“The Razer Zephyr is designed to provide the community with a different and innovative face covering option,” the company said at the time. “The FTC's claims against Razer related to limited portions of some statements regarding the Zephyr. More than two years ago, Razer proactively notified customers that the Zephyr was not an N95 mask, stopped sales and refunded customers.”
FTC: Only 6 percent of US purchases were refunded
The FTC lawsuit casts doubt on the prior availability of refunds and says Razer “allegedly implemented” a refund policy. Razer has refunded less than 6 percent of Zephyr purchases in the U.S., the FTC said.
“Although Defendants claim to have implemented a policy to fully refund consumers concerned about the filters on January 9, 2022, Defendants did not promote that policy in their January emails to consumers or on their website,” the lawsuit said. FTC.
That's a reference to a Razer email sent to mask buyers, which acknowledges that the mask “is not a medical device nor is it certified as an N95 mask.” The FTC said Razer's email to consumers “did not invite or otherwise indicate that consumers who thought they were purchasing an N95 mask when they purchased the Zephyr could request a refund from Razer.”
Razer customers seeking refunds encountered several types of issues, the FTC said. Some “were told they could not receive a refund because they were outside Razer's standard 14-day return policy,” while others “were told they could not receive a full refund because they had used the disposable filters that came with the Zephyr when they purchased the Zephyr in October 2022 or because the Zephyr was no longer sealed and unused,” the lawsuit states.
“Numerous customers were deterred or confused about their ability to obtain a full refund due to representations by Defendants' customer service representatives that they were not eligible for a full refund,” the lawsuit said.
We've reached out to Razer today and will update this article if it provides further comment.
