Class Action Says Amazon Violates MMWA Via Lack of Presale Warranties

Defendant Amazon removed to U.S. District Court for Central California in Los Angeles a class-action fraud complaint filed Dec. 14 in California Superior Court alleging violations of the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act (MMWA) for failure to provide consumers access to written product warranties prior to sale.

Amazon’s MMWA noncompliance “has a self-serving motive,” alleged the complaint of plaintiff Brian Youngblood, a Los Angeles County resident. Amazon offers extended warranties to consumers at the point of sale, “which provide coverage that is duplicative of the free manufacturer’s warranty that already comes with the product,” it said. “If the consumer is not made aware of this warranty, or is prohibited from learning of the warranty’s specific terms, until after the point of sale, then he or she is more likely to buy” Amazon’s duplicative protection plan, it said.

Youngblood bought a Vizio TV from Amazon in 2021, and Amazon didn't make the product’s warranty available to him, or alert him to the option of reviewing the product’s warranty before the sale “in a manner compliant” with the MMWA, said the complaint. All retailers, including Amazon, “are obligated to have a mechanism by which the full terms of a product’s written warranty can be viewed by a consumer” before the sale, without requiring the consumer to use his or her own internet-enabled device to access that information, it said.

Amazon “fails to satisfy this obligation,” and virtually all of the products sold on its online platform “are presented to the consumer without any access to the product’s warranty, pre-sale,” it said. “Instead, the first time the consumer is able to view the warranty is upon opening the product’s packaging, after purchase.” If a customer searches for a Vizio TV at Amazon.com, then clicks the page for a specific Vizio model, he or she will see the page advertising the set, and will be provided the opportunity to buy it, along with an extended warranty sold through Asurion, a third-party insurance vendor, it said.

But the consumer won't be able to find the terms of the manufacturer’s warranty, said the complaint. Scrolling down to the product information portion of the webpage brings up a section called “Warranty & Support,” it said. But clicking on that brings up a message instructing the consumer to contact the manufacturer directly for more information.

The extended warranty plans Amazon sells are “big business,” said the complaint. But those plans “are also largely unnecessary, as they provide coverage that is duplicative of the given product’s existing warranty, at least for the life of the manufacturer’s warranty,” it said. Amazon partners with Asurion to offer protection plans to consumers, “and thus is disincentivized from alerting consumers to the warranty that already comes with their product free of charge,” it said. This makes Amazon’s MMWA violation “all the more egregious,” it said.

The class action seeks a judgment against Amazon “for all injunctive, declaratory, and other equitable relief sought,” plus a recovery of attorneys’ fees. Amazon didn’t comment Wednesday. Its Tuesday notice of removal said Amazon “does not waive any defense that may be available to it, and Amazon expressly reserves all such defenses, including those related to personal jurisdiction and service of process.”