If you did, then you probably paid too much.
Interior molded doors are the most common type of interior door sold these days. These “molded” doors are not made of solid wood, but rather have a hollow core and wooden frame that is covered in a molded plastic “door skin” made to mimic the look of a solid wood paneled door.
In recent years, the number of companies that make doors and doorskins has shrunk considerably. In fact, today the vast majority of interior molded doors in the United States are manufactured and sold by only two companies – Jeld-Wen and Masonite.
As competition has decreased, the prices of interior molded doors has increased.
As one might imagine, you can’t make an interior molded door without the doorskin. In fact, the doorskin itself accounts for roughly 70% of the material costs of the door. Prior to 2012, there were three companies that supplied doorskins to door manufacturers – Jeld-Wen, Masonite and Craftmaster. These manufacturers competed with each other for customers.
But in 2012, Jeld-Wen bought Craftmaster, reducing the number of doorskins suppliers to just two. Here’s the problem – these two companies (Jeld-Wen and Masonite) don’t just make and supply doorskins to other door manufacturers, they also make and sell finished interior molded doors. In other words, these two companies are the sole supplier of doorskins to companies they compete with to sell finished doors. See where this is going?
In June 2014, Masonite decided it would no longer supply doorskins to its competitors. That left Jeld-Wen as the only supplier of doorskins to the handful of companies that still manufactured interior doors. As you might predict, following Masonite’s exit from the doorskins market, Jeld-Wen immediately increased the price of its interior doors. Jeld-Wen has since announced a series of successive price increases for interior doors and Masonite has followed in virtual lockstep.
The result? We believe consumers are now paying considerably more for interior doors than they should be paying. If you bought an interior molded door since 2013 and believe you were affected by this conduct, then please contact us. We can explain why we believe Jeld-Wen’s conduct violates the antitrust laws and discuss your options for striking back. Please contact attorney Brian Penny for a free no-obligation evaluation of your recovery options, at 888-998-0530, via email at [email protected], or through the contact form on this webpage.
