Electronic Funds Transfer Act (EFTA) is intended to regulate electronic transfers of money between parties and to protect consumers’ rights relating to these transfers. The complaint for this class action alleges that OnStar, LLC has violated this act in continuing to make withdrawals from consumers’ bank accounts even after the consumers have terminated the services they were receiving from OnStar.
The class for this action is all persons in the US whose bank account was debited for one or more transactions by OnStar without that consumer’s written preauthorization, between February 6, 2022 and February 6, 2023.
OnStar, the complaint claims, “is in the business of providing emergency assistance and access to OnStar hands-free calling and navigation services.” The equipment and software is preinstalled in most General Motors vehicles, the complaint alleges, and it can also be accessed through the OnStar all, which consumers can download from the Apple App Store or Google Play.
The services are available for a free trial period, the complaint alleges, and then becomes available by subscription, for a charge of $24.99 to $49.99 per month. Consumers can sign up to autopay these bills, allowing OnStar to debit their bank account or debit card each month. “Unfortunately,” the complaint alleges, “OnStar has a history, pattern, and practice of exploiting its customer’s utilization of its autopay feature by continuing to debit consumers’ bank accounts (without consent) long after the customer [has cancelled] their subscription.”
The plaintiff for this class action, Victoria Ramirez, had a 2013 ATS Cadillac that originally had OnStar services. According to the complaint, Ramirez cancelled these services on April 3, 2019 and received a notice confirming the cancellation the same day.
Ramirez never reinstated the subscription or gave OnStar any permission or authorization to collect money for the OnStar services. However, the complaint alleges that OnStar continued to debit her checking account for the charges for months afterwards. She only noticed in July 2022, the complaint says, that OnStar had continued to take $27.99 from her checking account each month for another forty months. The complaint figures the total unauthorized withdrawals at $1,119.60.
When she noticed these unauthorized withdrawals, the complaint alleges, she called OnStar, told it to stop taking money from her bank account, and asked for a refund.
On July 11, she received an email from OnStar acknowledging her complaint and saying, in part, that “while we will not be refunding the full amount you requested, as a one-time gesture of goodwill we have processed a refund … in the amount of $83.97.”
Ramirez also filed her claims for arbitration, but, according to the complaint, the American Arbitration Association (AAA) refused to handle it because, the AAA said, “OnStar, LLC failed to comply with the AAA’s policies regarding consumer claims[.]”
The complaint alleges that this is not the only time OnStar has continued to withdraw funds from consumer bank accounts after subscriptions have been cancelled. It points to other, similar complaints at the Consumer Affairs website.
Article Type: LawsuitTopic: Consumer
Most Recent Case Event
OnStar Continued Withdrawals for Cancelled Subscriptions EFTA Complaint
February 6, 2023
Electronic Funds Transfer Act (EFTA) is intended to regulate electronic transfers of money between parties and to protect consumers’ rights relating to these transfers. The complaint for this class action alleges that OnStar, LLC has violated this act in continuing to make withdrawals from consumers’ bank accounts even after the consumers have terminated the services they were receiving from OnStar.
OnStar Continued Withdrawals for Cancelled Subscriptions EFTA ComplaintCase Event History
OnStar Continued Withdrawals for Cancelled Subscriptions EFTA Complaint
February 6, 2023
Electronic Funds Transfer Act (EFTA) is intended to regulate electronic transfers of money between parties and to protect consumers’ rights relating to these transfers. The complaint for this class action alleges that OnStar, LLC has violated this act in continuing to make withdrawals from consumers’ bank accounts even after the consumers have terminated the services they were receiving from OnStar.
OnStar Continued Withdrawals for Cancelled Subscriptions EFTA Complaint