Class Action Claims Billie Automatically Re-Upped Monthly Shaving Products Subscriptions Without Sharing Renewal Terms

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A proposed class action alleges Billie, Inc. has re-upped California residents’ monthly skincare and shaving products subscriptions without first making certain statutory disclosures or obtaining affirmative consent to do so. 

The 17-page lawsuit claims Billie has run afoul of California’s Automatic Renewal Law, enacted in 2010 with the intent of ending the practice of consumers being hit with ongoing credit or debit card charges without their explicit consent to receive ongoing shipments of a product or an ongoing service. 

Billie is alleged to have made automatic renewal or continuous service offers to California consumers without first presenting the terms of the offers in a “clear and conspicuous manner” and in visual proximity to the request for consent to the offer before the purchasing agreement has been fulfilled. The lawsuit further alleges Billie has both charged California consumers’ credit or debit cards without first obtaining affirmative consent to the agreement containing the terms of the automatic renewal offer and failed to provide an acknowledgment that includes the offer terms, cancellation policy, and easily retainable details on how to cancel the subscription. 

“As a result of such violations by Defendants, all goods, wares, merchandise, or products sent to Plaintiff and Class Members under the automatic renewal or continuous service agreements are deemed to be an unconditional gift pursuant to [the California Business & Professions Code],” the lawsuit claims. 

The case relays that the plaintiff signed up for the monthly delivery of a shaving razor starter kit and blades on Billie’s website in January 2021. After placing her order at a cost of $9.70, the plaintiff received an email from Billie that confirmed the order and indicated that her first delivery was being prepared, the suit says, stating the plaintiff has since January received the same products on a monthly basis. 

The lawsuit claims that because the terms of Billie’s automatically renewing service were not properly disclosed at the time she signed up, the plaintiff did not understand the frequency with which she would be charged $9.70 for the products. Upon realizing that she would be charged $9.70 each month, the plaintiff attempted to cancel her Billie subscription yet “was unable to do so as Billie does not provide adequate information regarding their online method of termination for its auto renewal or continuous service programs,” the lawsuit alleges.

“Plaintiff is currently being charged $9.700 [sic] per month by Defendant for services she does not wish to receive,” the suit says. 

The proposed class action was initially filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on July 26, 2021 before being removed to California’s Central District Court, Western Division, on August 27.

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