The Santa Barbara District Attorney’s office, as part of the California Automatic Renewal Task Force (CART), has reached a $7.5 million settlement in a consumer protection lawsuit against HelloFresh, the world’s largest meal kit delivery company.
The civil complaint, filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court, alleged violations of California’s Automatic Renewal law for deceptively enrolling consumers into auto-renewing subscription plans without proper disclosure or consent, said Santa Barbara County District Attorney John Savrnoch.
The civil complaint alleged that HelloFresh did not clearly and conspicuously disclose the required subscription terms before enrolling consumers in automatic renewal product subscriptions; obtain consumers’ affirmative consent, provide consumers with the proper post-purchase acknowledgement, or offer an easy-to-use mechanism for cancellation.
The meal kit delivery company also failed to disclose the material terms and conditions of advertised free meals, surprise gifts, and free shipping offers, among other false and misleading advertising allegations.
These actions are violations of California’s Automatic Renewal Law and False Advertising Law. The Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s office enforces these laws as a member of CART, along with the District Attorney’s offices of Santa Clara County, Los Angeles County, San Diego County, and Santa Cruz County, and the Santa Monica City Attorney’s Office.
As part of the settlement, HelloFresh will pay $6.38 million in civil penalties, $120,000 in investigative costs, and $1 million in restitution to eligible California consumers. Eligible California consumers include those who were:
1) Enrolled in an automatic renewal product subscription between Jan. 1, 2019, and Aug. 18, 2025; 2) were charged for the first shipment without their knowledge or consent; 3) cancelled their automatic renewal product subscription after the first shipment; and 4) never received a refund from HelloFresh.
Notices will be sent to eligible consumers by a third-party claims administrator.
The Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office will receive $1,063,334 of the $6.38 million in civil penalties that will be used to support future enforcement of consumer protection laws.
Savrnoch thanked the CART team, and in particular the Santa Clara and Los Angeles County District Attorney’s offices who led the case, as well as Senior Deputy District Attorneys Christopher Dalbey and Morgan Lucas for their work
“The Automatic Renewal Laws exist to ensure that consumers are not deceived when making everyday purchases for items like meal kits,” Savrnoch said. “Cases like these demonstrate that even the largest companies will be held accountable when they violate consumer protection laws.”