SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Legal Newsline) — Consumers have filed a suit against a gourmet cookie seller, Crumbl, alleging it fails to disclose service fees added to purchases made through its app.
Lisa Watson and Angela Keers, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, filed a complaint Aug. 21 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California against Crumbl LLC, and others, alleging violation of the California False Advertising Law and other claims.
According to the plaintiffs' complaint, Crumbl is a Utah-based bakery which sells fresh-baked, high-end gourmet chocolate cookies for takeout or delivery at $4 per cookie and has close to 900 franchise bakeries throughout the U.S. They allege that anytime a customer orders through the Crumbl app, they are charged a 2.95% service fee that is not reflected in the prices on the menus or disclosed to consumers.
Specifically, the plaintiffs allege that Crumbl purposely hides the service fee charge under the "Taxes & Fees" section of the payment screen. They claim the only way the consumer can see the charge is if they click on a small icon that blends into the page's background where the "price breakdown" is displayed.
They also claim that because the service fee "represents mere pennies," reasonable consumers are unlikely to notice or investigate the charge.
The plaintiffs seek monetary relief, interest, trial by jury and all other just relief. They are represented by Alex Straus of Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman LLP in Beverly Hills and Erin Ruben of Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman LLP in Raleigh, North Carolina.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California case number 2:23- CV-01770-DJC-CKD