Frey Brothers’ ‘Free’ Trials Come with Paid Subscription Plan, Class Action Alleges

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Frey Brothers, Inc. has been hit with a proposed class action over its apparent use of a certain type of marketing tactic to deceive consumers into signing up for its laundry and personal care subscription. 

Central to the 21-page complaint is “negative option marketing,” a business tactic whereby a company may take a consumer’s silence on, or “non-rejection” of, a goods or services offer as acceptance of a subscription contract. The term “negative option,” the case says, comes from the fact that a consumer must affirmatively opt out, or exercise a “negative option,” in order to leave a particular subscription plan. 

According to the lawsuit, consumers who sign up for a purportedly free trial of Frey Brothers’ laundry or personal care products, for which they’re required to provide a credit card number and pay $1 for shipping, are unwittingly enrolled in an automatically renewing subscription plan. 

“After telling consumers over and over [through the order process] they can try Frey for ‘free’ by paying a nominal shipping fee, most consumers will not pay close attention to the small box in the lower right corner of the checkout page which states, ‘Your Upcoming Subscription,’ which ‘Ships in 18 Days and charges $49 ‘Every 10 Weeks.’”

The filing says that the “sample bundles” are only disclosed to consumers as being part of a subscription on a separate “frequently asked questions” page, “buried through the ‘Contact Us’ link at the bottom of the website.” The disclosure is made by Frey Brothers as the answer to the question “Why was I charged after ordering a sample bundle?,” the suit states.

The case alleges Frey Brothers also enrolls free-trial customers via its text messaging program when they check the box next to “[s]end me special offers through text” on the checkout page.

The suit further charges that Frey Brothers’ promises of customer satisfaction and easy cancellation are deceptive, belied by reams of complaints online from consumers who share “common grievances” about being unknowingly enrolled into a subscription. 

“Had Plaintiff and proposed class members known the truth about the trials, they would not have signed up nor given their credit card information and would have tried – though likely without success – to cancel their subscriptions before they were charged more than the initial dollar,” the case reads. 

The suit looks to represent consumers in California, Connecticut, Kansas, Arkansas, Wyoming, North Dakota, Virginia, New Mexico and Utah who bought a Frey Brothers laundry and/or personal and home care products subscription during the applicable statute of limitations period.

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