L.L. Bean Class Action Lawsuit Takes Aim at New Return Policy

A class action lawsuit alleges that L.L. Bean’s new, stricter return policy breaches its contract with its customers.

Plaintiff Benjamin Pershouse states that he purchased a pair of slippers from L.L. Bean roughly three years ago. He says he tried to return them after Feb. 9, 2018, the date when the company instituted a new, stricter return policy that changed an almost 100-year policy of a lifetime guarantee for their products.

Pershouse claims that the change to the policy represents a breach of contract and denies consumers a promised benefit of the purchase they made from L.L. Bean. 

The L.L. Bean class action lawsuit cites the company’s former and current return policies to provide support for his claim that the new policy financially injures consumers and breaches contract.

Allegedly, the former “no questions asked” return policy read “We make pieces that last, and if they don’t, we want to know about it…Our guarantee is a handshake — a promise that we will be fair to each other. So if something’s not working or fitting or standing up  its task or lasting as long as you think it should, we’ll take it back. We want to make sure we keep our guarantee the way it’s always been for over a century.”

According to Pershouse, he, like many consumers, purchased his slippers in part because the company had a “100% Satisfaction Guarantee,” return policy that permitted him to return a product whenever, in any condition. He claims that the return policy was a large part of L.L. Bean’s marketing, touting the quality of their products, encouraging consumers to have faith in the products, and enticing them to purchase L.L. Bean products time and time again. In support of this statement, he alleges that the company itself saw the “no questions asked” guarantee as a “customer service asset.”

Nonetheless, the company altered their policy on Feb. 9, 2018 to state that consumers only had one year in which they could return a purchased product with “no questions asked.” Allegedly, after one year, they would take returns on products that had a clear defect that was the fault of the company, but not products that showed signs of “excessive wear and tear.”

The L.L. Bean class action lawsuit states that the company’s change to its return policy denied consumers who had purchased their products before Feb. 9, 2018 the benefit of the bargain that they thought they were receiving when they made their purchased.

Additionally, the L.L. Bean return policy class action lawsuit states that many consumers have been reporting that since the change in policy, the company has refused to take back items that the consumer claims failed because of a defect, but the company claims were exposed to excessive wear and tear, further denying customers the benefit of the bargain of their purchase, which allegedly involved the promise that L.L. Bean products are of high quality.

Perhouse’s L.L. Bean class action lawsuit comes on the heels of another similar customer claim.

The plaintiff is represented by David Pastor of Pastor Law Office; Ben Barnow, Erich P. Schork, Jeffrey Blake, and Anthony Parkhill of Barnow and Associates PC; and Janine Pollack, Michael M. Liskow, and Correy A. Kamin of Wolf Haldenstein Alder Freeman & Herz LLP.

The L.L. Bean Return Policy Class Action Lawsuit is Benjamin T. Pershouse v. L.L. Bean Inc., Case No. 1:18-cv-10800-DLC, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

UPDATE: On May 23, 2018, L.L. Bean filed a motion asking a Massachusetts federal judge to dismiss a class action lawsuit challenging its denial of a customer’s request to replace old slippers after the company changed its store policy in February to only replace defective merchandise within a year of the purchase date.