Amazon Prime Lawsuit
Amazon Prime shipping was disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. Mark even wrote about back in back in April. This went on for almost two months, in March and April, as Amazon focused most of its resources on delivery of groceries and pharmaceuticals. That was an understandable move from the retail giant as people needed essential items. But on the other hand, customers who paid for an Amazon Prime membership weren’t getting the value that was promised.
A lawsuit has now been filed against Amazon, claiming that during that period, it caused delays for those shopping online for electronics and other “non-essential” items most often ordered via Amazon Prime shipping, according to plaintiff Jeremy Shepherd. Basically, Prime members lost two months of benefits with no compensation.
An Amazon Prime membership is not cheap. The price is now up to $12.99 per month, or $119 annually. One of the main perks is that Amazon Prime members get free, expedited shipping of certain products that are immediately available from Amazon’s distribution centers. There are also many other extras.
Amazon Prime members spend an average of $538 a year shopping at Amazon, or 68% more than non-members, according to a survey by RBC Capital Markets. The lawsuit cites a 2020 poll that shows that 68% of Prime members said they use their subscription to take advantage of fast and free Amazon Prime shipping, not for grocery or pharmacy delivery.
The plaintiff is claiming breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation and unjust enrichment, as well as violations of the New York Deceptive Acts and Practices Act. He is proposing certification of a New York Class and a national Class. The lawsuit seeks monetary damages, injunctive relief “requiring Amazon to stop selling Amazon Prime membership until corrective disclosures are made,” and other costs.
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Well I lived with the delays. What bothered me is something I ordered in April and was supposed to be delivered in May never came so I requested a refund. Instead of giving me a whole refund they refunded me 40% of the price. I complained and said I want the whole amount. I got an email from the seller saying well what if it comes and they have already give me the whole amount back am I going to pay them back? Told them to cancel and don’t send it. Multiple times a week they sent email saying delivery is by 8 pm the next day. I complained directly to Amazon and got all of my money back
That’s a seller issue, not Amazon. And as you pointed out, once you got Amazon involved, you got your money back.
Its 100% Amazon issue. Amazon can handle the issue buy requesting you to go direct to the seller to resolve a problem but when you dont get the answer you want its still Amazon issues & responsibility to fix it, as they did. Amazon assumes responsibly and liability the moment you make a payment to Amazon, if Amazon was only a search engine that connected you to other seller but not accepting your payment only then would it not be Amazon issue. If your a boss and your workers do something wrong unfortunately you cant just throw your hands say Im out its not my issue.
I have not experience other than minor delays. Some of the longer delays may be manufacturer shortages rather than Amazon’s fault.
While Amazon may ‘owe’ Prime members compensation, I don’t expect much. We know what this is really about: a bunch of opportunistic NY lawyers shaking down a fat target.
Company responds to global pandemic by prioritizing delivery of food over earbuds.
Get me my lawyer.
I dont think you understand the case. The case involes a product that tells you for a membership fee you get your order in 1 day or 2 days. That extended out to 4 weeks. At the least customers are entitled to a 2 month extension. Amazon will lose this one. Its an easy case. Forget the mice type on Prime membership there is somethng called public policy. Bezosjust has hubris not to have extended customers. He needs another solid gold toilet bowl for his 150 million dollar mansion. Bezos says the customer comes first.
Yup. I don’t begrudge AMZN prioritizing essential shipments. Just don’t expect me to pay extra to wait behind them. This is an easy fix for AMZN… “We appreciate your patience as we prioritized blah blah blah. Because you didn’t receive our best service, we are extending your Prime membership by 3 months at no charge.” Lawsuit resolved, lawyers not paid.
[…] Lawsuit Says Amazon Prime Members Lost Two Months of Membership During Pandemic by MtM […]
This is still an issue in June 2020. After I made a purchase Amazon changed the delivery date to a later date. I tried to ask Amazon why I was not getting the prime delivery I was paying for. The first response was that daye prior to shipping do not count, only days in transit. This is not the terms that Amazon promises. Then I pointed out that the delivery was vis UPS 4 Business days plus extra time while they hand it to the USPS to save money but waste more time. Considering that UPS does offer next day and second day, this was clearly a financial decision by Amazon,.
To clarify, Amazon takes money for a service and then chose a cheaper level of service with UPS, just to save money.
Thank you I just applied. Seriously I am a prime member and my orders are taking 5+ months. I ordered an item 13 Jan and I finally received it last week on 5 June. I also have 5 more items I ordered between mid Feb – early March still waiting on them. Amazon sets a delivery date once that date passes they send me an email to approve a new future delivery a month or so out and every month I continue to get these emails for my items which are now over 5 months of waiting. This month after I approves the delay they stop giving me a delivery of date they now just say “we will email you when its available” great speed of Prime I pay extra for.
I ordered a few things back in March and just cancelled them straight up when the delivery dates were basically unknown. Fortunately the set of bed sheets I really needed showed up in only about a month rather than…half of a year. Yeeesh.
To be fair, the shipping delays were, and still are, happening today in most companies. Amazon should have been smart enough to encourage slow shipping for digital credits instead of all but eliminating them. Or should have offered a percent or two discount to Prime members for “non essential” items that were going to take 10 days instead of 2. But they weren’t.
Plus, Amazon folded their Amazon Fresh subscription into Prime before all this happened, a move they probably regret given they probably would have had thousands do members paying the 14.99 monthly subscription price.