Hockey Fans Suing Arena Over Misleading Beer Prices

[borosp1]

Talk about unbounded shameless greed! First charge $4 for water down Bud Light than up the price for $7 for a taller skinnier cup holding the same amount of liquid to trick the consumer they are getting more beverage when there really not. These sports stadiums make a killing on concessions like movie theaters and there is no need to cheat anyone on paying more for the same amount of beer of the so called 'small' size cup.

A handful of Idaho hockey fans sued a Boise arena on Tuesday, saying they were duped into thinking a $7 beer contains more brew than a $4 beer.

The lawsuit says CenturyLink Arena, home of the Idaho Steelheads hockey team, defrauded customers by charging $3 more for a tall, narrow cup advertised as a "large" that actually holds the same amount of beer as the shorter, wider cup described as a "small."

Arena spokesman Mike Campbell said he hadn't yet seen the lawsuit and can't comment.

The lawsuit came just two days after another hockey fan posted a video on YouTube of what the fan said was a beer purchased at CenturyLink Arena on March 8. That video shows a patron holding a large cup of beer and pouring it into an empty small cup. In both cups, the beer reaches nearly to the brim.

Article:
http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/idaho-hockey-fans-suing-arena-beer-prices-22887627

 

[highland145]

In the lawsuit, Peck says he's attended at least 30 events over the past three years at the arena, including a hockey game on March 5, and that he's purchased beer each time. The other three plaintiffs say they have been attending sporting events at the venue for five years and that they bought at least one large $7 beer at each event.

Give them the $10K. Sounds like they're a little slow. The arena could offer them season passes for 125% too.

 

[sandorski]

Wow, that takes a lot of cajones to try.

 

[soulcougher73]

More and more events getting busted for this. The videos are everywhere now on youtube from different events. The first one i remember was like 2 or 3 years ago from the Seahawks stadium.

 

[BUnit1701]

Restaurants have been doing this for years. A cup or a bowl of soup are both the same volume, but the bowl costs more. Same with 'grande' margaritas at Mexican restaurants.

 

[waggy]

More and more events getting busted for this. The videos are everywhere now on youtube from different events. The first one i remember was like 2 or 3 years ago from the Seahawks stadium.

yeah. i seen a few youtube showings of it

 

[MomentsofSanity]

Read another article that explained the arena originally bought 16oz and 20oz cups. Even then they were charging 75% more for 25% more beer based on their original intent.

 

[HumblePie]

Restaurants have been doing this for years. A cup or a bowl of soup are both the same volume, but the bowl costs more. Same with 'grande' margaritas at Mexican restaurants.

In some shitty places they are.

This is why I don't buy concessions at any "event" as usually the price of the event is already way too inflated.

Plenty of ways to sneak in your own stuff if you are inclined to have the need to imbibe during any "event" of which you are attending.

 

[ElFenix]

video with the cups:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94-FTyjjwBA

gets loud after a bit

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Worse still, they had the nerve to market Bud Light as beer.

 

[Kadarin]

They got caught, lol.

 

[mizzou]

The only thing you have the right to complain about is the price of basic food and water at stadium events.

God damn, how dare you charge $10 or whatever for that and not offer clean drinking fountains!

I've never bought a beer at an event because they are so ludicrously expensive.


The large one is actually like 1oz larger...so does that still mean it's as advertised? :awe:

 

[CZroe]

Talk about unbounded shameless greed! First charge $4 for water[ed] down Bud Light th[e]n up the price for $7 for a taller[,] skinnier[,] cup holding the same amount of liquid to trick the consumer [into thinking that] they are getting more beverage when the[y']re really not. These sports stadiums make a killing on concessions like movie theaters and there is no need to cheat anyone on paying more for the same amount of beer of[as] the so called 'small' size cup.

Must not be watered down too much.

This is MUCH easier to quickly read/understand.

 

[stormkroe]

You guys are defaming these poor stadium owners. The truth is they're actually giving you a medium with the same amount of beer for $3 less than the large. Sheesh. Rainbows, guys... rainbows and unicorns!

 

[Matt1970]

"CenturyLink officials announced a short time later that the company would purchase new cups for the large beers that would hold 24 ounces instead of the previous 20 ounces for a bigger difference in size."

That's not fixing the problem. Remember the $4 and $7 cups held the same amount of beer so that's still charging people 75% more for only 20% more beer.

 

[MomentsofSanity]

"CenturyLink officials announced a short time later that the company would purchase new cups for the large beers that would hold 24 ounces instead of the previous 20 ounces for a bigger difference in size."

That's not fixing the problem. Remember the $4 and $7 cups held the same amount of beer so that's still charging people 75% more for only 20% more beer.

They also dropped the price to $6 for the large so 3 small or two large would both equal 48oz for $12 from one posting I saw somewhere. But more parity now.

 

[Matt1970]

They also dropped the price to $6 for the large so 3 small or two large would both equal 48oz for $12 from one posting I saw somewhere. But more parity now.

Not if the small is also 20oz as it appears to be in the videos. That means $12 for 3 small beers is 60oz of beer. Dropping the price to $6 for large is still 50% more money for only 20% more beer. $12 for 2 large beers will only be 48oz. This seems to be the stupid just trying to be a little less stupid.

 

[MomentsofSanity]

Not if the small is also 20oz as it appears to be in the videos. That means $12 for 3 small beers is 60oz of beer. Dropping the price to $6 for large is still 50% more money for only 20% more beer. $12 for 2 large beers will only be 48oz. This seems to be the stupid just trying to be a little less stupid.

From what I read the sizes were going from 16oz/20oz to 16oz/24oz.

 

[1prophet]

They should have stamped the capacity somewhere on the cup, just like the food companies have been doing when they charge you for a box of cereal that is slightly smaller for the same price so you don't think they raised prices, at the same time you can't claim fraud because the amount of product is listed on the box.:whiste:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/29/business/29shrink.html?_r=0

“Consumers are generally more sensitive to changes in prices than to changes in quantity,” John T. Gourville, a marketing professor at Harvard Business School, said. “And companies try to do it in such a way that you don’t notice, maybe keeping the height and width the same, but changing the depth so the silhouette of the package on the shelf looks the same. Or sometimes they add more air to the chips bag or a scoop in the bottom of the peanut butter jar so it looks the same size.”

 

[TheSiege]

Just let the free market decide it. There is no need for laws and suing

 

[Fanatical Meat]

To me the real problem is one is advertised as a Large, which implies that is is larger than the other serving. Individual lawsuit I'm not so sold on, what were the damages? Fine from the City is a better solution.
I wonder if this was truly intentional or someone simply didn't check the cups capacities/ ordered the wrong cups, seems like a pretty elaborate scam to save a few dollars on keg beer which is pretty cheap to begin with.

 

[Ventanni]

To me the real problem is one is advertised as a Large, which implies that is is larger than the other serving. Individual lawsuit I'm not so sold on, what were the damages? Fine from the City is a better solution.
I wonder if this was truly intentional or someone simply didn't check the cups capacities/ ordered the wrong cups, seems like a pretty elaborate scam to save a few dollars on keg beer which is pretty cheap to begin with.

I get where you're coming from. It might have just been someone looking at two sets of cups and saying in their head, "These must be the large, and these must be the small," not realizing that they were both the same ounce size, but when you're profiting from this sort of thing, that's a huge mistake to make.

A lawsuit may not even be required. Once the word spreads, it's going to be difficult for a while for this restaurant to rebuild the trust of their customers.

 

[IBMer]

This is why I like the fact that in Germany, the amount is listed for all drinks. You don't buy a "large" drink you buy a .3L, .5L ... etc. Even a lot of glasses have measurement marks so you know that when ordering that .5L beer that its filled up to the .5L line.

 

[Slew Foot]

This is why I like the fact that in Germany, the amount is listed for all drinks. You don't buy a "large" drink you buy a 3L, 5L ... etc. Even a lot of glasses have measurement marks so you know that when ordering that 5L beer that its filled up to the 5L line.

FTFY

 

[BoberFett]

This is why I like the fact that in Germany, the amount is listed for all drinks. You don't buy a "large" drink you buy a .3L, .5L ... etc. Even a lot of glasses have measurement marks so you know that when ordering that .5L beer that its filled up to the .5L line.

That sounds like the best option to me. I'm all for mandating labeling.