Santa Rosa, CA – May 16, 2018 – District
Attorney Jill Ravitch announced today that her office, along with the District
Attorneys of Alameda, San Diego and San Francisco Counties, have settled a
consumer protection action against Dropbox, Inc., a company that provides
file-sharing and other services over the internet. The civil action was filed in Alameda County
Superior Court.
According
to the complaint, Dropbox offered paid services known as “Dropbox Pro” and
“Dropbox for Business.” Both services were available on an “automatic renewal”
basis, that is, the subscription renewed without further action on the part of
the customer, until cancellation. The
complaint alleges that Dropbox violated California’s Automatic Renewal Law with
respect to “Dropbox Pro” by failing to display the automatic renewal terms in
the manner required by law and by failing to get the consumer’s affirmative
consent to the agreement containing those terms. As for “Dropbox for Business,”
the Complaint alleges that the company failed to sufficiently advise consumers
the service was intended only for organizations or businesses, not consumers
using it for personal, family or household reasons (without, alternatively,
complying with the Automatic Renewal Law).
“My
office is committed to ensuring that California’s consumer protection laws are
followed, including laws intended to protect consumers who enroll in automatic
renewal contracts,” says District Attorney Jill Ravitch.
Under
the terms of the court-approved judgment, $450,000 has been set aside to
administer and fund restitution to qualifying California consumers. You may be an eligible consumer if, while
residing in California either (i) you purchased “Dropbox Pro” between February
24, 2013 and August 1, 2014, and did not use the service more than 30 days
after first paying for it; or (ii) you purchased “Dropbox for Business” for
personal, family or household reasons (that is, not for a business or
organization) and did not use the service more than 30 days after paying for
it. Other conditions also apply to
refund eligibility.
Consumers
who believe they are entitled to restitution should call 1(866) 670-3373 and/or visit the following website: www.DropboxRestitution.com.
The restitution fund remains available for a period of one year.
In addition to the restitution program, without
admitting liability Dropbox agreed to pay $1.6 million in civil penalties and
$100,000 to reimburse the costs of investigation. Dropbox cooperated fully in
the investigation and, as part of the settlement, agreed to make changes to its
website.
###