A class-action lawsuit has been brought against Noom accusing the popular weight-loss program of a faulty cancellation and auto-renewal policy. Class Members constitute people who bought the auto-renewing subscription through a mobile app or the company’s website between 12th May 2016 and 6th October 2020 while in the United States but did not receive any chargeback or full refund on their subscription payments. Class members who bought Noom subscriptions through Google Play or Apple iTunes stores cannot claim any benefit under this class action settlement.
Noom offers a unique combination of psychology, technology, and human coaching to help people lose weight. Plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit have accused the company of violating both common and consumer protection laws worldwide by improperly disclosing the subscription autorenewal terms of the Noom Healthy Weight program and by not offering a simple way of canceling the subscription online. Though Noom has not admitted to any wrongdoing and has maintained its standpoint on the cancellation and autorenewal practices of being lawful at all times, it has also agreed to honor the claims of plaintiffs in this class action settlement.
The money collected will go into a “Settlement Fund” to finance all the related settlement expenses. Class members can avail of this fund and subscription fee credits by timely submission of a valid claim form. The remaining amount will be used to pay the lawyer’s fees, costs incurred on notifying people about the settlement, grant awards to Class representatives who brought about the lawsuit, and also take care of certain taxes. Noom has also agreed to alter its business practice for two years in the below-mentioned areas:
- Update the pre-purchase enrollment process so that customers ticking a box offering their explicit consent will be automatically enrolled into a Healthy Weight Subscription plan on completion of the trial period.
- Update its pre-purchase disclosures for providing more explicit instructions on the subscription and cancellation policies.
- Notify Healthy Weight users of subscription charges by sending electronic receipts.
- Update its website to help users easily find the place to cancel.
- Turn off autorenewal for users in the Class who have stopped activity in the app for the first twelve months following completion of the trial period.
- Send a reminder email to the users of Healthy Weight before the first autorenewal charge for subscriptions having an initial term of at least 3 months.
Although Noom doesn’t believe that it is under a legal obligation of making these changes, it is doing so for improving user experience and to honor the terms of the settlement. Class members having a Healthy Weight subscription on redeeming the free month will receive an additional month’s subscription. Class members who did not subscribe to the auto-renewing program when the credit is redeemed will receive a promo code or voucher valid for a single month of a non-automatically renewing subscription. The credit will expire if it isn’t redeemed within one year from the date of its issuance. On exhaustion of the credits, the Settlement Administrator will notify Subclass B members submitting a valid claim form and requesting a subscription fee credit that the credits have been exhausted. A notice about this settlement will be sent to Class Members via Facebook, email, or Instagram.
Class Members who think they qualify for this settlement but did not receive a notice can either call 1-844-999-2466 or visit the settlement website. Certain users have been excluded from the terms of this settlement as they are related to the lawyers or judges in the case or work for Noom. You can find the list of the categories of people excluded from the same in the Settlement Agreement. The deadline for Class Members to object to or exclude themselves from this settlement is 24th June 2022.
Eligibility For Making Claim: Class Members include individuals who bought the auto-renewing Noom Healthy Weight subscription while in the United States between 12th May 2016 and 6th October 2020 but did not receive a chargeback or full refund on their subscription payments. For this settlement, all class action members have been divided into two subclasses where Subclass A constitutes Class Members who were charged despite never completing their Noom enrolment, enrolled but there is proof suggesting that they never used Noom post-trial, there is proof that they used Noom during the trial but not after a subscription charge was levied, there is proof suggesting they used Noom either for or less than two times following the trial, there is proof hinting they ceased using Noom 58 days following the subscription and proof suggests they stopped using Noom after that, they were in receipt of a partial refund for the payments made towards Healthy Weight Subscription or were a resident of California while signing up for the Healthy Weight subscription. Class members who do not fall under this description belong to Subclass B.
Settlement Website: NoomClassSettlement.com
Proof Of Purchase: Not required.
Potential Claim Amount: The potential claim amount is expected to vary between $30 to $167. Subclass A members are eligible to receive payments of up to $167 whereas Subclass B members can $30 excluding any subscription fee credits. These amounts are averages and the actual payment amount might vary significantly. The actual payment amount will be determined by various factors including the legal strength of the user’s claim as per the judge and lawyers, the number of subscription payments made, and the number of claims submitted. Subclass B members can also choose one free month of Noom’s Healthy Weight product without a reduction in their cash award. However, only the first 100000 Subclass B members filing a valid claim form will be eligible for this free month.
Claim Form: Submit Claim
Deadline For Submitting Claim: 6/24/2022
Final Hearing Date: 07/11/2022
Settlement Amount: According to the settlement terms, Noom will pay $56 million and another $6 million in the subscription fee credits.