1.42=$18.59. So 18.59-$19.24=.65 difference. So I went back not for the .66 but to let them know that was not right what they did. Lady was rude about it but manager was nice.
Harbor freight is only ok for some items. The local dollar store carries many of the smaller items they carry for $1 versus the higher prices I have seen the same things for there. Even worse, the more expensive items at harbor freight are about as good as generic manufacturer items in China and cost more than other retailers sell them for. I only go there when I know they will likely have an item and others will not. Their sales are a joke though since I have seen regular prices at Menards for the same item they said was their sale price.
HFT is really for someone who might use a tool 1-2 times who doesn’t want to pay the Home Depot/Lowes price, IMO.
I agree, Harbor Freight Tools is not the place to purchase tools from if you’ll be needing them for long term use, or for a larger job. It’s a good place to purchase from though if all you need is a screw driver to hang a few pictures (toss out afterwards) or for very minimal light work. I’ve purchased tools from there before to complete odd jobs, and they have gotten the job done, but would never actually stock their tools in my regular tool box.