Despite Settlement, JustAnswer.com Still Fails to Display Auto-Renewal Terms, Class Action Says

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A proposed class action alleges JustAnswer LLC has failed to comply with a 2022 settlement agreement stipulating that JustAnswer.com must display certain disclosures regarding membership costs and automatic subscription renewals, and has continued to automatically enroll consumers in subscriptions without their consent or knowledge. 

JustAnswer.com is a website on which users can ask “experts” to answer questions on a variety of topics, including medical, legal, tax, veterinary, computer and electrical matters, the 45-page case begins. According to the suit, JustAnswer was sued in 2020 after two consumers, who believed they would have to pay only a one-time fee to submit a single question to an “expert,” learned that they had been automatically enrolled in a costly monthly membership. 

The plaintiffs in that case alleged JustAnswer routinely enrolled consumers into automatically renewing membership programs without providing “clear and conspicuous” disclosures and obtaining affirmative consent, as required by California’s Automatic Renewal Law. The litigation resulted in a March 2022 settlement that required JustAnswer to make any necessary changes to its membership offer materials and practices in order to bring the site into compliance with California law, the complaint relays. 

The instant action alleges, however, that there is “still no mention of cost on the JustAnswer site.” When a user enters a question and clicks “Continue,” they’re taken to a payment page and required to pay between $1 to $5 for an answer, and “just as it was before the California settlement,” JustAnswer enrolls them in a more expensive membership, the case charges. 

According to the case, a JustAnswer user is not required to check a box to confirm that they’ve viewed the company’s terms of service, privacy policy or automatic renewal language prior to having a question answered by an “expert” since the box “has already been checked automatically.” The underlined terms of service hyperlink takes a user to another webpage displaying roughly 34 pages of terms, including a binding arbitration agreement, a class action waiver, and a disclaimer that JustAnswer does not “guarantee any particular level of expertise” from the purported “experts,” the filing adds. 

“Even if consumers were to click on the hyperlinked terms and conditions, they would be unlikely to see that Defendant’s term memberships automatically renews [sic] for ‘time periods (e.g., monthly, annually) set forth at the time of sign up,’” the complaint contends. “Defendant buried this information in dense text and is [sic] not clear and conspicuous disclosures as required by law.” 

Although the JustAnswer payment page states, in smaller print, “[u]nlimited conversations one-time $1 join fee and $46/month. Cancel anytime,” JustAnswer “goes out of its way” to avoid stating clearly that by clicking the blue box, a customer agrees to pay a $46-per-month membership fee, the case argues. Once a user submits their payment information and clicks the “Connect Now” button, they are automatically enrolled in a recurring monthly membership, the suit claims. 

“Plaintiff and class members believed they were paying anywhere between $1 to $5 to have their questions answered,” the lawsuit reads. “Instead, a user could be paying in some cases over $60.00 to have one question answered and then paying $60 every month thereafter whether or not they ask another question.” 

The case looks to cover all JustAnswer customers in the United States who were automatically enrolled into and charged for at least one month of a JustAnswer membership by the defendant at any time within the applicable statute of limitations period. 

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