Santa Clara, CA: A class action lawsuit has been filed against Neopets alleging unfair business practices, resulting from the alleged inability of customers to pay for just a single month' membership.
Specifically, the website allows customers to create an account for their own virtual pet and then buy virtual items using virtual currencies. However, while Neopets offers one-month, four-month, and 12-month subscriptions, customers who purchase a single month are charged $7.95, while the four-month plan costs $6.25 per month and the 12-month plan costs $5.83 per month.
Further, the lawsuit alleges that Neopets virtual pet subscription continuously renews but fails to inform its customers of this in a discernible way.
The lawsuit states that Neopets is in violation of California Business Professions Code which prevents businesses from repeatedly charging customers for a subscription if they fail to disclose the terms in a clear and conspicuous manner before the purchasing agreement is fulfilled.
The plaintiffs are seeking class action certification for any resident of the US who bought any product or service in response to an offer constituting an "Automatic Renewal"from Neopets, Inc., its predecessors, or its affiliates.
The proposed Class is represented by Scott J. Ferrell, Richard H. Hikida, David W. Reid, and Victoria C. Knowles of the Newport Trial Group. The Neopets Automatic Renewal Class Action Lawsuit is John Doe v. Neopets Inc. Case No. 2:15-cv-08395 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
