Puritan’s Pride Online Vitamin Retailer Will Face Deceptive Pricing Lawsuit

Plaintiffs Meg L. and Diane C., two California women, recently filed a deceptive pricing lawsuit against Puritan’s Pride, Inc. Puritan’s Pride is an online retailer of vitamins, minerals, herbs, and other supplements that has been accused of using some of the oldest tricks in the book to obtain sales.

This deceptive pricing lawsuit is being organized as a class action complaint in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

This class action claims Puritan’s Pride Inc. violated the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act, California False Advertising Law, California Unfair Competition Law, and has been unjustly enriched. The two plaintiffs are asking for a trial by jury and a damage award to benefit other, similarly situated Puritan’s Pride customers.

The two women accuse Puritan’s Pride among many things, of running an ongoing “buy one, get one free” – commonly known as a BOGO ─ sale that never terminates.

The offers provided by the vitamin and supplement company allegedly lead the consumer into believing that this special pricing is time-sensitive and urgency of purchase is necessary to secure the deal.

According to the legal documentation, Puritan’s Pride offers this type of never-ending sale in the context of additional advertising of a “semi-annual event,” further sending consumers the message that speed is of the essence.

Federal Law Violations Leading to Deceptive Pricing Lawsuit

The plaintiffs say they were at one time enticed to purchase several items such as Vitamin D3 supplements, Zinc supplements, Calcium supplements, Grapefruit Essential Oil, Coconut Oil for Skin and Hair, Probiotic Acidophilus, and Garcinia Cambogia from Puritan’s Pride.

In the deceptive pricing lawsuit itself, Meg L. and Diane C. say they were then routinely sent catalogs in the mail with sample verbiage on the covers such as “Best Price of the Year!”, “Best Sale of the Year is Back!”, and “Save 60%! Buy one, Get Two Free!”

The plaintiff’s class action deceptive pricing lawsuit accuses the defendants of being in violation of federal truth-in-advertising laws as well as aforementioned California laws. They say the advertising at issue fails to follow federal guidelines that cover offering items for free as part of promotional efforts. These guidelines say the use of the word “free” in advertising must be very carefully used as to not be considered wantonly manipulative of the consumer.

First, any BOGO offer or “Buy One, Get Two Free”, or “Buy One, Get Three Free” must be based upon a regular price. A consumer needs to be able to believe that the free items indeed are costing nothing to him or her and that the purchased item’s price has not been jacked up to absorb the cost of the promotional offer.

Federal guidelines also state that there needs to be a break between such promotions to make them real deals. The guidelines say that offers of this kind should not be offered for more than six months over a 12-month time frame. There is also a guideline stating that there needs to be a 30-day break in between promotions before another can be made in a 12-month period.

The plaintiffs in this deceptive pricing lawsuit argue that free promotions covered all Puritan’s Pride products continually, thus making their products have no framework for determining real price.

If you feel you have been manipulated by the advertising and sales practices of Puritan’s Pride Inc., consider getting a free consultation by one of our expert lawyers. You may qualify to be compensated for your financial losses.

Join a Puritan’s Pride Deceptive Marketing Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you purchased vitamins or supplements from Puritan’s Pride anywhere in the nation that were part of a “Buy One Get One Free” offer or a similar promotion, you may qualify to join this Puritan’s Pride class action lawsuit investigation.

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