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When online shoppers see a sales price that’s much lower than the strikethrough price above it, the deal may seem too good to be true. Now a lawsuit claims that when it comes to Home Depot, some of its online items were too good to be true because of “false-reference pricing.”
The complaint, which seeks class-action status, was filed by two Texas consumers. One of them, Jason Londrigan, says he purchased a Samsung washing machine from Home Depot in September 2023 for $578, which he perceived as a 35% discount from the presumed regular strikethrough price of $899; however, in the seven months that followed the purchase, the washer never sold for that regular price, with the presumed discount price ranging from $550 to “just over” $800, according to the lawsuit.
“The long-advertised ‘discount’ on the dryer Mr. Londrigan purchased induced him to purchase the product, and the artificial demand created by Home Depot’s false-reference pricing scheme caused him to pay more than he would have otherwise,” the lawsuit alleges.
Retail Brew posed several questions to Home Depot, including whether it disputed the claim that strikethrough prices in advertising are sometimes more than the amount Home Depot ever charges for the items, on what basis it based the strikethrough prices, and whether the strikethrough prices ever were higher than the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MRSP).
Beth Marlowe, a Home Depot spokesperson, wrote in an email response that the company “wouldn’t be able to discuss ongoing litigation.”
The suit was filed in Georgia, where Home Depot is headquartered, and cites the state’s Fair Practice Business Act, which prohibits making “false or misleading statements of fact concerning the reasons for, existence of, or amounts of price reductions.”