Menards will pay $750,000 to the State of Wisconsin as part of a multistate consumer protection settlement, Attorney General Josh Kaul announced Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The Wisconsin-based home improvement retail chain will pay out $4.25 million total to ten states in response to complaints about its well-known rebate program.<\/p>\n
That program, in which customers could mail back a rebate form in exchange for 11 percent back, amounted to false advertising about an 11 percent discount, Kaul said in a virtual press conference.<\/p>\n
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\u201cOne of the things that we focused on was whether there was a representation that those kinds of discounts were point of sale discounts, as opposed to rebates,\u201d Kaul said.<\/p>\n
The settlement came out of a complaint tied to concerns over unfair business practices and alleged price gouging during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kaul said.<\/p>\n
As part of the agreement, the company will look into offering an online option for its rebate process, Kaul said. Currently, customers must physically mail in rebate forms along with their receipts. <\/p>\n
It will also offer customers a year to redeem those receipts and create an online process for tracking the rebate claim.<\/p>\n
Kaul, who is running for reelection<\/a> as a Democrat in what is expected to be a competitive race<\/a>, said the settlement reflects his agency\u2019s commitment to protecting consumers, \u201cparticularly at a time when so many Wisconsinites are feeling the burdens of high costs.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEnsuring that prices are fair and transparent is critical. Wisconsinites have busy lives. They wanted to be treated fairly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n