The lawsuit was over deceptive tactics to get consumers to subscribe to Prime and difficulties in canceling.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reached a settlement with Amazon last week, announcing the company’s agreement to pay a $1 billion civil penalty and refund $1.5 billion to customers who were covertly enrolled in its Prime monthly subscription. Affected consumers are likely to receive around $51 in refunds each.
“The evidence showed that Amazon used sophisticated subscription traps designed to manipulate consumers into enrolling in Prime, and then made it exceedingly hard for consumers to end their subscription,“ said FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson. “We are putting billions of dollars back into Americans’ pockets, and making sure Amazon never does this again.
The company must replace its “No, I don’t want free shipping” with a button that clearly declines Prime. Disclosures regarding Prime enrollment costs, dates, and frequency of charges to consumers must be included in the subscription process. And the cancellation process must be as easy as its signup.
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For Chairman Ferguson and members of the FTC as they seek to ensure that companies subscribe and unsubscrube consumers in an honest and above board manner.
- For U.S. commerce and economic officials to be prudent as they work to protect the American consumer.
Sources: Time, Federal Trade Commission
