Apple should owe money to people who have bought its Powerbeats Pro headphones, which retail for hundreds of dollars, because they don’t always charge properly and fail to connect via Bluetooth to other devices too often, a new class action lawsuit has alleged.
On Feb. 3, attorneys with the firm of McGuire Law, of Chicago, filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court against the Cupertino, California-based Apple, accusing the tech titan of misleading advertising.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of named plaintiff Bartosz Grabowski, identified as an Illinois resident who purchased a pair of Powerbeats Pro headphones at an Apple store in Cook County in July 2021.
The complaint takes aim at Apple’s advertised claims that the headphones guarantee users “’up to 9 hours of listening time’ on a single charge,” and up to 24 hours of listening time in total with the headphones’ specific charging case.
The lawsuit also asserts customers, like Grabowski, have “relied on (Apple’s) advertising and disclosures that the Power Beats Pro headphones were ‘Totally Wireless’ and would maintain a stable and secure ‘wireless’ connection to his cell phone.”
However, after several months of using the headphones, Grabowski alleges he attempted to return the headphones to the Apple store where he purchased them, complaining the headphones would consistently only partially charge.
According to the complaint, he was denied an exchange, and despite several alleged repair attempts by Apple and the headphones’ manufacturer, Beats by Dre, the headphones’ performance only further deteriorated.
By November, the complaint said, the headphones were no longer consistently pairing with his cell phone via Bluetooth, and continued to only partially charge.
According to the complaint, the problems are common for the product line, and have resulted in numerous online posts and YouTube videos created by users offering “tips and tricks to overcome (the headphones’) design flaws.”
The charging issues, they assert, are caused by design and component defects in the charging case, which does not always allow the headphones to consistently align with the charging touchpoints in the case.
They also allege the connectivity issues are common and the result of design defects in the headphones.
They allege consumers have been “deceived and misled” by Apple’s celebrity-laden advertising campaign promoting the headphones. The complaint notes sales of the headphones have earned Apple “hundreds of millions” of dollars in sales, particularly since Apple removed headphone jacks from its iPhones, making its Bluetooth-enabled headphones the only means for listening privately to music, videos and other media.
The lawsuit seeks to expand the action to include everyone in the U.S. who purchased Apple’s Powerbeats Pro headphones, and a special subclass of Illinois Powerbeats Pro owners.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified “actual, compensatory and consequential damages,” plus an order requiring Apple to repay customers the “full amounts paid for the products and the costs to replace or return the products.”
They also seek attorney fees.
Plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Brendan Duffner, Myles McGuire, Eugene Turin and Paul T. Geske, of the McGuire Law firm.