HP Agrees To $4 Million Settlement Over Claims of 'Falsely Advertising' PCs, Keyboards
(Thursday April 17, 2025 @11:30PM (BeauHD)
from the false-advertising dept.)
- Reference: 0177056809
- News link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/04/17/2229247/hp-agrees-to-4-million-settlement-over-claims-of-falsely-advertising-pcs-keyboards
- Source link:
HP has [1]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
>
> Per the settlement agreement
>
> 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.
[1] https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/04/hp-agrees-to-4m-settlement-over-claims-of-falsely-advertising-pcs-keyboards/
[2] https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/show_temp.pdf
[3] https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/settlement-agreement.pdf
> 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
[2]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
[3]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.
[1] https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/04/hp-agrees-to-4m-settlement-over-claims-of-falsely-advertising-pcs-keyboards/
[2] https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/show_temp.pdf
[3] https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/settlement-agreement.pdf
Only use ... (Score:2)
by PPH ( 736903 )
... authentic HP brand keyboard fluid.
Re: (Score:2)
by RitchCraft ( 6454710 )
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!
Just like every retailer ever! (Score:3)
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)
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.