‘Unlawful Wiretapping’: Class Action Claims Mattress Firm Allows AI Service to Secretly Record Customer Service Calls

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A proposed class action out of California alleges Mattress Firm secretly employs a third-party service to “eavesdrop upon and record” the phone conversations of those who call its customer service line.

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The 14-page case contends that when a customer calls Mattress Firm’s phone line to file a warranty claim, request product information or receive other forms of support, their conversation with the company’s contact center agents is simultaneously monitored, recorded and analyzed by AI-powered software called NICE CXone.

According to the lawsuit, Mattress Firm has violated California’s Invasion of Privacy Act by allowing the software developer, technology company NICE, to intercept residents’ conversations without their knowledge or permission.

The filing specifies that Mattress Firm uses CXone Quality Management to assess and improve the quality of contact center agents’ telephone exchanges with customers. The defendant also uses CXone Interactive Voice Response (IVR) to provide callers with an automated phone menu they can interact with, the suit says.

“When NICE uses the CXone Services on a phone conversation, it is not like a tape recorder or a ‘tool’ used by one party to record the other,” the complaint shares. “Instead, NICE—a separate and distinct third-party entity from the parties to the conversation—uses the CXone Services to eavesdrop upon, record, extract data from, and analyze a conversation to which they are not a party.”

What’s more, the NICE CXone privacy policy reveals that the tech company “collects, uses, and discloses” personal data gathered during these phone interactions to market and improve its services, the case contends.

The plaintiff, a California resident, says she reasonably expected that her phone conversations with Mattress Firm in March 2023 would be private. Per the filing, the defendant never informed the woman that NICE was listening to, recording and evaluating her interactions with its IVR system or call center agents.

“Mattress Firm therefore failed to procure [the plaintiff’s] consent for the conduct at issue,” the case says, accusing the retailer of enabling “unlawful wiretapping.”

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone in California who called Mattress Firm’s customer service line while in the state and whose conversations were intercepted and recorded by NICE.

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