Harbor Freight Tools Class action suit

[porsche4life]

And not for killing someone!

Just a heads up, if you bought anything in the last 6 years and can prove it, you can get some money back!


Harbor Freight Settles Class Action Lawsuit Over Sale Prices - The Drive

[KFC911]

Keeping receipts for HF tools is like keeping receipts for Charmin....both have their place however

[legion]

Between the coupons and credit cards, they know who made a lot of the purchases in the past sixe years. Why not refund automatically to those they know about?

Because, the opposing lawyers get to keep whatever goes unclaimed in the settlement pool. The lawsuit wasn't about helping consumers, but about a payday for a law firm. Harbor Freight's prices will go up as a result, and us consumers will end up paying for the settlement.

As a class, we have given lawyers the ability to enact private taxes. This is an example. The cost of some products has gone up to make some lawyer richer. Sure, they wrap it in "consumer protection" or some other such nonsense. Was anyone really protected? No, the opposite is true. Consumers were harmed by higher prices.

[kach22i]

Great, ten percent on a ten dollar tool is what, 10 cents?

Will cost me more to think about it than it's worth.

[berettafan]

what a tool (ha!).

we all know the deal at HF. I wouldn't participate in the lawsuit if I had proof in a neatly organized binder and could pick up a quick $500 for 10 minutes of work. it's just bogus.

[vonsmog]

I have all my receipts for the time period, will have to add them all up! Might be worth sending them in! I bet I have spent over a few thousand over those years.

[Chocaholic]

Originally Posted by vonsmog

I have all my receipts for the time period, will have to add them all up! Might be worth sending them in! I bet I have spent over a few thousand over those years.

That should get you an $8 settlement and $200,000 for the law firm.

[cmccuist]

Originally Posted by kach22i

Great, ten percent on a ten dollar tool is what, 10 cents?

Architect math.

[GG Allin]

If I got 10% back on everything I've ever spent there, It'd come out to around $5.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by cmccuist

Architect math.

You funny!!!

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by kach22i

Great, ten percent on a ten dollar tool is what, 10 cents?

Will cost me more to think about it than it's worth.

seriously?

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by cmccuist

Architect math.

My bad I moved a decimal point in my head, yet oddly enough depending on how this lawsuit pans out on these three options I could be correct - don't count on your up to 10% just yet.

I followed a couple of links in the articles to get to this page - just research.

First this:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/notice-proposed-class-action-settlement-130000386.html

Then this:
National Sale Price Settlement

Option A.
Customers who have itemized Harbor Freight receipts reflecting one or more purchases between April 8, 2011 and December 15, 2016 with a “you saved” amount reflected on their receipts can submit copies of those receipts and elect to receive either 20% in cash, or 30% in a Harbor Freight gift card, of the total “you saved” amount listed on their receipts, excluding any amounts reflecting free items or items that were later returned.

Option B.
Customers who have credit or debit card statements reflecting one or more purchases at Harbor Freight between April 8, 2011 and December 15, 2016 can submit copies of those statements and elect to receive either 10% in cash, or 12% in a Harbor Freight gift card, of the total Harbor Freight purchases on their credit or debit card statement(s), excluding any amounts reflecting items that were later returned.

Option C.
All other customers who made purchases at Harbor Freight between April 8, 2011 and December 15, 2016 may submit one declaration, signed under penalty of perjury, stating that they purchased an item from Harbor Freight (other than a free item or an item that was later returned) that was advertised with a higher reference price (e.g., “reg. $XXX,” “only $XXX,” or “comp. at $XXX”) adjacent to a lower current offering price, and that they do not have itemized Harbor Freight receipts or credit or debit card statements of their Harbor Freight purchases. Customers submitting this declaration will receive one $10 Harbor Freight gift card.

Under option "A" if your $10 item was 5% off you would have a “you saved” amount of $0.50 right?

You then get in cash 20% of $0.50 which comes out to 10 cents, right?

This is how a $10.00 item gets you 10 cents back.

See, an architect can make anything work if he follows the code/instructions.

I think the original article posted mentioned the most generous and optimistic outcome of the lawsuit, which from I can tell is Option-B.

Option-B is the 10% on full purchase price.

I'm not sure of this but can the court refuse all option-B claims and honor only options A & C?

That is to say if you get too greedy, you get nothing?

If I were the court, I would default all applicants to a single option of the settlement. So all A-B-C applicants would get the same, or the same nothing if the court rules in Harbor Freight's favor.

Does the 1/3 of the settlement typically going to the lawyers come out of the customer's portion?

That is to say if I was planning on getting about $30 back, I'd actually be getting only about $20?

I did not figure that into my estimation.

NOTE: Michigan's scanner law is far more generous than this lawsuit in any of it's three options, but only if you consider lower cost items.

http://www.bargainstobounty.com/2015/07/michigan-scanner-law/

If you have found an error and have your receipt, the store may refund you the difference in pricing plus a “bonus” of ten times the difference. The bonus must be at least $1.00, but may not be more than $5.00.

Not only can you get items for free, but you can actually make money on a faulty ring up in Michigan.

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by peteremsley

Probably correct though - 1% for him an the other 9 for the lawyers.

I have no experience with this, just being pessimistic but what if this happens........

The lawyers win and get their 1/3 fee and the court costs are paid by Harbor Freight because they lost.

We now have the problem of servicing all those claims, authentication of receipts, bookkeeping, accounting, mailing and writing of checks. All of which costs money and somebody's got to pay for it all. Then you have a third party monitor and supervise the distribution which costs even more in overhead.

I don't think the lawyers want to pay for this themselves, they could end up losing money.

Who pays for this, which end does it come out of?

I bet it comes out of the customers claims.

It's like those "get the second one free" if you pay separate shipping and handling fees. This is where they make the real money.

[Dantilla]

The only thing I have from Harbor Fright is a creeper.
After all, how bad can an inexpensive creeper be? Ought to be okay.....

I soon replaced all six castors with ones that actually swivel and roll. Now it works fine.

I spent more on the replacement castors than the original creeper.

[berettafan]

I really think this suit is an example of why we need tort reform. how about we spend some energy on something that matters.

[cstreit]

Why the hell do t we have a law that states lawyers filing class action suits only get paid for the time they spent, not the "leftovers"?

The class actions never benefit anyone but them, unless it really changes the companies behavior.

[legion]

Originally Posted by cstreit

Why the hell do t we have a law that states lawyers filing class action suits only get paid for the time they spent, not the "leftovers"?

Because many politicians are lawyers.

[GH85Carrera]

I have only been to one Harbor Freight store. I bought something that they had but it was so long ago I don't remember what it was. They are building a HF store near me now so I might go in more. It will be next to the Farmer's Supply.

[legion]

Harbor Freight is great for:

-Tools you plan on destroying.
-Tools for specialized jobs you don't plan on doing often.
-Tools you can't find anywhere else.
-Tools where you can't justify buying the way more expensive "real" version.

[cmccuist]

I bought the 301 piece "mechanics" socket and wrench set for $129 and took it to Saudi Arabia with me. It was on sale and I was an Inside Track member. I used it for 7 years and then sold it for 450 riyals ($120). The Pittsburg wrenches and sockets aren't horrible. Obviously, they aren't Snap On or even Kobalt, but not too bad.