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unfairly favored some retailers and unnecessarily made Amazon Prime cancellation difficult under policies that are no longer in effect.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
Add me please
Add me please
Yes! Add me! After my husband passed away Sept 6, 2021, I realized we both were paying for Amazon prime. I cancelled his, so I thought, and didn’t realize till 9 months later that they were still charging for it. I finally got to talk to someone and they gave me like 300.$ back. I had to cancel both our accounts to stop them from taking money
Yes, add me
add me
I cancel Prime 2 or 3 times a year since I live in Central America most of the time, when in the US I binge shop. Otherwise I but and pay for shipping to Central America on rare occasions without prime, Never an issue to pause membership.
I have had issues with Amazon’s cancelation process as well as price fixing. Please add me
Yes please add me. I canceled my prime and they still kept taking money off my card. I had to finally call my bank and have them deny anymore charges to Amazon. I would call them every month to reimburse me. They did once and said they couldn’t do it anymore.
add me
Please add me l had problems with my cancellation.