Amazon seeks to remove some claims in returns class action

Update:

• Amazon asked a federal judge in Washington to trim a class action lawsuit accusing it of recharging consumers for items returned in the allowed refund time. 
• Amazon requested the judge toss out three of the five claims against it, arguing the allegations rely on the company’s own return policies, an “express contract.” 
• The Seattle-based company also asked the judge to decrease the class definition from six years to four for a claim under the Washington Consumer Protection Act. 
• Consumers claim Amazon routinely recharges customers who opt in to the company’s “instant refund” option by returning a purchased item to a UPS store or other authorized drop-off location within 30 days. 

Amazon class action overview: 

• Who: Plaintiffs Laura Abbott, Sima Hernandez, Melissa Urbancic and Jill Capel filed a class action lawsuit against Amazon.com. 
• Why: The plaintiffs claim that Amazon re-charges customers for items that were returned within the 30-day return window.
• Where: The Amazon class action was filed in federal court in Washington.

(Sept. 11, 2023)

Plaintiffs Laura Abbott, Sima Hernandez, Melissa Urbancic and Jill Capel filed a class action lawsuit against Amazon.com over the company’s return policy, alleging that it re-charges customers despite the fact they returned an item during the company’s 30-day return window.

The potential class for the Amazon returns class action includes all customers who were charged for items despite properly returning those items over the past six years.

While Amazon’s return policies have been lauded, in practice the company falls short of fulfilling its return promises, the Amazon class action claims.

“Amazon routinely fails to deliver on its promise of free, no hassle returns and instead re-charges customers who have returned items within the return window, despite Amazon’s own records establishing that it has received such items,” the Amazon returns class action claims. “This practice both breaches its contract with its customers and is unfair and deceptive, causing those who take notice of the re-charges frustration and hours of lost time in dealing with Amazon customer service representatives to reverse these improper charges.” 

Plaintiffs all properly returned items and had receipts but were still re-charged for items, Amazon returns lawsuit claims

The lawsuit goes into detail on the experiences of the four named plaintiffs, who all properly returned items and received receipts for the returns only to be charged later due to what customer service representatives told them were technical issues.

The refunds for the re-charges only came after the customers noticed the charges and had to reach out directly to customer service to correct the issue.

Amazon has already been in the news recently thanks to a trio of class action lawsuits, a lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), a Senate investigation and a $30 million settlement that put an end to two federal data privacy lawsuits. 

Have you been re-charged for a returned Amazon item? Let us know in the comments.

The plaintiffs are represented by Alicia Cobb, Matthew Hosen and Andrew H. Shapiro of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart and Sullivan LLP, along with Aaron M. Zigler of Zigler Law Group LLC.

The Amazon class action lawsuit is Abbott, et al. v. Amazon.com Inc., Case No. 2:23-cv-01372, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington at Seattle.

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