Consumer Claims Visionworks’ BOGO-Free Offer Is Misleading

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Visionworks of America, Inc. is the defendant in a proposed class action in which the plaintiff claims the company’s “Buy One, Get One Free” (BOGO-free) offer for eyeglasses violates Florida consumer protection law. 

The complaint states that Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations prohibit retailers from using the word “free” in offers for more than six months during any 12-month period. To this stipulation, the case adds that the FTC has in the past ruled it is unfair and deceptive for a retailer to increase the ordinary and usual price of a product in order for a consumer to obtain the “free” component of a BOGO-free promotion. The plaintiff alleges Visionworks has violated both of these caveats with regard to its BOGO-free offerings:

“Visionworks used the word free in its BOGO-Free offers for more than six months during the 12-month periods at issue. Moreover, Visionworks increased the ordinary and usual price for the first pair of eyeglasses that consumers had to purchase in order to obtain the second pair of eyeglasses for ‘free.’ To wit, Visionworks near-constant and perpetual use of the word free—month-after-month for the vast majority of the year—increased the ordinary and usual price for a single pair of eyeglasses, such that the second pair was not truly free, and the consumer paid more than the regular price for a single pair of eyeglasses. Indeed, Visionworks priced single pairs of eyeglasses at 40% less than the BOGO-Free price.”

The complaint adds that Visionworks’ BOGO-free offer has two components: the advertised two-pair offer, from which a consumer purportedly pays for one pair of eyeglasses at its regular price and receives a second pair for free; and an unadvertised alternative, for which a consumer pays 40 percent less than the listed price for a single pair of eyeglasses without receiving a “free” second pair. The lawsuit alleges the unadvertised alternative price is, in fact, the true regular, uninflated price of a pair of eyeglasses.