AG Shapiro sues Verizon for not giving customers free Amazon accessories and access, as promised

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro launched a lawsuit against telecommunications company Verizon for not following through on giving incentives to customers who earned them.

The lawsuit alleges that Verizon customers were promised free Amazon Echo devices and free subscriptions to Amazon Prime if they signed new contracts or renewed existing ones between November and January 2018.

“If a company chooses to promise incentives to consumers signing up for their services, it is their legal responsibility to deliver on those promises,” Shapiro said. “My Bureau of Consumer Protection will stand up and fight for Pennsylvanians and make sure they get an honest deal. Consumers should not have to be put on hold or bounced around multiple company personnel in order to get answers, and if Verizon knew of an issue in fulfilling their promises to consumers, they should have corrected those problems quickly or stopped offering the program until it was fixed.”

A key discovery that served as the catalyst in filing suit against Verizon came Attorney General’s Bureau of Consumer Protection discovered Verizon had an issue with a hyperlink that would allow customers to redeem their incentives for months on end. As a result, many Verizon customers never received their free Echo devices or subscriptions to Amazon Prime.

Verizon continued to offer the incentives and signed customers up for additional two-year contacts even after it was clear that they were having difficulties getting customers their earned items, the Office of the Attorney General found.

Attorney general Shapiro’s lawsuit claims that the telecommunications giant negative behavior against consumers violated the Pennsylvania Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law. The Pennsylvania Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law was put into motion in 1968 and helps protect consumers from companies that advertise goods and services they do not have the intention of providing.