BJ’s Settles Maryland BOGO Dispute

JON SPRINGER

BALTIMORE — BJ’s Wholesale Club has agreed to pay Maryland’s Consumer Protection Division here a $40,000 penalty and said it would refund money to as many as 2,000 Maryland shoppers who paid for items that should have been free, Douglas F. Gansler, Maryland’s attorney general, said.

The Consumer Protection Division alleged that BJ’s, Natick, Mass., during late 2008 and early 2009 provided consumers with buy-one, get-one-free coupons for certain items, but the coupons’ fine print limited their value to an amount that in some cases was less than the cost of the item. Consumers who used those coupons were required to pay the difference between the limit of the coupon and the actual cost of the goods purchased.

BJ’s denied violating consumer protection laws. The retailer operates nine stores in Maryland.

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