Chavez & Gertler Announces Senior Citizen Suit Against Craftmatic for Unlawful Sales Practices for Its Adjustable Beds.

SAN FRANCISCO -- A legal team of senior and consumer advocates has filed a lawsuit against Craftmatic Organization, Inc. and Craftmatic of California, Inc., the manufacturer and distributor of Adjustable Beds, for violating several consumer protection laws and targeting senior citizens and persons with disabilities for unlawful, unfair, and fraudulent business practices.

The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court under several state consumer protection statutes, seeks to stop Craftmatic from engaging in a variety of business practices, including:

--using a sweepstakes promotion to obtain consumer's home addresses for the purpose of making high pressure, in-home sales presentations, without telling consumers of Craftmatic's intent to do so;

--misleading consumers with a "price drop" sales practice in which Craftmatic's sales representatives represent that they are giving consumers a "special deal" on the Adjustable Beds;

--failing to fully disclose cancellation policies as required by law; and,

--making credit sales without disclosing the interest rate or other basic truth in lending disclosures required by law.

Ida Robinson, the plaintiff in the case is an 87-year-old retiree living on a fixed income. She says that she responded to a television ad promoting Craftmatic's "Win a Free Bed Sweepstakes," but that she did not realize that entering the contest would lead to an in-home sales presentation for the Craftmatic Adjustable Bed. A Craftmatic representative came to her home and gave her a sales presentation for the bed, including engaging in the "price drop" sales practice.

According to Mark A. Chavez, a consumer attorney with Chavez & Gertler, a critical component of Craftmatic's business model is to target vulnerable consumers for the in-home sale of overpriced beds. "Craftmatic employs a wide variety of unfair and deceptive practices to induce elderly, disabled, and ill consumers to buy its products. We intend to force Craftmatic to clean up its business practices in this state."

Another lawyer for the plaintiffs, Chris Palamountain, stated that "Craftmatic is building one misleading business practice upon another upon another to pressure senior citizens and consumers with disabilities into the purchase of an expensive bed without providing them even with the opportunity to see the bed, much less try it out."

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are represented by a team of lawyers, including Chavez & Gertler LLP, a class action firm based in Mill Valley, California, the AARP Foundation, a national senior advocacy group based out of Washington, D.C., and Legal Assistance to the Elderly, Inc., a San Francisco nonprofit advocacy organization representing seniors.