Lenovo Group Limited and Lenovo (United States), Inc. are the largest manufacturer of notebook computers in the world. It sells its machines on a wholesale basis to retailers and also sells directly to consumers on its own retail website, Lenovo.com, including under the names ThinkPad, IdeaPad, Legion, Lenovo, and Chromebook. But the complaint for this class action alleges that the company uses “fraudulent and deceptive business practices” by inventing a fictitious “original” price or “List Price” that allows it to offer consumers false savings.
The class for this action is all persons in the US who bought any of the products on the Lenovo website, Lenovo.com, during the fullest period allowed by law, for which Lenovo advertised both a List Price or Estimated Value and a Sale Price.
Personal computers are complex items, with many factors determining their value. These can include their CPU processing speed, CPU power usage, RAM capacity, RAM speed, hard drive capacity, hard drive speed, graphics cards and their characteristics, screen resolution, battery capacity, and many other things.
The complaint alleges that Lenovo sets a List Price or Estimated Value on the computers it sells on its website. The complaint quotes Lenovo as saying, “Estimated value is Lenovo’s estimate of product value based on industry data, including the prices at which Lenovo and/or third-party retailers and e-tailers have offered or valued the same or comparable products. Third-party data may not be based on actual sales.”
According to the complaint, “[r]epresentations like [Lenovo’s] about the Estimated Value of their computers are actually a kind of qualitative statement because they induce consumers to believe those representations are commensurate with the Products’ actual quality.” Consumers believe that a computer “valued at” $2,000 is of better quality than one valued at $1,500, the complaint claims.
But the complaint alleges that Lenovo’s List Prices and advertised discounts “are completely illusory or grossly overstated.” This is because, the complaint alleges, the List Prices or Estimated Values are not the prevailing market prices for the products, or even any price ever actually charged by Lenovo for them. In fact, the complaint claims that consumers buying a Lenovo computer may pay a higher price at Lenovo.com than they would at another retail outlet because of the shipping and handling fees.
The complaint quotes a banner ad from the Lenovo website saying, “Save up to 65% off PCs and top tech. Shop now.” “This banner, or a similar banner,” the complaint claims, “is and has always been present on the Lenovo website throughout the relevant period, regardless of whether there are in fact any sales promotions being offered.”
The complaint examines a number of Estimated Prices and discount offers and concludes, “Not only are Products’ Estimated Values completely unrepresentative of those Products’ quality and value as compared to similar computers, the Estimated Values don’t have any relationship whatsoever with the actual sales price of that same model on the Lenovo.com website or at any other retailer.”
Article Type: LawsuitTopic: Consumer
Most Recent Case Event
Lenovo False Discounts Off “Estimated Values” for Computers Complaint
June 17, 2022
Lenovo Group Limited and Lenovo (United States), Inc. are the largest manufacturer of notebook computers in the world. It sells its machines on a wholesale basis to retailers and also sells directly to consumers on its own retail website, Lenovo.com, including under the names ThinkPad, IdeaPad, Legion, Lenovo, and Chromebook. But the complaint for this class action alleges that the company uses “fraudulent and deceptive business practices” by inventing a fictitious “original” price or “List Price” that allows it to offer consumers false savings.
Lenovo False Discounts Off “Estimated Values” for Computers ComplaintCase Event History
Lenovo False Discounts Off “Estimated Values” for Computers Complaint
June 17, 2022
Lenovo Group Limited and Lenovo (United States), Inc. are the largest manufacturer of notebook computers in the world. It sells its machines on a wholesale basis to retailers and also sells directly to consumers on its own retail website, Lenovo.com, including under the names ThinkPad, IdeaPad, Legion, Lenovo, and Chromebook. But the complaint for this class action alleges that the company uses “fraudulent and deceptive business practices” by inventing a fictitious “original” price or “List Price” that allows it to offer consumers false savings.
Lenovo False Discounts Off “Estimated Values” for Computers Complaint