Burger King settles a lawsuit over how much a Buy One, Get One Free deal should cost

Burger King has settled a federal class action lawsuit that pointed out a price discrepancy between buying one and buy-one-get-one-free.

The May suit, filed in Maryland by Koleta Anderson, claimed Burger King charged more for a Croissan’wich if the customer used a Buy One, Get One Free (BOGO) coupon than it charged a customer just buying one Croissan’wich by itself. Backed by receipts from Burger Kings in Florida, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia, Anderson accused the fast food chain of deceptive trade practices, breach of contract and breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing.

On May 7, the Miami Herald checked and found a single Sausage Croissan’wich cost $3.20 with sales tax at the Burger Kings at 701 NW 37th Ave. and 1309 NW 20th St.. Instead of costing the same thing when a Herald reporter used BOGO coupons at the same locations minutes later, he paid $3.42 and $3.64. An important point — the reporter ordered his Croissan’wiches without cheese.

From the settlement documents:

“BKC’s investigation concluded that in certain instances where a consumer used a BOGO to order two Croissan’wiches without egg, cheese, and/or a meat (a “modified Croissan’wich”), they may have been charged the price of a single regularly-priced Croissan’wich, rather than the lower price that restaurant may have charged for a single modified Croissan’wich.”

Burger King claimed this came into play on less than 10 percent of all Croissan’wich buys with BOGO coupons that took place between Oct. 1, 2015 and May 19, 2017.

“The chain promptly sent a software update to its franchisees who use the particular point-of-sale system at issue, as well as written instructions to restaurant cashiers, to ensure that the problem ceased.”

As for the customers, anyone with a receipt showing the different pricing will get $5 from Burger King. Anderson will get $500 as a “service award.”

Burger King will also pay Anderson’s attorneys fees, $185,000.

This story was originally published October 13, 2017 at 9:18 AM with the headline "Burger King settles a lawsuit over how much a Buy One, Get One Free deal should cost."