Samsonite Hit with Class Action Over ‘Phantom’ Discount Prices

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Samsonite Company Stores, LLC has been named in a proposed class action that accuses the luggage retailer of advertising its products at false original prices and then purporting to sell them at steep discounts.

Samsonite, the suit says, marks each of its luggage products and travel accessories with two prices: an “Our Price” amount and a “Now” price that is heavily discounted. By listing products as perpetually on sale, Samsonite induces more customers to buy them, the case alleges. The lawsuit claims, however, that these items are never actually sold at their supposedly original prices. “Our Price” rates are instead used “exclusively as a benchmark from which the false discount and corresponding ‘Now’ price is derived,” the suit says.

According to the lawsuit, Samsonite’s “Now” prices are merely “phantom markdowns” used to induce customers into purchasing products they wouldn’t normally have purchased. From the complaint:

“Samsonite's scheme has the effect of tricking consumers into believing they are getting a significant deal by purchasing merchandise at a steep discount, when in reality, consumers are paying for merchandise at its regular retail price.”