The attorney general of the U.S. District of Columbia sued Amazon accusing it of violating consumer protection laws by making slower deliveries to Prime members in historically lower-income neighborhoods.
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Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb sued Amazon.com, Inc. for deceiving District residents into paying for Prime delivery benefits they are not receiving, in violation of District consumer protection law.
The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) alleges that since 2022, Amazon has secretly excluded two ZIP codes east of the Anacostia River from its advertised fastest delivery service while continuing to charge approximately 48,000 Prime members living there the full Prime subscription price.
Amazon consistently and prominently promotes its same-day, one-day, and two-day delivery speeds in its advertising for Prime and throughout the Prime membership signup process.
However, in June 2022, Amazon made a secret internal decision to stop using its fleet of branded trucks to make Prime deliveries—what it calls a delivery “exclusion”—to DC ZIP codes 20019 and 20020, choosing instead to service these ZIP codes exclusively with third-party delivery services like UPS and the US Postal Service, which it knows are often slower than Amazon’s.
Amazon knew its “exclusion” would result in significantly slower deliveries for residents living in these two ZIP codes yet it never informed existing or prospective Prime members living there of that exclusion.
When consumers complained of slow delivery, Amazon concealed the exclusion and misled the consumers to believe it was a coincidence.
While companies are legally permitted to make operational changes to protect their employees, they are required to inform customers of any resulting adverse impacts those changes will have on the quality of service so that consumers can make informed purchasing decisions.
As a result of Amazon’s secret internal “exclusion”, the approximately 48,000 Prime members living in ZIP codes 20019 and 20020 have experienced significantly longer delivery times than their neighbors in other District ZIP codes, despite paying the exact same membership price for Prime.
With this lawsuit, OAG seeks to stop Amazon from engaging in unfair and deceptive practices. It also seeks to obtain restitution and damages for affected Prime members in ZIP codes 20019 and 20020, as well as civil penalties and costs payable to the District. ■
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