Two St. Louis attorneys (including Jeffrey Lowe (cf. POL Oct. 15)) will collect “up to” $975,000 in a settlement of a class action against Enterprise Rent-A-Car; their putative clients, a class of Missouri plaintiffs, will receive a 25%-off coupon that results in higher rates than standard discounts, and is thus entirely worthless. Consumerist (h/t Slim) has the details. The final hearing on the settlement is June 14. (“Judge OKs settlement in Enterprise class-action suit”, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 5).
The allegation against Enterprise? That a 5% surcharge (which the plaintiffs admit Enterprise can legally charge) didn’t clearly state what it was for. Enterprise isn’t lowering its rates, but will state that the 5% covers various local taxes that it pays—thus adding more bulk to a lengthy list of small-print disclosures that obscures potentially useful information, since customers care about the bottom line to themselves, rather than how their rental car company spends its money. How precisely has this lawsuit made consumers better off? More on class actions.
One Comment
I recently received notice that I was a memeber of the Class. (I rented a car in St. Louis in November of 2005)
The settlement is worthless, as the entry states since the 25% discount is less than the discounted rate I negotiated at the time.