Courtney Jorstad  |  January 30, 2015

Category: Consumer News

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Google DriveA Google class action lawsuit alleges that the internet giant deceives customers that subscribe to its data-storage service Google Drive by renewing its subscriptions automatically without give customers notice.

California resident and plaintiff Eric Mayron filed the Google Drive class action lawsuit on Jan. 23 in a a California superior court in Santa Clara County.

Mayron explains in his Google Drive class action lawsuit that he began his Google Drive subscription in 2014.

Google customers can use up to 15 gigabytes of Drive storage at no cost, but if they need more storage they can opt to pay $1.99 per month for 100 GB, $9.99 for one terabyte, and more for plans that include even greater amounts of storage.

Mayron alleges that he signed up for one of these storage plans but that Google was not clear that the subscription would include monthly charges on his debit or credit card, without giving Google Drive customers notice before making the withdrawal.

In addition, the Google Drive class action lawsuit alleges that the internet giant does not give its customers information including the offer terms for continual service, nor does it disclose its cancellation policy nor information about how to cancel.

To find the terms of service for the Drive data storage service, Mayron alleges in his Google class action lawsuit that the “vague and ambiguous” are included in the Terms of Service for Google Wallet, which is a separate service where customers can store credit card information.

“These Google Wallet Terms of Service are accessible via an inconspicuous hyperlink at the bottom of the Google Wallet webpage,” the Google Drive class action lawsuit states. “The font of the hyperlink itself is smaller and lighter in color than the remainder of the website.

“In addition, the disclosures that are actually provided are hidden in the lengthy, 30-page, densely-worded, single-spaced Google Wallet Terms of Service. And the disclosures are buried in the middle of the Google Wallet Terms of Service itself,” Mayron explains.

Also, the terms of service are written not “in clear and conspicuous, i.e., in larger type than the surrounding text, or in contrasting type, font, or color to the surrounding text of the same size, or set off from the surrounding text of the same size by symbols or other marks, in a manner that clearly calls attention to the language,” the Google Drive class action lawsuit claims.

However, “the automatic renewal offer terms or continuous service offer terms” are never mentioned, the California man alleges.

“After plaintiff and class members clicked on the ‘buy’ hyperlink, plaintiff’s and class members’ storage plans commenced and defendant charged plaintiff’s and class members’ payment method on a recurring, monthly basis,”  the Google Drive class action lawsuit states.

“The disclosures that defendant made on the above-shown ‘review your purchase’ page are in smaller font than the rest of the ‘review your purchase page’ for the item and price descriptions,” it adds.

He alleges that Google violates California business law because it doesn’t “present the automatic renewal offer terms, or continuous service offer terms, in a clear and conspicuous manner before the subscription or purchasing agreement  was fulfilled and in visual proximity to the request for consent to the offer.”

Mayron is proposing a California class of individuals who may have purchased Google Drive data storage subscriptions since April 24, 2012, which is when the service began.

The plaintiff is represented by Todd Seaver and Berman DeValerio.

The Google Drive Class Action Lawsuit is Eric Mayron v. Google Inc.,  filed in the Santa Clara County Superior Court.

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