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Verizon sued by Pennsylvania over Amazon Echo promotional deal

Verizon sued by Pennsylvania over Amazon Echo promotional deal

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State attorney general brought suit

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Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg
Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg
Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Verizon is facing a lawsuit from the Pennsylvania attorney general, after customers accused the company of failing to let them redeem a promotional offer for a free Amazon Echo.

According to the suit, which was brought against the company this week by Attorney General Josh Shapiro, the company offered prospective customers a free Echo, and in some cases an Amazon Prime membership, if they signed up for a two-year contract.

Offered Echo as part of a two-year contract deal

Verizon sent an email to customers where they could redeem the offer after signing into a Verizon account, but after logging in, they weren’t redirected to a site where they could then claim the promotion, according to the complaint. Customers, in some cases, allegedly couldn’t redeem the offer for more than a month after the company was notified. In the meantime, according to the complaint, the company continued to promote the deal.

The attorney general says the company’s actions are a violation of consumer protection law, and is asking a court to order a monetary penalty against Verizon.

In a statement, a Verizon spokesperson said they have fixed the issue for the customers who were affected. “We are frankly surprised by the lawsuit,” the spokesperson said. “We’ve been engaged in a productive dialogue with the Attorney General’s office. We had a few technical issues with this promotion, but we have worked hard to address all the issues that we know about. Lawsuit or no lawsuit, we will do right by our customers.”