An Internet services company agreed to pay $1.2 million and change its sales practices to settle a civil lawsuit alleging the firm automatically renewed subscriptions in violation of state law.
Members of the California Auto Renewal Task Force found that the Hollywood-based firm j2 Global Inc. failed to disclose to its customers that their fax service subscriptions would be automatically renewed after a trial period, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Under California law, online businesses must clearly and conspicuously disclose all automatic renewal charges and terms and get affirmative consent of those recurring charges from the consumer.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Daniel S. Murphy approved the settlement Monday.
Prosecutors alleged the violations occurred between April 2012 and November 2016 and involved services sold by j2 Global that allow people to send, receive and store faxes without a fax machine. Those products include eFax, MyFax and MetroFax.
The $1.2 million accord includes $585,000 in restitution, plus penalties and administrative costs. Under the settlement, the company is required to notify consumers who are eligible for restitution.
The settlement also requires j2 Global to clearly and conspicuously disclose its automatic-renewal terms; obtain consumers’ affirmative consent to the terms through a separate checkbox before charging for an automatic renewal or continuous service; and email consumers a confirmation of the transaction after they pay that clearly includes the automatic-renewal terms.
The requirements apply to all of j2 Global’s products and services.
The task force, known as CART, investigates businesses to look for violations of California and federal statutes regulating automatic renewal contracts. The other members of CART are the Santa Monica City Attorney’s Office and the Santa Clara County, San Diego County and Santa Cruz County district attorney’s offices.