There was a lot of news today about a proposed class action lawsuit against the company Nintendo and how they have recently demanded to get refunds over US tariffs that they had to pay not too long ago which they in-turn passed on to the consumers. So, while it seems like they are going to get it back, consumers feel they should also get a refund because of this as the argument is the company is double dipping. However, Nintendo is seeking to get the class action lawsuit dismissed as they are consumers “received exactly what they bargained and paid for” which is pretty straight forward. To be clear too, apparently Nintendo claims they didn’t pass all tariff costs to the consumers.
I suppose legally, even if they charged $1000 for the console they wouldn’t really be obligated to refund people if their business was compensated due to some government benefit as an example. So I have a hard time seeing how the consumers could get any money here. But it makes you think as a business if you should offer people something. For example, if the refund is truly that significant would you offer people a 50% coupon off a future game purchase as an example as a form of goodwill?
The only angle I can think of is if people argued they were okay paying a higher price believing that it was due to the tariff where they wouldn’t have purchased it otherwise. Kind of like saying, could you sue a family restaurant where they told you they needed to charge a certain rate because of certain city expenses where afterwards you learned there was say no such thing or they got reimbursed? Would that stand as you as a consumer still got what you paid for?
If anything, this is more about public perception for a business I would say.