Lamps Plus in Chatsworth will pay $4.1 million to settle complaints of false advertising after a deputy district attorney in San Bernardino County stumbled onto the retailer’s price-matching scheme during the pandemic.
A civil complaint alleged Lamps Plus unlawfully advertised price-match guarantees, without disclosing that such offers applied to branded fixtures and products made only by Lamps Plus in markets where no competition existed, according to prosecutors.
“This was absolutely egregious,” said George Gascon, district attorney for Los Angeles County. “This is clearly a sign to steal from the public. This isn’t like an accident. This is a major corporate policy to rip off the consumer.”
Lamps Plus is known for manufacturing its own branded lighting fixtures, so there were no comparable products of similar design and quality to check against, Gascon’s office said. Lamps Plus was effectively advertising a price guarantee, knowing it would never have to pay out a 120% price match.
Lamps Plus said the 120% price match guarantee would be paid to a customer if a competitor could offer a better sale price. This was considered the 100% guarantee. To get to the 120% match, Gascon explained, Lamps Plus made a guarantee to pay the customer 20% above the lower-priced fixture.
Prosecutors from Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties brought the civil complaint against Lamps Plus following a four-year investigation that began when Rick Lal, a deputy district attorney in the San Bernardino District Attorney’s Office’s consumer protection unit, stumbled onto the scheme while he was shopping online.
Lal was working out of his Orange County home in late 2020, locked down amid the pandemic. He bought two pendant-shaped lights for about $334 each to hang over his kitchen island.
A few days later, an online targeted advertisement from a competitor offered Lal a similar fixture at a significantly cheaper price. The deputy DA said he emailed Lamps Plus, requesting the 120% price match guarantee. He asked that the refund be debited to his credit card because of the rival’s advertisement.
“I was told that it didn’t fall under their policy,” Lal said. “It didn’t seem right.”
Lal’s persistence paid off when the retailer paid out the price match guarantee. “I later began to wonder how many consumers in California were experiencing the same problem, so we looked into it and contacted the Lamps Plus attorneys, and they totally cooperated,” he said.
During the investigation, the prosecutors also found that Lamps Plus had allegedly used “Compare At” and “Comparable Value” sales tags to indicate a bargain price, even when the product sold was a fixture made and branded by the chain.
Gascon said prosecutors found evidence of the unfair advertising as long ago as 2017, and possibly longer.
Lamps Plus CEO Jason Goldberger and company spokeswoman Nicole Partise Ellis both declined to comment.
The investigation into the complaints happened before Goldberger arrived at the chain in September 2023. He replaced the chain’s co-founder, Dennis Swanson, who remains on the board of directors as a consultant.
Founded in 1976, Lamps Plus has over 35 stores in the Western U.S., including stores in Brea, Redlands, Torrance, Oceanside and San Diego.
Investors in Lamps Plus include Los Angeles-based Nexus Capital Management LP. The private equity firm also has holdings in FTD, the online florist company, Natural Balance, a pet food brand, and other consumer-related businesses.
Lal and Evan Goldsmith, a deputy DA in Riverside County, said that the false advertising and unfair competition claims were found at all stores in California.
The judgment does not provide consumer refunds for the alleged false advertising in the complaint. It does prohibit Lamps Plus from offering a 120% price match guarantee or protection policies in a false or misleading manner, according to prosecutors.
The $4.1 million paid by Lamps Plus covers investigative costs and supports future enforcement of consumer protection laws, the prosecutors said.
Details on how to get a price match refund from Lamps Plus can be found on the company’s website. Consumers may contact the consumer protection division of the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office to report any potential violations of the judgment in Los Angeles County.
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