Rejuvenation: ‘Free Shipping Site-Wide’

A consumer who says he purchased a laundry hamper advertised with “free shipping” on Williams-Sonoma’s Rejuvenation website is now airing the specialty retailer’s alleged dirty laundry in a class-action lawsuit accusing the company of false advertising.

According to the lawsuit, the consumer purchased the Steele laundry hamper in August, when the Rejuvenation website prominently advertised “Free Shipping Site-Wide,” with “no visible or readily accessible exclusions.”

Before completing his purchase, the consumer said he called customer service because the free shipping promo code wasn’t working and his shopping cart still showed a $159 shipping charge, the lawsuit alleges. The customer service representative said the code should work and told the consumer to proceed with the transaction and the company would refund the shipping fee.

That’s what he did but when he called the company to get his refund, he was told by another customer service representative that the previous customer service representative misspoke and the laundry hamper was not eligible for free shipping due to its weight, according to the lawsuit, which claims that there were no weight restrictions on an “exclusions” page. The consumer then spoke to a supervisor and was offered a “discount” on the shipping fee, which he declined.

The lawsuit alleges “numerous other consumers across the United States” have similarly been misled by the free shipping offer.

The complaint refers to time-stamped photos, screenshots and videos but doesn’t provide any of the evidence in the complaint. The Rejuvenation website is not currently advertising free shipping sitewide.

Williams-Sonoma did not respond to TINA.org’s request for comment.

Of note, in 2019 TINA.org found that the Rejuvenation website was one of seven Williams-Sonoma sites deceptively marketing products as made in the USA. After TINA.org filed a complaint with the FTC, the agency reached a $1 million settlement with the company.

The bottom line

As we barrel toward another holiday shopping season, consumers need to be wary of a multitude of marketing claims including “free shipping.” As always, read the fine print and if a promo code doesn’t work, there’s probably a good reason for that.

For a less stressful shopping season, learn from some of our past coverage on holiday deals gone wrong.