Thistle Health Fails to Provide Details for Automatic Meal Kit Subscription Renewals, Class Action Claims

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A proposed class action claims Thistle Health Inc. has failed to make certain disclosures required under California law before automatically renewing consumers’ meal kit subscriptions.

The 35-page lawsuit alleges Thistle, which sells meal kit subscriptions on Thistle.co, has violated several provisions of California’s Automatic Renewal Law (ARL). The case contends that Thistle unlawfully charges consumers’ credit and debit cards without disclosing its automatic renewal terms in a “clear and conspicuous” manner, and thus fails to receive consumers’ affirmative consent to continue the service. 

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Rather than display the automatic renewal terms in “bold, highlighted, all-capitalized, or different-colored text,” or in a “call out” box, to draw attention to the terms as required by the ARL, Thistle makes the disclosures “deliberately difficult to read” in small font at the bottom of the checkout screen, the lawsuit says.

The filing argues that before consumers make a purchase, Thistle does not adequately reveal that the service will continue until canceled. Additionally, the company fails to clearly describe the length of the automatic renewal term, the number of recurring charges that customers will incur and the minimum purchase obligation, the suit alleges.

Per the complaint, Thistle has failed to provide an “ARL-compliant retainable acknowledgment,” such as an email, that explains the terms of the automatic renewal offer, its cancellation policy, and information about how to cancel its services. 

The plaintiff, a California resident, claims that after he purchased a $66.45 meal kit in July 2022, Thistle charged him another $88.95 the next month without first providing information on how to cancel the subscription.

Under the ARL, a company must provide a means for a consumer to cancel their subscription by using a “cost-effective, timely, and easy-to-use mechanism for cancellation,” the case relays. However, the filing says that Thistle failed to offer an online method of termination, either in the form of a direct link or button or by an immediately accessible termination email that contains no additional information.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone in California who purchased a product or service from Thistle as part of an automatic renewal plan or continuous service offer within the last four years.

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