Millions of Amazon Prime customers could soon receive larger refunds under a revised Federal Trade Commission settlement with Amazon. The FTC announced Thursday that Amazon will expand the refunds from its $2.5 billion Prime settlement, raising the maximum payment consumers can receive from $51 to as much as $200. The updated order will help more customers affected by what the FTC alleged were deceptive Prime enrollment and cancellation practices.
According to the agency, Amazon has already distributed more than $845 million to consumers, but millions more could now qualify for automatic payments. The case is one of the largest consumer protection settlements ever obtained by the FTC against a tech company. The FTC alleged that Amazon enrolled millions of customers into Prime subscriptions without their consent and made it unnecessarily difficult for members to cancel.
The settlement includes up to $1.5 billion in consumer refunds and a separate $1 billion civil penalty. Amazon denied wrongdoing but agreed to the settlement last year. The settlement stems from an FTC lawsuit alleging Amazon used misleading enrollment processes that signed consumers up for Prime memberships without their consent and then subjected customers to unnecessarily difficult cancellation procedures.
The agency alleged Amazon's practices violated federal consumer protection laws governing online subscriptions. Newsweek reached out to Amazon for comment via email. Amazon has denied violating the law but agreed to resolve the case through settlement.
Under the revised settlement order, consumers must meet three criteria to qualify for a refund: The biggest change involves the benefit usage threshold. Previously, refunds were generally limited to consumers who used fewer than 10 Prime benefits. Under the updated order, consumers who used between 11 and 20 Prime benefits during a one-year period may now qualify as well, increasing the pool of eligible recipients by millions of people.
The FTC also increased the maximum refund amount. While earlier payments were capped at $51, eligible consumers may now receive up to $200 in total under the revised distribution plan. One of the most important aspects of the revised order is that consumers do not need to submit paperwork or respond to notices to receive future payments.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
