Best Buy Class Action Says AppleCare+ Charged Without Consent

A consumer class action lawsuit claims that Best Buy automatically enrolls customers in an AppleCare+ service plan when they purchase an iPhone, and refuses to offer refunds when customers attempt to cancel the program. The case was removed to federal court on July 25.

Plaintiff Sharon Eldredge claims that she purchased an iPhone from Best Buy and was enrolled automatically in an AppleCare+ service plan without her request or knowledge.

She seeks to represent a Class of Washington residents who purchased an iPhone from Best Buy and were automatically enrolled in AppleCare+, did not use the program, and attempted to cancel it.

The Best Buy AppleCare+ class action lawsuit claims that Eldredge did not discover that she had been enrolled in AppleCare+ until she saw an AppleCare+ charge on her credit card bill.

The plaintiff says she wasn’t notified by BestBuy that their policy was to automatically enroll customers in AppleCare+ or that she had been enrolled in the plan.

Eldredge claims that she attempted to have the plan cancelled, but discovered that at a later date, when she attempted to purchase two more iPhones, that the AppleCare+ program had not been canceled for the first phone.

The Best Buy class action says that during her second purchase Eldredge stressed that she did not want AppleCare+ on her phones.

According to the Best Buy automatic AppleCare+ class action lawsuit, Best Buy failed to cancel the AppleCare+ plan for the first phone, and charged her a monthly fee of $7.99 plus tax.

Allegedly, she was charged AppleCare+ fees for a total of five months, and paid the charges despite not having authorized them.

After five months, the plaintiff was reportedly able to cancel the AppleCare+ program by calling a Best Buy customer service representative, who told her that they would cancel the AppleCare+ but would not offer her a refund for the charges she had already paid.

The Best Buy AppleCare+ class action lawsuit argues that Best Buy violated the Washington Consumer Protection Act, and continues to violate the Act, by charging consumers for a service that they did not request and of which they were not notified.

Allegedly, the practice falls under the Act’s Unsolicited Goods statute, which states that services are not “considered to have been solicited unless the recipient specifically requested, in an affirmative manner, the receipt of the services according to the terms under which they are being offered.”

Best Buy’s practice is unfair and deceptive, and the profits the company gained from charging customs for unrequested AppleCare+ plans is unjust enrichment, the Best Buy class action lawsuit states.

Eldredge’s Best Buy iPhone charges class action lawsuit seeks a refund for Eldredge and other similarly affected consumers for the amount that they were improperly charged.

Eldredge also seeks an injunction preventing the company from continuing to enroll iPhone purchasers in the AppleCare+ service plan without their knowledge or consent.

The plaintiff is represented by Toby J. Marshall and Blythe Chandler of the Terrell Marshall Law Group PLLC.

The Best Buy AppleCare+ Charges Class Action Lawsuit is Sharon Eldredge v. Best Buy Company Inc., Case No. 2:18-cv-01093, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.