So basicly someone sued them for having fake mark-down pricing not indicitive of the true prevailing market price? This, while being pretty shitty, isn't illegal. Not unless they said it was marked down from the Fair Market Value of the item.

Now, granted it is deceptive but that is why you shop around. If you only have that one store in town and rely on a corporation to tell you what things are worth without getting a second opinion, I have some words to speak with you about a certain sale I'm having on bridges and lake front property.

First, there was no ruling that said what KB did was actually illegal. The plaintiff made an allegation that what KB did, "violated Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act ("Consumer Fraud Act") and the Illinois Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act ("Uniform Act"), as well as similar consumer protection statutes in other states, and constitutes unjust enrichment."

KB continues to deny the allegation. No court has said the practice was illegal. The notice says, "Nonetheless, Defendants have concluded that further conduct of the Action would be protracted and expensive, and that it is desirable that the Action be fully and finally settled..."

Who cares; WOO! CHEAP TOYS! WOO!

Did anyone else notice the 'in addition to planned sales' bit?

I went to KB this morning and bought a few things for our son -- the remote control rattle Poohbear, a little walker-thing, and a kiddie piano.

Unfortunately, I was told by the store manager that the "sale" didn't include electronics and video games. So they wouldn't sell me an XBOX for $125. She was very friendly and explained that corporate sent out a memo explaining that certain items would not be sold for 30% off. It wasn't her fault, so I politely thanked her and left -- I'll call corporate and find out why they're not honoring the settlement agreement.

Well, I spoke to Tom Edwards at the regional office, who referred me to John Riley at their corporate office. According to his voicemail message, Mr. Riley is the Director of Sales Promotion and Public Relations. Given the unusual situation, I should mention that Mr. Riley, Mr. Edwards, and the local store manager were all very polite, friendly, and kept their cool.

Basically, the key phrase in the class notice says, "Defendants will distribute the Net Settlement Fund by providing a discount at the cash registers of all... stores nationwide... equal to 30% off all QUALIFYING PURCHASES OF $30 OR MORE during October 8-14, 2003. [emphasis mine]"

By my reading, the discount should apply to all purchases with the sole qualification that they be $30 or more. KB and their attorneys believe that the word "qualifying" is not limited to the $30 minimum, but may be used to exclude purchases of video games and video game systems.

Mr. Riley explained that the notice on the website is simply a notice and is not the actual settlement, and that KB are allowed by the settlement to exclude low-margin items that were never "redslashed." The class notice on their website, he says, does not disclose all the details of the settlement, such as the list of products that do not qualify. He also mentioned repeatedly that he is not a lawyer and is only passing on the info that he has received. He referred me to Krislov & Associates, Counsel for the Class, for any further questions.

He told me that KB takes this settlement very seriously and would not do anything to intentionally violate the terms of the settlement. He also mentioned that I was the nicest caller he's had regarding this topic, and that he'd received quite a few already. Ugh. I wouldn't want his job right now.

If I get bored, I might call the class counsel, but we're really talking about $53 or so discount off the XBOX. I've spent more than that in time just getting these few questions answered.

HEY! I know Tom, and he really is a good guy.

I kind of saw it coming (the situation you describe, that is) and even went to our local store to check out the signage and see if any of it mentioned the exclusions you named.

None of the materials did, and that is where KB may run into difficulty on this one. False advertisement on a fraud settlement? O_o

I DID notice that they've already started phasing out the old tickets in favor of new ones with single pricing.

So is KBtoys going to honor a 30% discount across the board? Are they just playing with the wording like most companies?