Spotify is facing a class-action lawsuit over its recent decision to kill the short-lived 'Car Thing' device, filed by angry consumers who say the streaming company's move left them with “nothing more than a piece of paper that costs between $50 and $100 ».
The case came just days after Spotify announced that the Car Thing – a device launched in 2021 to play music in a car but discontinued just a year later – would become completely unusable in December. Spotify has not offered refunds or exchange options.
In a complaint filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court, lawyers for the desperate customers accused Spotify of violating state and federal laws by essentially tricking their customers into buying a “junk product.”
“If plaintiffs and other class members had known that Spotify was building Car Thing with the ability to brick the product at any point after it was introduced to the market and at Spotify's sole discretion, they would not have purchased a Car Thing.” or they would buy paid significantly less for them,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit was filed by three Car Thing buyers — Hamza Mazumder, Anthony Bracarello and Luke Martin — but aims to represent thousands of other consumers who experienced “the forced obsolescence of their purchase.”
Spotify announced Car Thing in April 2021, saying it would provide users with a “seamless and personalized listening experience in the car.” The product—a touchscreen with a physical dial that still requires smartphone access—launches in February 2022 for $89.99. But just months later, Spotify said it would stop production, telling investors they “honestly haven't seen the volume at the higher prices that would make the current product financially viable.”
Last week, Spotify notified users last week that it would stop supporting the devices. Then this week, the company confirmed that the move, which will take effect on December 9, will render the devices completely inactive. The company told users that it “does not offer any exchange options” and urged them to consider “safely disposing of your device in accordance with local e-waste guidelines.”
“The goal of our Car Thing US exploration was to learn more about how people listen in the car,” Spotify said in a statement. “In July 2022, we announced that we will stop further production and now it is time to say goodbye to the devices completely. Users will have until December 9, 2024 until all Car Thing devices are disabled.”
In the new lawsuit, Spotify customers say they couldn't have expected the company to shut down the devices just a few years after buying them. “The decision to do this 'unilaterally and without recourse' has left buyers with nothing more than a piece of paper that costs between $50 and $100.”
“Plaintiffs and class members would not have purchased a Car Thing had they known that Spotify would stop supporting the product within just a few months or years of purchase,” the users' lawyers wrote.
In technical terms, the lawsuit includes allegations that Spotify violated consumer protection and false advertising laws in New York, Florida and Pennsylvania, as well as the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and various other forms of civil wrongdoing.
A spokesperson for Spotify did not immediately return a request for comment on the lawsuit's allegations.
Read the full complaint here:
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/pro/spotify-class-action-lawsuit-car-thing-deactivation-full-complaint/
