When we last spoke to Jess, the gamer with the questionable taste for dolphin pet-simulating video games, she was adrift in a sea of despair, having bought a game based on promotional copy on the game’s site and box, only to find the game she bought was different than that which was promised. Publisher 505 Games seemed to be blowing her off.
false advertising
Game Publisher Square Enix Slapped With Class Action Suit For False Advertising, 'Product Enrichment'
By 6.25.09
One day, gamers will get together to sue Square Enix for always lying to them about how infinitely sequelized “Final” Fantasy games are never really final. But until then we’ll just have to sit back and see how this false advertising federal class action lawsuit against the game publisher plays out.
Florida Albertsons Coughs Up Green For False Advertising
By 6.15.09
One effective way to draw customers into your grocery store then piss them off is to put out an ad with good deals, then refuse to honor them.
Gamer Tricked Into Buying Lame DS Dolphin Title By Erroneous Ad, Publisher Dragging Its Fins
By 5.29.09
All Jess wanted was a Nintendogs-style DS game that would let her frolic with an imaginary pet dolphin, teach it a few tricks and perform routines in front of an adoring virtual crowd. Discovery Kids: Dolphin Discovery seemed to fit the bill because its site, as well as the box it comes in, says the game lets you do just that.
Customers Sue Clearwire For Rotten Service, Early Termination Fees
By 4.23.09
Customers from Washington, Hawaii, Minnesota and North Carolina have teamed up to file a lawsuit against Clearwire for misrepresenting the quality of its hit-or-miss wireless network, and then charging ETFs for account cancellations even when there’s no service as promised. If they win, Clearwire will be banned “from enforcing the Early Termination Fees and from further false advertising.”
Coke Sued Over VitaminWater Claims
By 1.15.09
The Center for Science in the Public Interest has announced a class-action lawsuit against Coca-Cola over its VitaminWater line, on the grounds that it makes deceptive claims about the nutritional benefits of its drinks.
Classmates.com Sued Because Classmates Weren't Really Looking For Him
By 11.13.08
Upon logging into his Gold Membership profile in order to view the classmate contacts … Plaintiff discovered that in fact, no former classmate of his had tried to contact him or view his profile,” the complaint reads. “Of those http://www.classmates.com users who were characterized … as members who viewed Plaintiff’s profile, none were former classmates of Plaintiff or persons familiar with or known to Plaintiff for that matter.
Best Buy Cancels Your Order As You Stand There Shouting "Stop!"
By 9.22.08
Best Buy didn’t want to honor the sale price of the 2GB flash drive Matt ordered through their website, so when Matt arrived to pick-up his purchase, the store’s assistant manager called customer service and, pretending to be Matt, asked to cancel the order. Let’s read Matt’s story and see how it violates Massachusetts law, inside…
Dear Lowes: A Gallon Has 128 Fluid Ounces, Not 116
By 8.11.08
A reader wants to know why Lowes advertises and sells gallons of house paint that aren’t full gallons. Their website says the cans are “1-Gallon.” Their receipts describe them as 1 gallon cans of paint. Even the stickers they print out and place on the lids say “One Gallon.” But Brian notes that when he brought the paint home and really looked at the cans, “One of the labels read ‘116 Fluid Ounces; 3.43 liters’, the second label read ‘126 Fluid Ounces; 3.725 Liters.'”
Häagen-Dazs Drink Special Costs Twice As Much With "No Ice" Thanks To Handwritten Mouseprint
By 7.16.08
Reader Joanne is wondering if the tiny handwritten mouseprint on the Haagen-Dazs drink special sign is purposefully misleading. She saw the special and ordered the drink, but when she asked for “no ice” she was told that it would cost twice as much, and that this information was on the sign. Her boyfriend examined the sign (after she got her ice-packed drink) and sure enough, in tiny handwriting at the bottom of the sign was a note that said the drink cost twice as much with “no ice.”
You Won A 65-inch TV From Charter Cable! Here Is Your 19-inch TV!
By 7.8.08
The News Courier reports Charter Cable ran an online contest asking kids to submit stories about why their dad was the “World’s Greatest Dad,” and the winner was supposed to get a 65-inch TV…instead, a 19-inch one showed up on his doorstep. Is this any way to treat The World’s Greatest Dad?
PedEgg Ads Scam, Suit Alleges
By 6.26.08
Who would have ever thought that a low-budget infomercial touting an egg-shaped device home pedicure device with “100 precision microfiles” might be deceptive in some way? Not, apparently, its actors, two of whom are suing the makers of “PedEgg.” The thespians say they PedEgg told them the commercial would be internets-only. Instead, it’s on the national airways. We don’t care about that part. Rather, we chuckle over the suit’s revelation that PedEgg hired a horror-makeup guy to apply “artificial bumps and discoloration” to their feet to increase the contrast between the “before” and “after” shots. Quelle horreru! Besides their dishonest advertising tactics, someone should also sue PedEgg for the gross-out shot when they dump all the foot shavings in the trash. See the full commercial inside.
CompUSA: This Video Card Is $114. Whoops! Just Kidding!
By 6.20.08
Joe was browsing through his CompUSA catalog and noticed a good deal on a video card, but when he tried to order it he was told that it was a misprint and that CompUSA wouldn’t be honoring the advertised price.
Sears Kicks Off Holiday Weekend With False Advertising
By 5.28.08
Like many consumers, reader Nazar hoped to get in on some money saving deals over the holiday weekend. He spotted this advertisement (pictured above) in the Sunday paper for Sears, which clearly reads “ALL Garage storage on sale, 50% off – excludes closeouts.” Nazar headed down to Sears and picked out a garage storage unit, (not on closeout) but at checkout the Sears manager refused to give him 50% off citing that the sale was for the pictured unit only. Nazar’s letter and our advice, inside…
Apple Sued: New 20" iMac Screens Display 260k Colors, Not Millions
By 4.2.08
Anyone who has been on the receiving end of an Apple ad campaign in the past 10 years knows that they tend to play fast and loose with the truth in their ad copy. Their towers are the fastest, their laptop is the thinnest, their phone is the most advanced. With so many unchecked exaggerations, Apple sometimes comes across as the consumer electronics version of Donald Trump, augmented by killer industrial and UI designers. Now a law firm in California has filed a class-action suit against the company for misrepresenting its new 20-inch iMac models as being capable of producing millions of colors, when in fact they use a substandard el-cheapo screen that is nowhere near as capable as what’s in the 24-inch models.
"So, I'm Suing Comcast…" Reader Joins Comcastic Class Action Lawsuit
By 2.25.08
My name is Jonathan [redacted], and have had the worst customer experience in my life in dealing with Comcast of DC over the last 5 months. From incompetent technicians, to gross abuses of billing procedures, to a simple lack of basic service, I am appalled at what they claim to be “Comcastic”. In addition, I am a graduate student, and so do not have much time to fight with call center employees (60 hours and counting, no exaggeration) over their horrific overcharging; I also don’t have time to sit at home for yet another technician who doesn’t know anything about the services they are providing. For my work-study, I am an IT technician or an office building in downtown DC. As a result, I oftentimes know much more about networking than the technicians who are supposed to service my line!
Dannon Sued Over Probiotic Yogurt Claims
By 1.25.08
A proposed class action lawsuit was filed yesterday in California against Dannon over the company’s unsubstantiated claims that its Activia, Activia Lite and DanActive “probiotic” yogurts were healthier than regular yogurt.
