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A California woman is challenging Walmart’s “Rollback” sale pricing, claiming it uses false original prices to deceive shoppers.
The retail giant’s sale pricing advertised as a “Rollback” discount is in many cases false and deceptive because it’s based on purported original prices that are completely fictional, according to the Walmart class action lawsuit.
Plaintiff Brenna Ceja claims Walmart uses this alleged fake sale pricing to increase profits. In her complaint, Ceja includes photographs of Walmart “Rollback” price tags as they appear in retail stores.
In some of these photos, the Walmart “Rollback” price appears to be the same price as the one on the item’s original price tag. Yet some of these Walmart “Rollback” price tags advertise a former price, or “was” price, that’s obviously higher than the “sale” price.
Not all items marked with Walmart “Rollback” price tags show the original price, according to Ceja. Items so marked are lacking a clear statement of the product’s original price, she says, and consumers at large do not have the expertise to determine the product’s value themselves.
She argues that for these items, shoppers should be able to rely on the posted “Rollback” price tag to determine what the item is worth. But a customer who relies on the “was” prices on Walmart “Rollback” tags would be deceived as to the item’s true original price, Ceja claims.
The plaintiff argues Walmart’s “Rollback” pricing deceives consumers into thinking they’re getting a bargain that doesn’t actually exist. By creating a false impression of a discount, Walmart is inducing customers to make purchases they would not make otherwise, she claims.
Ceja cites California law that specifically restricts the type of fake sale pricing she is accusing Walmart of. A state statute requires that to advertise a price as a “former price,” that price must have been the prevailing market price for the item advertised within the three months preceding the advertisement. Otherwise, the advertisement must state the date on which the former price was the prevailing price.
The Walmart class action also cites Federal Trade Commission guidance describing circumstances that make sale pricing deceptive. According to that guidance, sale pricing based on a fictitious original price creates an impression of a false bargain. In that case, “the purchaser is not receiving the unusual value he expects.”
Ceja seeks to represent a sizable plaintiff Class that would consist of all persons in the U.S. who from April 20, 2013 through the date of final judgment, purchased merchandise advertised with a Walmart “Rollback” price based on an advertised “was” price that did not match the actual former price for that item.
She is asking for a court order requiring Walmart to stop its “Rollback” pricing and to conduct a corrective advertising campaign. She is also asking for an award of damages, restitution and disgorgement, and reimbursement of attorneys’ fees and costs of this litigation.
Ceja is represented by attorneys Kiley L. Grombacher and Marcus J. Bradley of Bradley/Grombacher LLP.
The Walmart “Rollback” Fake Sale Class Action Lawsuit is Brenna Ceja v. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Case No. 2:17-at-00427, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.
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742 thoughts onWalmart Class Action Says ‘Rollback’ Pricing Deceives Shoppers
I shop there all the time
I want to be included also
Please Add me
What about kohl’s, jc pennys and Macy’s when they say a top $59.00 but our price is 29.99 you got Marshall’s T.J. Maxx all of them regular pricenand then our price. All Grocery stores are doing it. It’s not just Walmart. I’m used to it.
I work at Sams Club and attest they do the the exact same thing with their so called ” Instant Savings ” !!! Been doing it for years .
I worked there off and on for 9 yrs and that is exactly what they do. They put clearance stickers (yellow) with the original price and people think it’s clearance, they also do the same with rollbacks…….They do it every day.
All you people saying add me. Read Walmart “Rollback” Fake Sale Class Action Lawsuit is Brenna Ceja v. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Case No. 2:17-at-00427, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.
IT SAYS Ceja seeks to represent a sizable plaintiff Class that would consist of all persons in the U.S SO NOT JUST CA
can we get on that list?
They’re CROOKS like every other place
I’ve bought so much from Wal-Mart thinking it was actually ROLL BACK prices. I shop there once a week.
yeah and alot of the time they mark up the clearance price to make you think your getting a good deal. i have seen an item on a clearance rack and went and compared the price on the shelf to find the “clearance” sticker being more than it originally was like really…
I have noticed this a lot also. I shop at Walmart because we don’t have a lot of other stores here