Amazon Has Overstated Ring Doorbell Battery Life, Class Action Alleges

New to ClassAction.org? Read our Newswire Disclaimer

A proposed class action lawsuit alleges Amazon has vastly overstated the battery life of its Ring doorbells.

The 12-page case in Illinois contends that although Amazon touts the Ring doorbell as having a battery life of between six and 12 months, this amounts to only “a maximum duration, under minimal usage, in an ideal environment.” According to the complaint, most consumers will not get even two months of normal usage of their Ring doorbell from a full battery charge, due in part to common factors such as the number of motion triggers the device experiences in a typical day, weather and cloud storage via Wi-Fi. 

The suit goes on to stress that during the several hours in which the Ring doorbell must be unmounted in order to recharge, a consumer’s home is “vulnerable to the exact condition they purchased the Product to avoid,” namely being unable to see who is at or near their door. 

“Reasonable consumers must and do rely on a company to honestly identify and describe the components, attributes, and features of a product, relative to itself and other comparable products or alternatives,” the case says, alleging the value of the Ring doorbell is worth less than represented by Amazon. 

According to the complaint, the Ring doorbell at issue suffers from “accelerated battery depletion.” Amazon touts that the product, when fully charged, can endure 750 to 1,000 “events,” i.e., the use of the doorbell button, a motion trigger, or recording, live viewing or speaking through the camera, the case relays. Per the suit, “[r]eports” show that the average house may have up to 50 motion triggers per day, or 1,500 events in one month, and each event drains the Ring doorbell’s battery further by sending recorded data to cloud storage via Wi-Fi. 

Moreover, cold temperatures can affect the Ring doorbell’s battery life, as the battery’s ability to retain its charge will diminish at 36 degrees Fahrenheit, the filing says. At 32 degrees, the Ring doorbell will not charge, and the product “may and often does fail” at even lower temperatures, according to the case. 

Further still, the complaint says that a Ring doorbell will suffer from accelerated battery drainage even if a user has modified their settings to restrict motion triggers to no more than five events per day. 

With regard to the solar charger Amazon sells to charge the battery, the lawsuit alleges that the product is “defectively designed” and suffers from “high failure rates.” At any rate, the solar charger will not help a Ring doorbell maintain its battery charge any longer, the suit says. At the same time, removable batteries installed in the Ring doorbell will also fail to fix the accelerated drainage issue, the case alleges.

Lastly, the lawsuit claims that the push button on the Ring suffers from a “design flaw” that causes it to easily split. 

The lawsuit looks to represent consumers in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada, Rhode Island, North Dakota, Texas, New Hampshire, South Dakota and Oklahoma who’ve bought a Ring doorbell during the applicable statute of limitations period. 

Get class action lawsuit news sent to your inbox – sign up for ClassAction.org’s free weekly newsletter here.