Bass Pro Shops called it ‘the last sock you’ll ever need to buy.’ Now customer is suing
An unhappy customer is suing Bass Pro Shops, accusing the company of advertising lifetime warranty socks and then not replacing them, court records show.
The customer, Kent Slaughter of Webster County, Missouri, said that he purchased 12 pairs of lifetime warranty socks from Bass Pro Shops since 2014, according to the class action complaint filed on July 8 in the U.S. District Court of Western District of Missouri.
Bass Pro Shops, based in Springfield, Missouri, specializes in hunting, fishing and other outdoor recreational gear.
According to the complaint, the company advertised the Redhead Lifetime Guarantee All-Purpose Wool Socks as “The last sock you’ll ever need to buy” with a “Lifetime guarantee – if they wear out, they get replaced!”
This warranty factored into Slaughter’s decision to purchase socks, he said in court documents. For years, he occasionally returned his socks, and Bass Pro Shops would replace them.
That stopped in January 2021 when the store refused to replace Slaughter’s socks, according to the complaint. Instead, Slaughter says it gave him a different pair of socks with a “distinctive stripe pattern” that only had a 60-day warranty, the complaint says.
Now, on behalf of all other sock customers, Slaughter is suing Bass Pro Shops for false advertising, misleading customers, and breaching the warranty, according to the complaint.
As of July 15, RedHead Lifetime Guarantee All-Purpose Wool Socks were still available for purchase on Bass Pro Shops’ website with the description that “if ever they wear out, just return them for a FREE replacement!”
Both parties will meet with a mediator to discuss the case before it moves forward, court filings showed.
McClatchy News reached out to Slaughter’s attorney, who did not respond immediately, and Bass Pro Shops, which said it does “not comment on pending litigation.”
This story was originally published July 15, 2022 at 11:48 AM.
