Amazon Prime Two-Day Shipping Promises California Class Action

Amazon.com, Inc. offers a membership product called Amazon Prime, which among other things, purportedly offers members two-day or same-day shipping on many things they order online from Amazon. But the complaint alleges that Amazon Prime does not actually provide consistent two-day or same-day shipping, even when it purports to offer that at the time consumers make their purchases.

The class for this action is all consumers who bought the product in California for personal use and not for resale, between March 28, 2022 and the present.

According to the complaint, shipping speeds are an important factor to consumers when they are deciding where to buy an item: “Many reasonable individuals decide where to buy a specific item based on how quickly the potential retail location for the purchase will deliver the ordered item.”

Memberships in Amazon Prime can be purchased for a yearly or a monthly fee. Consumers by Amazon Prime memberships thinking that they will get faster shipping on their Amazon purchases. But the complaint alleges that this is not true, and that Amazon deceives consumers who buy the memberships at two different points.

The first point comes when they are considering buying the membership, the complaint alleges, because it is advertised with the claim that they will receive the faster shipping rates for free.

The second point comes, the complaint alleges, at the point when they actually make a purchase of an item that is shown as qualifying for two-day or same-day delivery. The complaint claims, “Defendant Amazon’s second deceptive tactic involves changing the delivery date of a purchased item midway, during its transit.” That is, the person buys an item that is shown as qualifying and expects that it will arrive quickly, but “after completing his/her purchase, the buyer is provided with a longer delivery day or simply told that the item is delayed in transit and no expected delivery date is provided.”

The complaint alleges, “Defendant Amazon has no reasonable basis for falsely advertising and deceptively marketing shipping speeds, or for perpetuating pervasive and systematic misrepresentations about the Product.” It claims Amazon misleads consumers into buying a membership with certain benefits when those benefits are not truly available.

Both of the plaintiffs for this class action bought Amazon Prime membership, but the complaint alleges that neither received the full benefit of her bargain. The complaint claims that one did not receive her purchases in the promised time frame “in many instances” and that the other did not receive hers in the promised time frame “on at least three occasions[.]”

The complaint alleges violations of California laws, including the Consumers Legal Remedies Act and its Business and Professions Code. Other causes of action include common law fraud, negligent misrepresentation, and unjust enrichment.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Consumer
Tags: Deceptive Advertising, Does Not Have Promised Features, Fraud, Negligent Misrepresentation