Amazon lawsuits overview:
- Who: Arizona Attorney General Kristin K. Mayes filed a pair of lawsuits against Amazon.com.
- Why: Mayes claims that Amazon made canceling Prime an unnecessarily difficult process and unfairly favored some retailers over others, Mayes claimed.
- Where: The Amazon lawsuits were filed in Maricopa County Superior Court.
Arizona Attorney General Kristin K. Mayes filed a pair of lawsuits against Amazon.com claiming the company unfairly favored some retailers and unnecessarily made Amazon Prime cancellation difficult under policies that are no longer in effect.
Amazon referred to its complex Prime cancellation process as “Project Iliad” and used it to cut cancellations by 17% between its 2016 launch and 2017. The complex process was not changed until April 2023.
“This layered and confusing cancellation process relied on ‘dark patterns,’ i.e., methods of deception derived from behavioral psychology that exploit cognitive biases to influence and manipulate consumer choices,” the Amazon Prime cancellation lawsuit says.
The cancellation process included at least six steps, including offers for a lower price, warnings about losing discounts and benefits and triangles with warning notes and a series of confusing other options to choose from, the lawsuit says.
Lawsuit claims Amazon cancellation process violates Arizona anti-fraud law
Amazon’s alleged favoring of certain retailers violates the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act, the lawsuit says.
Amazon chooses one product for the “Buy Box” after a customer search, giving the indication that option is the best option for a consumer. But that isn’t always true, the lawsuit claims — the algorithm allegedly favors Amazon first-party retail offers or offers from third-party sellers who participate in Fulfillment By Amazon.
Nearly 98% of the purchases on Amazon come from the “Buy Box,” the lawsuit says.
“The result is that consumers routinely overpay for items that are available at lower prices from other sellers on Amazon – not because consumers don’t care about price, or because they’re making informed purchasing decisions, but because Amazon has chosen to display the offers for which it will earn the highest fees,” the Amazon lawsuit claims.
Another lawsuit alleging that Amazon.com intentionally makes it hard to cancel Amazon Prime memberships was filed in federal court in Washington in November 2022.
Have you had difficulty canceling an Amazon Prime subscription? Let us know in the comments.
The Amazon Prime cancellation lawsuits are State of Arizona, ex rel., Kristin K. Mayes, Attorney General v. Amazon.com Inc., Case Nos. unknown, in the Superior Court in the State of Arizona in and for the County of Maricopa.
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100 thoughts onArizona AG files lawsuit over ’deceptive’ Amazon Prime cancellation process
I went through the cancel procedure the day before i was set to renew and i still had my account go through renewal.
Add me. I also have had difficulty canceling Amazon Prime. They make it so difficult to cancel. But they sure make it easy to join.
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Same as everybody else on here. It’s not easy to cancel and they won’t refund and if they do it’s not much. Just like I got hit with ads by them as well first they just charge me the fee for it and I had to fight about that and I didn’t get my money back
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Amazon was on a trial and when I went to cancel the trial it charged me for a whole year.
Please add me. I have experienced their cancellation process.
It’s definitely difficult to cancel membership! Another gripe is they give no notice that renewal is coming up, and you’re hit with an hige automatic payment with zero warning.
*huge
I thought that I was the only one who thought this. The last time I tried to cancel amazon prime, it was so difficult that I thought I wasn’t going to be able to cancel it on my own. It should only be a 2-step process to cancel, not 6.
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Please add me
Add me please. I somehow had three different accounts, all with prime, and had hell trying to get them canceled. Not only that, but I’m still trying to figure out why when I called and finally was able to get everything removed, they were only able to refund me for 3 months of the fee’s I was overcharged. Total freaking ripoff!!!!!!