As Seen on TV: Class Action Alleges X Hose and X Hose Pro Not All They Are Cracked up to Be
CCMS HAS ENDED ITS INVESTIGATION INTO THIS ISSUE.
Everyone who has a television has likely seen an advertisement for X Hose or X Hose Pro (“X Hose”) at some time over the past several years. The advertisements are compelling for anyone who has ever used a traditional garden hose, which can be prone to kinking, bulky, heavy and generally unwieldy. Finally, you think, a garden hose that will not take up a lot of space in your garage, garden, or shed and will be easily portable, while still being effective and durable. Unfortunately, consumers have found DAP Products Inc.’s (“DAP”) X Hose product to be anything but as advertised.
DAP Products Inc. created and patented the X Hose and X Hose Pro—expandable garden hoses it advertises as lightweight, easy to use, easy to store, and tough, durable, and long lasting. As compared to a more traditional garden hose, which is typically made of rubber, the X Hose is constructed with a thin cloth layer exterior and a rubber internal tube interior. This allows the X Hose to contract when there is no water in the hose, providing for easier storage and making for a more lightweight product. These X Hoses are sold in traditional stores, such as Home Depot, online, and over the telephone.
While it sounds like a great product, the X Hose is actually prone to popping, bursting, leaking, kinking, tearing, and exploding, sometimes after a period of only a few weeks or months of regular use.
In purchasing these products, consumers have been given comfort by DAP Products Inc.’s offer of a “money back guarantee” with the sale of every X Hose. However, when dissatisfied consumers with defective X Hoses attempt to cash in on this offer, many have discovered that DAP will not fully honor this guarantee. In many cases, despite the money-back guarantee, DAP/X Hose only offers to provide a replacement product instead of the guaranteed refund. In those circumstances where X Hose does offer a refund, it often requires the consumer to ship back the defective X Hose at the consumer’s own cost. Further, in many circumstances, DAP/X Hose does not refund any of the shipping and handling costs, which can be substantial relative to the price of the product. Furthermore, after a consumer realizes that the replacement X Hose is also defective, the 90-day period has often expired, and DAP refuses to offer the consumer a refund.
In addition to its money-back guarantee, X Hose also offers a “lifetime warranty” that it alleges provides protections to consumers for defective X Hoses. Unfortunately, as many consumers have discovered, DAP Products replaces the broken X Hose with a new, still defective hose, not a useable replacement. Additionally, again, DAP Products requires that X Hose consumers pay to ship not only the defective X Hoses back to DAP Products, but also for shipment of the new, still defective, replacement X Hoses.
While DAP Products blames the defect on the consumers and repeatedly represents to complaining customers that the X Hose has a very low failure rate, the broken, unusable X Hoses are actually a result of DAP’s defective design.
A class action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of purchasers of the defective X Hose products by experienced class action lawyers at Cafferty Clobes Meriwether & Sprengel LLP. UPDATE: This case has settled and the deadline for filing a claim has passed as of August 29, 2016. If you purchased a defective X Hose or X Hose Pro or would like to learn more information we encourage you to contact the settlement administrator at 1-866-545-1007 or www.xhoseclassettlement.com.
October 22, 2014Share on Social Media