Class Action Claims Medcursor Fails to Provide Mandatory Warranty Disclosures with Product Registration Cards

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Medcursor, Inc. faces a proposed class action that claims the company has failed to include certain mandatory disclosures with the warranty registration instructions for its massage devices.

Although Medcursor advertises that its products come with express warranties, the defendant, the lawsuit alleges, has intentionally failed to inform customers that the warranty registration card included in a device’s packaging is for product registration only, and that the failure to fill out and return the card does not diminish their warranty rights under California law.

“Defendant intentionally omits any such statements that are expressly required by the [Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act],” the lawsuit claims.

The effect of the defendant’s allegedly “unlawful and deceitful business practices” is that consumers are less likely to submit warranty claims given they are “dup[ed]” into thinking they do not have warranty rights unless they fill out Medcursor’s warranty form with their personal information, the case says.

In the alternative, consumers “actually do not have the warranties that were promised to them when they purchased the products” since they must register their warranties—a requirement that was not disclosed to them at the time of purchase, the lawsuit alleges. Thus, consumers are deceived into purchasing products they would not have otherwise bought had they known they did not come with warranties as represented, the case claims.

“Either scenario results in Defendant benefitting at the consumer’s expense,” the complaint posits.

The plaintiff, a Fresno County, California resident, says he purchased the defendant’s Neck Shoulder Massager with Heat, Electric Shiatsu Back Massage Device after viewing representations that the product came with a 12-month warranty. Upon opening the package, however, the plaintiff discovered that the device did not come with a warranty as represented, and came with instead a registration card instructing him to “register” the warranty online within 30 days of purchase, the case relays.

The suit claims the website at which the plaintiff was told to register the warranty deceptively referred to it as insurance, stating, “In order to complete your 1 year replacement insurance registration online, please fill up the form with your details.” Per the lawsuit, the defendant failed to inform the plaintiff that the card was for product registration only and that his failure to complete and submit the form would not diminish his warranty rights, which must be disclosed under California law.

The suit alleges the defendant uses the personal information collected from customers’ warranty cards for “its own business and marketing purposes and for its own economic benefit.”

“Defendant has no right to access personal customer information through warranty registration for these purposes, by not making the legally mandated disclosures to customers,” the lawsuit scathes.

Medcursor, according to the suit, intends for its registration cards to have a “chilling effect” on warranty claims for consumers who have not registered their products, thereby saving the defendant money.

The plaintiff says he would not have purchased the product or paid a premium price for it had he known the massage device’s warranty was contingent on him providing his personal information through the registration card.

Initially filed in Fresno County, California Superior Court, the lawsuit was removed to the state’s Eastern District Court on April 30, 2021.

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