Amazon hit with US consumer lawsuit over ‘excluded’ fast delivery zones

The proposed nationwide class action lawsuit was filed on Thursday in federal court in Seattle by five residents of Washington, D.C., who said Amazon stopped serving historically underserved communities with its Prime delivery trucks and began outsourcing deliveries there.

The lawsuit parallels a case that Washington, D.C.’s attorney general filed earlier this week accusing Amazon of violating the city’s consumer protection provisions.

Amazon in a statement said the claims were “categorically false.” Amazon said it made a business decision to adjust operations in the affected zip codes for the safety of the company’s drivers.

“We’re always transparent with customers during the shopping journey and checkout process about when, exactly, they can expect their orders to arrive,” Amazon said.

A lawyer for the consumers, Jarrett Ellzey, said Amazon can adopt measures to protect drivers and their cargo but “does not have the right to charge customers for services they fail to provide.”

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The consumers’ lawsuit seeks class action status for more than 10,000 Amazon customers. The District’s complaint estimated that Amazon unfairly continued to charge about 48,000 Prime members for the full subscription service, even though their zip codes were excluded from the company’s fastest service.

Both lawsuits said Amazon in 2022 made a decision to stop using the company’s branded trucks to deliver Prime-eligible packages, and instead used other services such as UPS or the U.S. Postal Service.

In a statement on Wednesday, Washington, D.C., Attorney General Brian Schwalb said Amazon was charging thousands of D.C. residents “for an expedited delivery service it promises but does not provide.”

The lawsuits said Prime members living in two of the District’s zip codes only receive promised two-day delivery 24% of the time. Prior to the changes, Amazon Prime packages were delivered within two days 72% of the time, the lawsuits said.

The case is King v. Amazon, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, No. 2:24-cv-02009.

For plaintiffs: Jarrett Ellzey of Ellzey Kherkher Sanford Montgomery and Janelle Bailey of Washington Injury Law

For Amazon: No appearance yet