Sherwin-Williams Undisclosed Supply Chain Surcharge Class Action

Supply chain difficulties have plagued businesses since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The complaint for this class action alleges that the Sherwin-Williams Company has “covertly” added a 4% Supply Chain Surcharge to its sales transactions, which it claims customers only find out about “at the cash register once it’s often too late … to rescind their purchases.” In fact, the complaint alleges, customers are often unaware that they’ve been charged this add-on amount until they’ve already checked out and paid for their purchases.

Three classes have been proposed for this action:

• The Nationwide Class is all persons who, within the applicable statute of limitations before the filing of this complaint, bought something at a Sherwin-Williams store and was charge a 4% surcharge.
• The New York Class and Michigan Class are similar, but they include all persons in New York or Michigan, respectively, who within the applicable statute of limitations before the filing of this complaint, bought something at a Sherwin-Williams store and was charge a 4% surcharge.

The Covid-19 pandemic has created havoc in supply chains for businesses and consumers, increasing prices and for many items. The complaint alleges that Sherwin-Williams is among the companies that has been saddled with additional costs, but that it has “decided to shift this cost onto customers. But instead of raising its prices in a transparent manner, Sherwin-Williams chose to add the Surcharge on to sales after the customer has decided to make a purchase.”

This “covert” addition to customer bills, the complaint claims, “allows Sherwin-Williams to hide the true prices of its products. Customers are induced to make purchases in reliance on the lower listed price and then are duped at the cash register into paying 4% more than the prices advertised by” the company.

The complaint alleges that this surcharge is “deceptive and illegal” because it keeps customers from being able to determine the true price of the company’s offerings and does not allow them to fairly shop around for the best price for the things they want to buy. Also, the complaint alleges, the company misrepresents that the price of every item it sells is 4% less than it really is.

The complaint claims that this is omitting and concealing material facts, never informing customers about the surcharge until they are at the point of sale, and sometimes without the customers understanding that there is an extra charge even then.

This is especially problematic for customers who buy Sherwin-Williams best-known product, paint, the complaint says. Custom orders of things like paint cannot be returned after they are mixed, the complaint alleges, meaning that customers do not know the true price of the paint they request until they are at the register and it’s too late to reject the product.

The counts include violation of state consumer protection laws, breach of contract, and unjust enrichment.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Consumer
Tags: Breach of Contract, Deceptive Advertising, Unjust Enrichment