Company News : Overcharging alleged at Best Buy
Connecticut’s attorney general announced a lawsuit Thursday against Best Buy Co. Inc., accusing the nation’s largest consumer electronics retailer of deceiving customers with in-store computer kiosks and overcharging them.
The lawsuit accuses Best Buy of denying deals found at the company’s Web site, www.BestBuy.com. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said store employees charged customers higher prices found on a lookalike internal Web site.
“Best Buy gave consumers the worst deal — a bait-and-switch-plus scheme luring consumers into stores with promised online discounts, only to charge higher in-store prices,” Blumenthal said.
The complaint was dated May 18 to be served on the company, which must respond by June 13. The lawsuit, which seeks refunds for consumers, civil penalties, court costs, a ban on the practice and other remedies, would then be filed in Hartford Superior Court.
The company strongly denied Blumenthal’s allegations and said the in-store kiosks provided customers with another way to get information about products and let them know what was available at that particular store.
“State Farm Insurance Co. will pay almost $6.8 million to settle a class-action lawsuit by Florida policyholders who said the insurer unfairly depreciated claims for screen enclosures damaged in Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma, according to court records.
State Farm paid actual cash value instead of the full replacement value to about 12,000 customers whose screen enclosures were damaged by the 2005 storms. But attorneys representing the policyholders argued insurance policies did not allow State Farm to depreciate the claims.
“Parents who bought the antidepressant Paxil for their children can begin seeking reimbursements under a $64 million class-action deal settling claims that the drug’s maker misled consumers about the medication’s safety.
Under the deal, announced in April and granted final approval last week by a judge in Madison County, Ill., parents with proof that they bought GlaxoSmithKline PLC’s Paxil and Paxil CR, a controlled-release version of the drug, can recoup out-of-pocket expenses.
Parents who no longer have pharmacy records or receipts can get up to $100 refunded by signing a claim form that carries penalties for lying.
Claim forms, which must be filed by Aug. 31, are available online at www.paxilpediatricsettlement.com.