Noom Class Action Alleges Auto-Renewal Scheme

A class action lawsuit has been waged against popular weight loss app Noom by a consumer who claims that the company uses a deceptive and illegal automatic Noom account renewal scheme to collect money from unsuspecting individuals.

Plaintiff Geraldine Mahood says that she signed up for Noom in the summer of 2019 and was led to believe that the company would provide her with customized diet and workout plans and that she would receive support from a human coach. She also believed that she was signing up for a trial membership for a Noom account that she could easily cancel.

Mahood claims that she authorized a $10 charge for a 14-day trial via her PayPal account to sign up for a Noom account. She states that she received a confirmation email from Noom after signing up for the trial membership.

The plaintiff states that she was misled by the email because she was led to believe that an affirmative step was required in order for her trial membership to move to automatic enrollment. Mahood claims that she therefore did not know if her trial period for her Noom account needed to be cancelled lest she be charged for a full membership.

Mahood explains that she believed that she would be able to cancel her trial Noom account by telling her human coach who would be in touch with her during the trial period. 

She claims that her confusion about the app deepened because she was never introduced to a human coach and her interactions were not with a live person, but with an automatic system. Mahood states that, during her 14-day trial period, she did not get a phone call or email message from a human coach.

The plaintiff notes that she looked at the Noom website to find a way to cancel her membership and was shown that she should contact her coach in order to cancel. She claims that she did not know how to contact her coach or who her coach even was.

In addition, the Noom app or website allegedly did not have any other way to contact the company. She states that there was no phone or fax number and no email address or even a customer chat option, leaving her confused.

Mahood maintains that she was then contacted by the “bot” on her phone acknowledging that the plaintiff had not been using the Noom app.

The message that was sent to the plaintiff allegedly misled her into thinking that no cancellation was necessary and that an affirmative step was required in order for her trial membership to move to automatic payments.

The plaintiff states that, despite the message that she received from the “bot,” she received a message from PayPal informing her that Noom had charged her $99 for a full Noom membership on Aug. 23, 2019.

“Prior to being charged $99.00, Plaintiff received no reminder that her PayPal account would be charged again following the $10 trial period, and no final opportunity to cancel her trial and avoid the $99.00 charge,” the Noom class action lawsuit goes on to say.

The plaintiff claims that on Aug. 25, 2019, she contacted the “bot” and requested that Noom cancel her membership account.

In the chat session, Mahood claims that she stressed the fact that she had never intended to sign up for a full membership, that she never used the service, and that she was unable to cancel during the 14-day trial period as she was not able to connect with anyone at the company.

Only after she threatened legal action against Noom did she receive confirmation that her membership was indeed cancelled and that she would issue a refund for the unauthorized $99 charge, the Noom class action states.

The Noom class action has two prospective Classes:

1. “The Multistate Class, preliminarily defined as all Noom customers in the United States (including customers of companies Noom acts as a successor to) who were automatically enrolled into and charged for at least one month of Noom membership by Defendant at any time from [applicable statute of limitations period] to the date of judgment,” and
2. “The State Classes, preliminarily defined as all Noom customers in the state of [e.g., New York, California, etc.] (including customers of companies Noom acts as a successor to) who were automatically enrolled into and charged for at least one month of Noom membership by Defendant at any time from [applicable statute of limitations period] to the date of judgment.”

Did you sign up for a Noom account and wanted to cancel? Leave a message in the comments section below.

The plaintiff is represented by Steven L. Wittels, J. Burkett McInturff, and Tiasha Palikovic of Wittels McInturff and Palikovic.

The Noom Automatic Renewal Class Action Lawsuit is Gerladine Mahood v. Noom Inc., Case No. 1:20-cv-03677, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

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