Smith’s Customers File Lawsuit Class Action Claims Credit Firm Failed To Fulfill Warranty Terms

Four customers of Smith’s Home Furnishings have filed a class-action lawsuit against General Electric Credit Corp., backer of the defunct chain’s revolving credit and extended-warranty plans.

The four, residents of Spokane and Kitsap counties, claim GECC has not only failed to fulfill the warranty terms, but also continues to bill and collect on items backed by the warranties.

Portland-based Smith’s filed bankruptcy in August. All its Washington stores, including two in Spokane, were closed within a week. Hundreds lost their jobs.

In October, what had been a bid for reorganization was converted to a liquidation. All remaining Smith’s stores in the Northwest were closed.

Many consumers, particularly those who bought electronic goods from Smith’s, also purchased extended warranties. If warranty buyers did not need their purchase serviced, the chain promised to provide in-store credit in the amount of the warranty premium.

With the bankruptcy, recovery from Smith’s is impossible, according to the lawsuit filed in Spokane County Superior Court.

But GECC, by failing to honor the warranties, has breached the terms of its credit contracts, the lawsuit claims.

The warranties purchased by the four who brought the suit ranged in price from $275 to $400. Also, a computer bought by one of the plaintiffs no longer works properly.

The lender should be made to repay all who purchased the warranties, the suit says, and to cancel balances that warranty buyers have remaining on the warranties, or on defective goods no longer serviceable under the warranties.

GECC should also be blocked from billing or collecting on credit balances owed for warranty services or defective products, the suit requests.

The suit asks the court to include in the class anyone who purchased a warranty, or who purchased goods on GECC credit, within six years of the date the bankruptcy was filed.

, DataTimes