Amazon is facing a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging its Subscribe & Save program lured customers in with discounts before raising prices, with plaintiffs calling it a “Subscribe & Switch.” How many billable hours did it take for those nerd lawyers to come up with that name?
Pennsylvania residents Aaron and Leah Herman claim they signed up for recurring coffee purchases in February 2024 expecting savings of up to 15%, but watched their payments climb from roughly $17 to nearly $29 by October, ending up higher than prices from third-party sellers on Amazon itself.
The complaint reads:
“This is about control. By offering artificially low prices on initial purchases, Amazon induces people to part with the most important feature in a free market—choice. Then the real price of ‘Subscribe & Switch’ comes due.”
An Amazon spokesperson said subscribers get e-mails showing price changes before each order and can review, modify, skip, or cancel anytime, but the complaint argues that the notification e-mails didn't give the Hermans enough time to find better prices before the recurring payments were processed, in violation of Washington's Consumer Protection Act.
I'd also argue that customers shouldn't have to review, modify, or skip orders to consistently receive a below-retail price through “Subscribe & Save,” and that the name of the subscription alone sets the pricing expectation.
Additionally, what kind of crappy product subscription doesn't lock in a price upon sign up? “Well, it's 15% off a price, not necessarily that price.” Can you imagine an independent retailer offering a monthly “Subscribe & Save” program on their website with variable pricing? I've literally never seen it, likely because it really is that ridiculous. It wouldn't surprise me if Amazon eventually shuts the entire subscription program down and replaces it with an Alexa-powered subscription program that monitors product pricing across its greater seller network. The existing program is obviously broken.
Whether Amazon broke any laws with its “Subscribe & Switch” program is to be determined by the courts. However, we don't need a judge or jury to conclude that Amazon broke customer trust through the practice, which completely goes against the company's own “Customer Obsession” policy.
