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Primary-care focused virtual care company PlushCare illegally charges consumers monthly fees of $14.99 without their consent or knowledge, a new class action lawsuit claims.
The nationwide class action lawsuit was filed in California on May 7 by lead Plaintiff Sarah Robbins who alleges the company illegally takes consumers’ money, and has reaped millions of dollars in unlawfully-obtained revenues.
According to the claim, Robbins booked a doctor’s appointment through the PlushCare website in March 2020, and authorized a one-off payment of $99 for the no-insurance virtual visit.
However, Robbins’ debit card was then charged $14.99 in April and again in May by PlushCare. When she contacted the company to enquire about the charges, she was told she had been enrolled in a subscription service, the claim states. She was refunded one month after challenging the charges that were made without her consent or knowledge, the class action lawsuit claims.
The same situation happened again when Robbins made a second virtual appointment in November 2020, and was subsequently charged the monthly fee from December through March 2021.
“At no point did Defendants disclose to Plaintiff Robbins that when booking a virtual doctors’ appointment, she would automatically be enrolled into the subscription-based membership plan which auto renews every month until canceled,” the class action lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit claims that PlushCare fails to disclose terms of their subscription services and instead enrolls consumers in monthly membership plans that renew indefinitely without the consumers knowledge or consent.
“PlushCare took money for six months from a checking account managed by Plaintiff Robbins via electronic fund transfers, even though PlushCare never obtained her express consent or her written authorization to take money from the account for an ongoing membership subscription.”
Robbins wants to represent everyone in the U.S. whose debit card or bank account was charged for monthly membership fees by PlushCare after booking an appointment. She also wants to represent a California subclass.
She is suing for violation of the Electronic Funds Transfer Act, negligent misrepresentation, false advertising, theft, conversion, and violations of state business and trade laws. She seeks restitution, declaratory, injunctive, and other equitable relief, damages, reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs, interest, and a jury trial.
PlushCare isn’t the only company facing a class action lawsuit over subscription fees. In January, Ring was hit with a claim saying that users are forced to pay a monthly service fee to access video doorbell features, The class action lawsuit claims the maker of the online security system unfairly hides a monthly service fee from buyers, even though the system is rendered useless if customers do not pay the fee.
Have you ever been signed up for a monthly subscription against your knowledge? Let us know in the comments section!
Robbins is represented by Ronald A. Marron, Alexis M. Wood, and Kas L. Gallucci of Law Offices Of Ronald A. Marron.The PlushCare Subscription Class Action Lawsuit is Robbins v. PlushCare Inc. et al., Case No. 3:21-cv-03444, in the U.S. District Court Northern District of California.
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19 thoughts onVirtual Health Care Provider PlushCare Deceptively Enrolled Consumers in Subscription Plans, Class Action Lawsuit Claims
Im really not sure what I can do here. I recently found out that plush care has been charging me since 2022. The website will not let me cancel and calling the customer service line means being on hold endlessly. They stated they canceled my account and refunded me the money but I checked again and they are still charging me.
I’m dealing with this right now. My mother used the services and passed away Jan. 15th of this year. Plushcare continues to charge us a monthly fee – it was $14.99 and now, it’s $16.99. We submitted the death certificate; my mother’s account has been closed and Plushcare representatives say they have no record of the charges (that continue to come out of my dad’s account every month).
I had the same charge hit me for the last few years at $9.00 per month, when I asked about the charges they provided me an answer of “to use Plushcare, you must have a account membership, if you cancel then you will not be able to use our services”. I also had blood work done at diagnosis center that they recommended and paid the fees of the visit thru Plushcare’s system, after the work was done and a month passed the diagnosis center said I owed a little less of $800, I explained to them about the account and was able to contact Plushcare but nothing ever happened. After about a three months of monkeying around with both of these jokers it went to collections and boom, that was history. Our healthcare system needs a revolution.
I just received my settlement check from the Robbins v Plushcare for $71.97 on 10/27/23 Hope this helps someone
I had the same thing happen to me
I have been repeatedly charged $59.00 per visit through out the last year and a half by Plushcare although my Anthem insurance covered the cost and also paid Plushcare. My total responsibility amount after Anthem paid should have only been $5.00 per visit. My Anthem records show that Plushcare was paid for each appointment. I should have been reimbursed $54.00 per appointment. I reached out to Plushcare through email about this issue, requesting a refund for my overpayments about 2 months ago. Plushcare has still not contacted me about the issue. Is this in anyway related to the pending lawsuit?