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HIDDEN FEES


The Lyon Firm is reviewing Hidden Fees Claims & Class Action Deceptive Marketing Lawsuits for plaintiffs nationwide
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Hidden Fees Lawsuits

investigating false advertising, drip pricing and hidden fee claims

Consumers regularly face deceptive sales practices, which may include hidden fees and drip pricing. These tactics are used in several industries, and Americans are sick and tired of receiving bills with curious add-on fees. Thus, plaintiffs across the country have taken legal action to protect their pocket books and hold corporations responsible for unfair sales practices.

State attorneys general and consumers may file lawsuits against those companies who insist on using hidden fees and drip pricing in sales programs.

Joe Lyon is an experienced class action consumer protection attorney, representing Americans in deceptive marketing, false advertising and hidden fee lawsuits. The Lyon Firm holds major corporations accountable for unfair and illegal trade practices, and seeks compensation for classes of plaintiffs.

What is drip pricing?

Drip pricing occurs when a company advertises a specific price to entice consumers, but when they reach the end of a sales process, additional fees and charges have been “dripped” into the total cost. The pricing scheme is shockingly effective, which is why so many companies use it. If a product seems less expensive at first, consumers tend to just eat the final cost because they’ve already made up their mind to make the purchase.

Hidden fees can cause customer dissatisfaction, but many pay the higher cost anyway, as they see no alternatives in some cases. Competitors may be transparent in their fees and eliminate hidden fees and drip pricing, but some portion of consumers will stick with the company that misleads them in the end.

Attorneys have argued that some companies do not adequately disclose certain fees, and only provide explanations deep within their contract or website. Complaints say companies improperly collect hundreds of millions from consumers, which should be recovered and disbursed.

Hidden Fees Lawsuits

There are no shortage of companies using deception in their sales methods, which can be unlawful and allows for consumers to file false advertising claims and hold the company responsible. At the center of the complaints are allegations that fees are misleading or inadequately disclosed to consumers.

A lawsuit filed by AT&T customers urged AT&T to stop charging hidden fees. Many customers feel they have been deceived about the cost of their broadband services. A class action lawsuit was filed against AT&T for allegedly hiding “administrative fees” on customer bills. A study by GlobalData found that advertised cable rates don’t reflect what customers actually pay. Bills can rather be up to 45 percent higher than the prices advertised by providers.

Attorneys have argued in courts that consumers may not be able to fairly compare the price of different products or plans because they are only told part of the price. It is often not considered false advertising, however, and just considered clever marketing tactics. Other hidden fee lawsuits have included the following:

  • A class action was filed against Spirit Airlines for allegedly hiding carry-on baggage fees.
  • Marriot and Hilton hotels were both sued for allegedly using drip pricing programs that charged hidden fees on hotel rooms.
  • Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. was hit with a lawsuit over their offers for “free delivery” or “$1 delivery,” which did not include added hidden fees on delivery orders. The suit alleges that Chipotle marks up its delivered food prices by up to 15 percent while declining to apply the same markup to items ordered for pickup, far exceeding the “free” or “one dollar” promises.
  • A class action alleged Bank of America misled their customers by adding automated clearinghouse (ACH) transfer fees for a service that’s otherwise free for transferring money.
  • CenturyLink was ordered to pay over $6 million to settle a lawsuit over hidden fees on customer bills. The internet company allegedly added charges to customer bills without accurately disclosing those fees. CenturyLink also failed to provide discounts that their sales agents had reportedly promised.

How Hidden Fee Marketing Works

There is significant behavioral science behind these unfair sales tactics. Once a consumer has their sights on an item, letting go of it becomes difficult. Consumers wind up making purchases that in hindsight they might not have made, knowing the full cost.

Hidden fee and drip pricing class actions have been filed against online ticket sale companies like StubHub and Ticketmaster. Hiding fees is a particularly effective strategy for online sales, when additional fees are disclosed only when customers are confirming their purchases on the checkout page.

Experts say that basic economic theory can clearly predict how hiding fees can make consumers buy more. For example, prior to 2015, StubHub displayed all-inclusive ticket prices on their site. This upfront-fee pricing strategy included all required fees—amounting to 15 percent of the ticket price plus shipping costs. But when the company began experimenting with adding the extra fees only on the checkout page, StubHub found that users spent over 20 percent more on tickets. Buyers were also more likely to complete a purchase compared with those who saw the total price of the tickets from the start.

After the sales experiment, StubHub changed the pricing structure across their site to use the back-end fees, hiding them until buyers checked out. In reality, consumers have been hit with so many taxes and fees in the past, they have almost come to expect it, and many don’t even notice, especially when the amounts are small.

So do consumers have a right to know the full price up front? Some governments have considered trade regulations to increase transparency. Canada has banned the use of drip pricing for ticket sales, and using back-end fees that mislead consumers. In the United States, companies still have free reign, but can be held accountable in the court of law through deceptive marketing class actions.

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ABOUT THE LYON FIRM

Joseph Lyon has 17 years of experience representing individuals in complex litigation matters. He has represented individuals in every state against many of the largest companies in the world.

The Firm focuses on single-event civil cases and class actions involving corporate neglect & fraud, toxic exposure, product defects & recalls, medical malpractice, and invasion of privacy.

NO COST UNLESS WE WIN

The Firm offers contingency fees, advancing all costs of the litigation, and accepting the full financial risk, allowing our clients full access to the legal system while reducing the financial stress while they focus on their healthcare and financial needs.

photo of attorney Joe Lyon reviewing deceptive marketing cases
Justice for American Consumers

Why are Hidden Fee Cases important?

Given the chance, companies take advantage of consumers’ impulses and hide the real cost of their products. Without class actions, large corporate defendants would be able to cause small amounts of harm over a large group of individuals without any risk of monetary penalty.

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Questions About Hidden Fee Lawsuits

Can I file a Class Action Lawsuit?

A Class Action is a lawsuit brought by an individual on behalf of all other similarly situated individuals. Rule 23 of the Federal and State Rules of Civil Procedure allows for Class Action lawsuits to resolve disputes in an efficient format.

Class Actions are typically filed when the amount of money in dispute for a single plaintiff would not justify litigating the case, but where the amount of damages of the entire class of Plaintiffs would justify the cost of litigation. 

What are the requirements?

In order for a case to be certified as a Class Action, the Court must determine that the case is appropriate for class action treatment under Rule 23. There are different elements depending on whether the case is seeking monetary or injunctive relief. In general, the Court must find the following elements are satisfied:

  • Numerosity: The proposed class must be so numerous that simply joining the individual plaintiffs would be impractical. Generally, the class size should exceed 100 individuals.
  • Common Questions of Law or Fact: The facts and/or legal questions in the dispute must be common to all class members. This does not mean all facts or issues must be identical, but the primary facts and law that will determine the issue in dispute must be common among all class members.
  • Typicality: The named Plaintiff in the case must have the same facts and legal issues as the class they are proposing to represent. If the Plaintiff’s individual case involves issues of fact or law unique to that Plaintiff and are irrelevant to the ultimate issue, class certification may be denied by the Court.
  • Plaintiff/Counsel Adequately Represents the Class: The Court must find that the Plaintiff and Plaintiff’s Counsel are competent and will protect the class’ interests.
  • Predominance: Common questions of fact predominate over individual facts.
  • Superiority: The Class Action is a more efficient and fair means of resolving the dispute. The Court will look at the following factors when making this determination: (1) Class Member interest in maintaining a separate action; (2) the extent of any litigation already begun by other class members; (3) desirability or undesirability of litigating the case in a particular Court ; (4) difficulties in managing the class.
What counts as a class action?

Specifically, cases that involve injuries to the parties contain too many individual facts in terms of the science and causation to find that the common issues predominate over the individual facts. Deceptive marketing cases may qualify. 

On the other hand, complex litigation that impacts many individuals and contain common questions of fact related to the conduct of the defendant are often appropriate for mass tort consolidation. Mass Tort consolidation in federal multi-district litigation or a State mass tort docket, allows the parties to utilize the efficiency of class action litigation through the discovery process but still allows the parties to litigate their cases individually on the critical issues of whether the conduct caused the alleged injuries.

While our human bodies are very similar, each individual’s body may have reacted differently to the toxic exposure that makes Class Action treatment inappropriate in most personal injury lawsuits.

Some toxic tort areas that may be beneficial for class action lawsuits can involve environmental contamination. When companies are negligent and contaminate large swaths of private property. Public nuisance lawsuits have been filed against negligent agricultural operations of fracking companies.

Why Hire the Lyon Firm?

Our Firm will help you find the answers.  The Firm has the experience, resources and dedication to take on difficult and emotional cases and help our clients obtain the justice for the wrong they have suffered. 

Experience: Joe Lyon is an experienced Class Action Lawyer. The Lyon Firm has 17 years of experience and success representing individuals and plaintiffs in all fifty states, and in a variety of complex civil litigation matters. Class Action lawsuits can be complex and require industry experts to assist in settling a case. Some cases may go to a jury trial, though many others can be settled out of court.

Resources/Dedication: Mr. Lyon has worked with experts in the fields of accident reconstruction, biomechanics, epidemiology, metallurgy, pharmacology, toxicology, human factors, workplace safety, life care planning, economics, and virtually every medical discipline in successfully representing Plaintiffs across numerous areas of law. The Lyon Firm is dedicated to building the strongest cases possible for clients and their critical interests.

Results: Mr. Lyon has obtained numerous seven and six figure results and has been involved in successfully litigating against some of  the largest companies in the world.

Your Right to Justice

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Filing Class Action lawsuits is a complex and serious legal course and can carry monetary sanctions if proper legal course is not followed. The Lyon Firm is dedicated to assisting plaintiffs work toward a financial solution.

We work with law firms across the country to provide the most resources possible and to build your case into a valuable settlement. The current legal environment is favorable for consumers involved in data breach class actions, deceptive marketing lawsuits, TCPA telemarketing claims, and financial negligence claims.