By Gosh, figuring out the true cost of things is becoming more and more difficult. And I am not even referring to the craziness of international trade conflicts, tariffs, and taxes; I am talking about how businesses will just lie about their true prices to make “discounts” appear favorable. HP is reportedly paying impacted customers a cool $4 million for what it allegedly did.
That concludes a class-action lawsuit that began more than four years ago when two plaintiffs from the United States claimed that HP had inflated the discount they appeared to be receiving by displaying “strike-through prices” on its store that were not true. The plaintiffs claim that HP misrepresented the available quantity, using the well-known phrase “only one left at this price,” according to the Ars Technica story.
I say allegedly because HP has not acknowledged any wrongdoing or liability as part of the settlement, and this is a civil complaint rather than a criminal case of deceptive advertising. It is essentially a “leave me alone” payment for $4 million. There does not seem to be any real law enforcement engaged, despite the plaintiffs’ accusations that HP had violated the US FTC’s deceptive pricing statutes. Furthermore, these behaviors are not unique. Online, the “FOMO” and time pressure sales tactics are commonplace. These are newer versions of sales strategies that I recall from the days of infomercials and before.
One of my pet peeves is a small business called Lenovo, which is the world’s biggest laptop seller by volume. Even though I have been reviewing its goods for more than ten years, I honestly have no idea how much the new ThinkPad models cost. This is because the price that shows up on Lenovo’s own store and third-party vendors frequently has nothing to do with the “manufacturer’s suggested retail price.” It is making. For this reason, you should carefully examine any offer that says a Lenovo laptop is more than $1000 off.
But let us get back to HP. If you purchased a laptop, desktop, mouse, or keyboard from HP’s US online store and it was listed as “on sale” more than 75% of the time between June 5, 2021, and October 28, 2024, you are entitled to participate in the class-action settlement. Products with highly precise product numbers include generic HP, Envy, Spectre, Pavilion, All-in-One, Chromebook, Chromebase, Slim, Victus, and Omen lines. If your purchase qualifies, you can receive a refund of $10 to $100.
