HP Agrees To $4 Million Settlement Over Claims of 'Falsely Advertising' PCs, Keyboards 30
HP has agreed to a $4 million settlement over allegations of deceptive pricing practices on its website, including falsely inflating original prices for computers and accessories to create the illusion of steep discounts. Ars Technica reports: Earlier this month, Judge P. Casey Pitts for the US District Court of the San Jose Division of the Northern District of California granted preliminary approval [PDF] of a settlement agreement regarding a class-action complaint first filed against HP on October 13, 2021. The complaint accused HP's website of showing "misleading" original pricing for various computers, mice, and keyboards that was higher than how the products were recently and typically priced.
Per the settlement agreement [PDF], HP will contribute $4 million to a "non-reversionary common fund, which shall be used to pay the (i) Settlement Class members' claims; (ii) court-approved Notice and Settlement Administration Costs; (iii) court-approved Settlement Class Representatives' Service Award; and (iv) court-approved Settlement Class Counsel Attorneys' Fees and Costs Award. All residual funds will be distributed pro rata to Settlement Class members who submitted valid claims and cashed checks."
The two plaintiffs who filed the initial complaint may also file a motion to receive a settlement class representative service award for up to $5,000 each, which would come out of the $4 million pool. People who purchased a discounted HP desktop, laptop, mouse, or keyboard that was on sale for "more than 75 percent of the time the products were offered for sale" from June 5, 2021, to October 28, 2024, are eligible for compensation. The full list of eligible products is available here [PDF] and includes HP Spectre, Chromebook Envy, and Pavilion laptops, HP Envy and Omen desktops, and some mechanical keyboards and wireless mice. Depending on the product, class members can receive $10 to $100 per eligible product purchased.
Per the settlement agreement [PDF], HP will contribute $4 million to a "non-reversionary common fund, which shall be used to pay the (i) Settlement Class members' claims; (ii) court-approved Notice and Settlement Administration Costs; (iii) court-approved Settlement Class Representatives' Service Award; and (iv) court-approved Settlement Class Counsel Attorneys' Fees and Costs Award. All residual funds will be distributed pro rata to Settlement Class members who submitted valid claims and cashed checks."
The two plaintiffs who filed the initial complaint may also file a motion to receive a settlement class representative service award for up to $5,000 each, which would come out of the $4 million pool. People who purchased a discounted HP desktop, laptop, mouse, or keyboard that was on sale for "more than 75 percent of the time the products were offered for sale" from June 5, 2021, to October 28, 2024, are eligible for compensation. The full list of eligible products is available here [PDF] and includes HP Spectre, Chromebook Envy, and Pavilion laptops, HP Envy and Omen desktops, and some mechanical keyboards and wireless mice. Depending on the product, class members can receive $10 to $100 per eligible product purchased.
Just like every retailer ever! (Score:5, Insightful)
Wait, they inflated "original" prices in order to claim steep discounts, which were really just regular prices? How did they ever think of this devious scheme? What store *doesn't* do this?
Re: (Score:2)
Yup, many do the same. Ya gotta shop around to other brands. Maybe even price out a self build?
Re: Just like every retailer ever! (Score:2)
In many places, there are consumer laws against false advertising. Some even have teeth, and get enforced. The regulations are typically about the legality of advertising discounts, relative to what prices the items were previously listed for, for how long, and how much they actually sold for, before a discount can be legally advertised
Re: (Score:2)
In many places, there are consumer laws against false advertising. Some even have teeth, and get enforced. The regulations are typically about the legality of advertising discounts, relative to what prices the items were previously listed for, for how long, and how much they actually sold for, before a discount can be legally advertised
I'll take "Places that are not the USA" for 800, Alex.
Re: Just like every retailer ever! (Score:2)
The court ruling was in San Jose, California.
There are laws in the US at both the federal and state level. California has more consumer protections than most states.
Nevertheless, these laws are rarely enforced. This is the equivalent of a speeding ticket. Only a few get caught or punished for it.
Re: (Score:2)
I would suggest that a penalty equivalent to a speeding ticket, is about right. Outlawing inflated discounts is kind of like outlawing fine print. There is no substitute for reputation, when it comes to getting good deals, or when it comes to getting quality products. The shysters out there will game the system, even with California laws, while honest brokers just won't play those games, even outside of California.
Re: Just like every retailer ever! (Score:2)
As someone with a vision disability, I disagree that fine print shouldn't be outlawed. I can't read any of it without a magnifier.
For misleading discounts, that is a less serious issue, but I do wish it was enforced a little more often still.
Re: (Score:2)
The law doesn't, and shouldn't, require that everything be accessible to those with disabilities *without special accommodations*. Suppose someone's vision is so bad they can only read 100-point text. Does it make sense to mandate that all text be at least 100 points or greater, to make sure those with such disabilities aren't inconvenienced? No, hardly.
In your case, you have a magnifier. This is a reasonable accommodation, you can read the fine print with assistance. This is as it should be.
My vision is al
Re: (Score:2)
Fine print should be outlawed, vision disability or not most people don't read it and companies are well aware of that. They use it to cheat people all the time,.
Re: (Score:2)
Good luck. Fine print has been created as a *response* to our overly litigious and over-regulated government. Ironically, it is the very presence of strict laws that has led to the rise of fine print.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Please cite a law that requires anyone to use tiny fonts when printing.
Re: (Score:2)
Those restaurant ads showing beautiful food...maybe you haven't noticed, but they always have a little * leading to...fine print.
And those "You could win" ads also lead to...fine print.
That fine print is written in response to government regulations. If it weren't for the regulations, they wouldn't bother with the *.
Re: (Score:2)
I didn't say that the law requires tiny fonts, or fine print. The fine print is a *response* to the laws that regulate what can be claimed. So for example, a law or regulation that requires a sweepstakes to quantify the odds of winning, will lead to the company advertising a sweepstakes, to include fine print that satisfies the regulation, but is unlikely to be read by the typical reader.
There is a difference between a response to a law, and a requirement of the law.
Re: (Score:2)
Using a magnifier is reasonable to read something relatively short, like the expiration date on a small object like a bottle of eye drops, that can only be printed small, or nutrition labels on foods, or a short one-page document.
It's not reasonable to use a magnifier to read lengthy amounts of legalese that have been intentionally shrunk to fine print to discourage even able-bodied people from reading them, such as EULAs. Also, my smartphone is my magnifier. Some apps block the system magnification feature
Re: (Score:2)
100%. But I'm still totally happy to see someone get busted for it.
Whenever I see the word SALE what I read is MANIPULATION
Re: (Score:2)
Indeed you should see manipulation.
But I'd argue that it's the same kind of nit-picky manipulation that goes on with speed limits. Everybody always goes around 5 mph over the limit, regardless of the limit, so governments respond by setting speed limits about 5 mph lower than engineers would say is safe. Everybody gets what they want. If the police started getting nit-picky about the actual limit (you know, like small-town cops with nothing better to do), you'd have a revolt. Most people realize it's not ab
Re: (Score:2)
I don't see it as zero tolerance, I just don't want to be manipulated and lied to. I want to be able to evaluate value. That's really what these pricing games are about, sowing confusion and making it hard to make good choices. When everything's always on sale no one knows what the right price is or when to buy.
Marketing droids love customers being confused because then they're more easily manipulated. They do the same with naming; look how many products are named confusingly similar names as their competit
Re: (Score:2)
I'd like all those things too, but I live in the real world. Haggling is as old as commerce--thousands of years old. It's not going anywhere. Sale prices off inflated list prices, are nothing more than the latest incarnation of haggling. To get a reasonable deal, you have to do your homework, to know what is, and is not, a good price.
Yeah it annoys me too. But it's not criminal, it's just reality.
Re: (Score:2)
Whenever I see the word SALE what I read is MANIPULATION
The new words to look out for are UP TO, since the only item actually at the claimed discount of 'up to 50%' was an inventory of one and is sold out. Everything else is regular price.
Re: Just like every retailer ever! (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah even such a law can be easily gamed. It's as trivial as changing item numbers or other such schemes. The problem with these laws, is that they have a tendency to lull customers into being careless, assuming that merchants will comply with them in good faith. The reality is that merchants spend time and effort, and pay people, to figure out ways to game the system to make things seem rosier than they are. It's what even reputable merchants do. So I'm not sure such laws actually have a net positive effec
Re: (Score:2)
What store *doesn't* do this?
Well all of them in the EU for one since dynamically changing the initial price during a discount period is against the EU Price Indication Directive and subject to fines of up to 4% of annual revenue.
Re: (Score:2)
You really think EU retailers haven't figured out how to game the system? The problem with these laws, is that they rely on people following them in good faith. Gullible people assume that businesses will follow the rules in good faith, and end up having more confidence than they should, that they aren't getting taken. Getting around such rules is trivial, such as using schemes that list the same item under multiple item numbers, with varying prices that you can report to regulators "used to be" higher befo
Only use ... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
I heard that after only 5,000 keystrokes you need to refill the keyboard, but if you have a monthly subscription that amount increases to 7,000. What a rip-off!
HP? Just say no. (Score:3)
It's all Carly's fault. (Score:2)
David Hewlett and Bill Packard are spinning in their graves.
HP used to be synonymous with "tank" as in "Sherman Tank". It's still synonymous with "tank", but now that's as in "Septic Tank".
F*** you very much, Carly.
Re: (Score:2)
Ah, but how did Carly get there? You're blaming the symptom, not the cause.
HP? (Score:2)
Surely by now most intelligent people know they need to avoid HP products?