Since September 15th, Amazon Prime customers have been paying up to 30% more for their membership. The company justified the price increase at the time with “general and significant cost changes due to inflation”. The price for the Prime membership subscription rose from 7.99 to 8.99 euros. Annual membership costs 89.90 euros instead of 69 euros. If paid monthly, this represents an increase of 12.5%. If you pay the subscription annually, you even have to pay an additional 30.3%. The North Rhine-Westphalia consumer advice center filed a lawsuit against this. The court now agreed with her: “The Düsseldorf regional court shares our opinion and has declared the price adjustment clause to be ineffective,” says Wolfgang Schuldzinski, board member of the NRW consumer advice center. “The price increase is therefore inadmissible without the express consent of the customers.” This ruling is not yet legally binding. Amazon can still appeal this.
If the verdict is confirmed, Amazon could face reimbursements totaling three-digit millions due to the high number of Prime customers. So that consumers can get back the overpaid contributions if Amazon does not issue a refund on its own initiative, the North Rhine-Westphalia Consumer Center is planning to file a remedial action against Amazon. Prime customers who join this lawsuit would not have to take action against Amazon themselves, but would automatically receive their money back if they were successful in court.
