Litigation Against Behr, Masco, Home Depot Continues with Another DeckOver Class Action

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Two plaintiffs have put their names on a proposed class action in which they claim defendants Behr, parent company Masco, and Home Depot misled consumers about the true durability and longevity of Behr’s DeckOver resurfacing product. The lawsuit takes issue with the defendants’ marketing of the product, which emphasizes that DeckOver will “bring your old, weathered wood or concrete back to life” while resisting cracking and peeling. The lawsuit, however, presents a much different picture of DeckOver, noting how unhappy some consumers reportedly have been since paying a premium price for the product—and what Behr has allegedly done to minimize this negative feedback. 

“After DeckOver went on the market, complaints were widespread and persistent. [The defendants] received phone calls and emails complaining about DeckOver, and consumers have uploaded negative reviews of DeckOver on Behr’s own website, Home Depot’s own website, and elsewhere since summer 2013. Behr reviews the complaints on these websites and has responded to some of them. The complaints on these websites are not prominent. For example, Behr highlights on its DeckOver product page the ‘Latest Featured Reviews’ which consists of four and five star reviews, but only through scrolling well down the page or clicking to a separate webpage is it revealed that there are hundreds of negative reviews. Likewise, the reviews on [the defendants’] websites do not follow a bell curve of distribution and instead are mostly 1- and 5-star reviews. In addition, there is at least one report by the media that Behr removed online complaints on its own Facebook page containing DeckOver complaints.” 

The lawsuit charges that despite the less-than-positive consumer reaction, the defendants continue to position DeckOver as durable and long-lasting, even though, the plaintiffs allege, the product often leaves surfaces looking worse than they did before DeckOver was applied.