Walmart class action alleges company misleads consumers as to Walmart+ subscription benefits

Walmart+ subscription class action overview: 

• Who: A Walmart customer is suing the retailer over its Walmart+ subscription service. 
• Why: The plaintiff says the company misleads customers and tricks them into subscriptions they don’t want. 
• Where: The Walmart+ class action was filed in a Michigan federal court.

Walmart misleads customers and tricks them into subscriptions they don’t want through its subscription service Walmart+ , a new class action lawsuit alleges. 

Plaintiff Ryan Lee filed the class action lawsuit against Walmart, Inc. Sept. 23 in a Michigan federal court, alleging violations of state and federal consumer laws. 

According to the lawsuit, Walmart Inc. markets and sells a subscription service known as Walmart+. The service is marketed as costing $12.95 per month or $98.00 per year, and tells customers they can “save $1,300+ a year*” through “free delivery, fuel discounts, & more!”

Potential customers are enticed to “Save $800+ with free delivery” and “$500+ on shipping fees,” the lawsuit states. 

However, these benefits are “potentially illusory,” as disclosed by the fine print for the service, Lee alleges.

Walmart’s reported savings not based on reality, lawsuit alleges

Walmart’s small print explains that its marketing compares itself to those who make two orders a week.

“However, Defendant’s records would reveal that an average customer does not place orders for two deliveries per week nor make two orders from Walmart.com for less than $35 per week,” the lawsuit states.

While the marketing promotes “Free delivery from your store” and “$0 delivery fees,” the small print below reveals there is a “$35 order minimum,” subject to additional restrictions including the fact it excludes most marketplace items, the Walmart+ lawsuit adds. 

Lee also takes issue with the Walmart+ default auto renewal policy. 

“By adopting a default auto renewal, Defendant takes advantage of consumer inertia because auto renewal users are seven times more likely to ‘continue,’ or not cancel, their subscriptions, compared to users enrolled in an auto cancel subscription,” he says. 

The plaintiff is looking to represent a Michigan class of consumers who subscribed to Walmart+ and a consumer fraud multistate class of consumers from Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Alaska, Arkansas, Wyoming, West Virginia, Kentucky, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Utah.

He’s suing under state consumer laws and for breach of warranty and fraud, and seeking certification of the class action, fees, costs and a jury trial. 

Meanwhile, Walmart has been the target of numerous class action lawsuits in the past month with claims ranging from false advertising to misleading representations and failing to properly monitor its money transfer service. Click here to read more. 

Do you have a Walmart+ subscription? Let us know your experience in the comments! 

The plaintiff is represented by Spencer Sheehan of Sheehan & Associates, P.C. 

The Walmart class action is Ryan Lee v. Walmart, Inc., Case No. 1:22-cv-12258 in a U.S. District Court Eastern District of Michigan Northern Division. 

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