Consumer rights
Court declares Amazon price increase clause invalid
In September 2022, Amazon increased the prices of its Prime membership program without explicitly asking customers for consent. This will now result in what is likely to be a lengthy legal dispute.
After an initial partial success, the North Rhine-Westphalia consumer advice center wants to overturn a sharp price increase by the US company Amazon for its German Prime membership program with a class action lawsuit. In a first ruling, the Düsseldorf Regional Court declared ineffective the clause with which Amazon had granted itself the right to increase prices on Prime in autumn 2022 without expressly asking customers for their consent. This was announced by a court spokeswoman.
The consumer advice center now wants to use the class action lawsuit to ensure that Amazon reverses the previous price increase and pays the difference back to customers. The company, in turn, is examining whether it will appeal against the first instance ruling by the LG Düsseldorf, as an Amazon spokeswoman announced in Munich.
“Objective criteria” for price increases?
The consumer advice center actually wanted to achieve even more. According to consumer advocates, Amazon should have expressly asked Prime customers for consent in an information email. However, the court dismissed the lawsuit on the remaining points. From the consumer advice center’s point of view, however, what is crucial is that the relevant contractual clause was declared invalid: “We are entitled to adjust the membership fee at our reasonable discretion and based on appropriately justified and objective criteria,” was the essential sentence in Amazon’s contractual conditions. According to the clause, the “objective criteria” should include, among other things, inflation and tax increases.
Amazon: Anyone can cancel
Amazon believes it is in the right: “We informed customers about the changes to the Prime membership fee transparently and in compliance with applicable law,” wrote a company spokeswoman. Customers always have the right to cancel their Prime membership at any time; Amazon has repeatedly provided clear information about this. “We will examine the verdict thoroughly and take further legal action if necessary.”
Prime subscription service: already the target of a lawsuit
It is not the first mass action by a consumer advice center against the US group: a class action lawsuit by the Saxony consumer advice center has also been running since last year in connection with Prime: The question is whether the company can charge a surcharge for broadcasting Prime Video without advertising .
dpa
Source: Stern
