Class Sues Wal-Mart Over Returns Policy

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. (CN) – Wal-Mart uses a sales tax loophole to cheat customers of a full refund on returned merchandise, a class action claims in Madison County Court. Named plaintiff John Whitwell says Wal-Mart refuses to give full credit when items are returned to a Wal-Mart store where the sales tax rate is lower than at the store where the items were purchased.     Whitewall say he bought a Blue Ray disc player from Wal-Mart’s store in Collinsville, Ill. for $214.04, at an 8.1 percent sales tax rate. But when he returned the player to Wal-Mart’s store in Glen Carbon, Ill., he received only $211.56, because that store has a 6.85 percent sales tax.     The class includes all U.S. citizens who returned merchandise to Wal-Mart after May 14, 1999 and received a refund of sales tax less than what they paid. The class is represented by Bradley Lakin of Wood River.

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