A class action lawsuit claims that Rite Aid automatically opts customers into donating to the KidsCents charity without their consent.
Plaintiff Katherine Martinez says a KidCents donation was regularly charged to her without her knowledge during multiple purchases she made from Rite Aid’s stores.
The Rite Aid class action lawsuit states that the company’s practice of enrolling customers into the charity program without their knowledge or consent violates multiple California statutes that aim to protect consumers.
The plaintiff is seeking an injunction to prevent the company from continuing to violate these statutes.
Martinez claims that sometime before December 2018, she made a purchase from a Rite Aid location in San Diego.
The Rite Aid class action lawsuit states that during the checkout process, she was opted into the Rite Aid Foundation’s KidsCents program, and as a consequence, Rite Aid rounded every transaction associated with Martinez’s Wellness card to the whole dollar.
Rite Aid reportedly retains the difference to donate to the KidsCents charity after taking a percentage for itself.
According to Martinez, this process continues indefinitely or at least until the customer opts out of the program.
The Rite Aid automatic charity donation class action lawsuit argues that at no time did Martinez knowingly consent to donate to the charity on a continuing basis. She says that over the course of a few months, Rite Aid took a total of $2.56 from her without her knowledge or consent.
Allegedly, Rite Aid sets up the donations in a way that is “inherently misleading and confusing to consumers,” especially to senior citizens.
The Rite Aid KidsCents class action claims that this practice has resulted in money being taken from Martinez and other customers without their consent.
Martinez’s Rite Aid class action lawsuit asserts that Rite Aid knew or should have known that the donations were misleading, because many consumers have complained about being opted into the program without their consent, but the company has taken no action to correct the problem.
The Rite Aid KidsCents class action asserts that a review of the online comments about the program indicates that a majority of consumers were opted into the program without their knowledge.
According to Martinez, since 2014, customers have complained that the opt-in is misleading, and that nothing warns customers of the program details. Some consumers have reportedly criticized Rite Aid for this “underhanded way to get people to contribute to a charity.”
Allegedly, Rite Aid ties all donations to the KidsCents program to a Wellness card, and every time a customer enters in their phone number associated with their card or swipes their physical card, they can have the donation charged to them.
According to the Rite Aid charity class action, after a cardholder is opted into the program, any time they use their Wellness card, they will be charged for the KidsCents program.
Martinez is represented by Abbas Kazerounian, Jason Ibey, and Nicholas Barthel of Kazerouni Law Group APC, and by Joshua B. Swigart of Hyde & Swigart.
The Rite Aid KidsCents Charity Donation Class Action Lawsuit is Katherine Martinez v. Rite Aid Corporation, Case No. 3:19-cv-00569-H-NLS, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
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253 thoughts onRite Aid Class Action Says Charity Donations Collected Without Consent
It was surprising to me that everytime I went to Rite Aid my dollar amount came out even….not questioning anything and telling the cashier wow did it again even dollar amount decided to check my receipt to find out I gave a contribution to Kidcents…..what is this!!
Every time I make a purchase at Rite aid I am being charged for Kids cents. I did not authorize any of these charges. Next time I need to check my receipt before I get home.
They have been doing this to me since the start of the program. I am getting charged a few thousand a year since my office is next door . the worst part no one there even knows how to remove it . Its ridiculous
I just noticed my receipt today, 10/20/2023, has a charge for .38 Kidcents Contribution. I did not authorize this. How do I join the class action suit.
I to was charged more than I should have been at my rite aid in Pennsylvania. I couldn’t understand this since I know that tax is .06% on the dollar. Upon further inspection of my receipt I found kidcents contribution that I never signed up for and never heard of. I’m not a uncaring person and I would have been ok with this had they respected me enough to ask me, but that wasn’t the case. I will be reaching out to the better business bureau tomorrow.
I purchased a candy bar at $3.29 and was asked to see my card which they scanned. The candy bar then cost $4.00. They told me I must have authorized this Kidcent and I know I did not because I had been too ill (cancer) to even have gone to Rite Aid. I was told to return the next day for my card to be fixed. I did, and it took 3 people to remove the illegal tax from my card. I told my friends and family about my experience so they would be aware. Same thing happened to my daughter today! She too was told she authorized this and she did not. Her card was fixed immediately.
They are still doing it. Just today the employee didnt even know that he couldnt remove the charge! He thought i was supposed to be asked. He was wrong. So theyve been chargin me 31 cents each purchase! They said I had to go online to my wellness rewards a d remove it myself and i didnt get a refund!!
I would also like to be added please. I was quite surprised to be automatically charged for something I never signed up for.
I want to be part of this class action lawsuit and something to be done. This has been going on for years and I couldn’t figure out how all of a sudden this was linked to my wellness card. I thought my husband made ONE round up donation for a few cents one time, little did I know how much was being rounded up and really started paying attention and noticing how much was being added to my transactions. They have taken well over a few dollars from me over the years. I have no idea where this money is going and you can’t get out of it or get any answers. This is absolutely ridiculous! I have no problem donating to causes and to help when I can but people getting taken advantage of without their consent or knowledge and getting scammed is disgusting and bullshit. Seeing that this is published on here over 5 years ago and people are still to this date complaining about it and having issues with this is very discouraging and frustrating. Screw RITE AID and screw shopping there.
I want to be added! I am charged every time. I did not give permission for Rite Aid to charge this every tine I shop there.