Jo-Ann Stores Pre-Sale Warranty Availability Arkansas Class Action

This class action concerns product warranties, specifically the Pre-Sale Availability Rule, which requires that stores make available for consumer inspection, at the point of sale, the warranties offered on any product that costs more than $15. The complaint alleges that Jo-Ann Stores, LLC do not make these warranties available to consumers. The Pre-Sale Availability Rule is part of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act.

The class for this action is all citizens of Arkansas who have shopped at a Jo-Ann Store.

Magnuson-Moss is meant to protect consumers and to encourage competition for the best products. It does not require that companies provide warranties for their products, but the complaint alleges, “many consumers will be skeptical of products that do not have one.”

In former times, a purchaser of an item could bargain not only about price but also about a warranty on the item. Now, the complaint claims, consumers can no longer do this and must simply take whatever the company offers in the way of a warranty. This, the complaint alleges, leads to an imbalance of power between company and purchaser. Much of Magnuson-Moss governs warranties themselves, the complaint says, specifying, for example, “what a warrantor must—and must not—include as a term or representation[].”

However, the complaint says, the law “also recognizes the need of consumers to have access to warranties when evaluating whether or not to buy a given product, as the strength of the warranty is a meaningful data point when considering a new purchase.” Consumers can then compare “the best combination of price, features, and warranty coverage” when they choose which product to buy.

The law also has a long-term function. The complaint quotes Congressman Moss as saying, “Perhaps one of the potentially most important and long[-]range effects of this bill resides in its attempt to assure better product reliability” and “to stimulate manufacturers, for competitive reasons, to produce more reliable products.”

Retail stores have two ways of complying with the Pre-Sale Availability Rule and making the terms of the warranty available to a prospective buyer, the complaint claims. First, they may “display[] the warranty ‘in close proximity’ to the product[.]” Second, they may “plac[e] signs around the store in prominent locations alerting the consumer that he or she may inspect product warranties upon request.” They may not simply tell the prospective buyer to go to the manufacturer’s website.

But the complaint alleges that Jo-Ann Stores do not make warranties available to consumers before they buy products. “Instead,” the complaint charges, “the first time the consumer is able to view the warranty is upon opening the product’s packaging, after purchase.”

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Consumer
Tags: Failure to Show Terms of Warranty, Pre-Sale Availability Rule for Warranties, Warranty