Amazon Prime Members Are Suing Amazon for Removing Free Whole Foods Delivery

Remember when all the fast food restaurants started charging for their sauces? It felt like the world was on fire and nothing made sense anymore! I got way less BBQ and Sweet n’ Sour sauces that year due to the massive hurt and deception. Whole Foods shoppers are experiencing a similar hurt all over again now that their free deliveries have come to an end, too.

For those unaware, if you had an Amazon Prime membership, among many of the perks was free delivery from Whole Foods. Delivery fees add up and having that cost not included in your overall grocery total does get noticed. Now delivery has changed from $Free.99 to $9.95 per order!

So what’s the big deal? Well, Prime members apparently just didn’t know. On Tuesday June 7th, a California Prime member proposed a class action lawsuit suggesting Amazon misleads customers into thinking this perk is still included in the service. This wasn’t the first report of a lawsuit either, with another being filed not even two weeks before it.

“In addition to Amazon’s false representations that Prime members will receive ‘FREE Delivery’ and ‘FREE 2-Hour Grocery Delivery,’ Amazon engages in a bait-and-switch advertising scheme by not disclosing the $9.95 service fee along with the advertised price of the Whole Foods grocery items,” the court filing states.

“Amazon’s practice of initially advertising only part of a price and then later revealing the service fee as the consumer completes the buying process has been labeled ‘drip pricing’ by the Federal Trade Commission (‘FTC’). Amazon uses drip pricing to bamboozle consumers using the tried and true classic, and unlawful, bait advertising scheme.”

It’s not just about the free deliveries, it’s about larger corporations taking advantage of their consumers which needs to be stopped as soon as it starts.