Shutterfly is facing a consumer class action lawsuit over allegations the image publishing service deceptively advertises and promoted fake deals on Groupon.
Plaintiff Megan Taylor filed the Shutterfly Fake Groupon Deal class action lawsuit, claiming that Shutterfly uses misleading advertising to induce customers into purchasing Shutterfly Groupon deals, only to tell them after that the deal is actually a promotional code that cannot be combined with any other sales or promotions, including free shipping codes.
According to the 29-page complaint, in November 2017, Taylor who is regular user of Groupon and Shutterfly, received an email advertisement from Groupon that included a deal for “Photo Products from Shutterfly”. This Shutterfly Groupon Promotion provided customers with three options: “$10 for $20 to Spend at Shutterfly; $20 for $40 to Spend at Shutterfly; $50 for $75 to Spend at Shutterfly.”
At the time she viewed this Shutterfly Groupon deal and the fine print, Taylor had been planning to purchase 85 customized holiday Christmas cards and three photo prints. On the Shutterfly website, premium cards, hard cover photo books, and select photo gifts were advertised as being 50%, and everything else was listed as being 40% off. Believing she could use the Groupon deal towards this additional Shutterfly promotion, she went ahead and bought the $50 for $75 deal, believing she would save $25 when she finalized her Shutterfly holiday card order.
However, when Taylor attempted to use the Shutterfly Groupon deal towards her purchased, she learned that she did not actually receive a dollar credit, gift card, coupon, or voucher with a $75 value as advertised. Rather, she received a promotional code that could not be combined with any other sales or promotional codes offered on the Shutterfly website. Further, Taylor says she could not use the free shipping code that was available on the Shutterfly website for all orders exceeding $49. Instead her order was eligible for free shipping only if it exceeded $124 – or $49 plus the $75 discount.
Taylor’s lawsuit contends that Shutterfly should have included a disclaimer such as “Good only towards full priced items, cannot be combined with any other offers, promotions, or coupon codes; purchases made with this Groupon will not be eligible for discounted or free shipping codes…” Taylor points out that other Groupon deals offered by Shutterfly competitors include similar disclaimers.
By bringing the Shutterfly Fake Groupon Deal class action lawsuit, Taylor hopes to hold Shutterfly accountable for essentially breaching their contract with reported 7,000+ consumers who purchased the Groupon deal and were not made aware of the true nature of the deal until after they bought it.
She is seeking to represent a class of consumers who purchased a deal on the Groupon website for dollar amount towards a purchase on the Shutterfly website since December 8, 2013. According to the Groupon website, over 7,000 consumers purchased the same alleged Shutterfly Fake Groupon deal as Taylor, under the same purported false pretenses.
Taylor and the proposed Class are represented by Adam J. Gutride, Seth A. Safier, and Marie A. McCrary of Gutride Safier LLP.
The Shutterfly Fake Groupon Deal Class Action Lawsuit is Megan Taylor, et al. v. Shutterfly Inc., et al., Case No. 5:18-cv-00266-BLF, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.