Life Alert Loses Legal Battle with New York State

Life Alert have been engaged in a prolonged legal battle with New York State, and the case has finally come to a close. The final agreement would allow more than 5,500 New York residents to cancel their Life Alert services prematurely without having to pay any extra penalties for that. The case largely revolved around certain points of consumer law, more specifically those that dictate the kinds of options a customer should be provided with for canceling services they have entered into a contract for.

The situation had already received noticeable media attention, with many outrageous reports detailing how customers were unable to break out of lengthy contracts, sometimes spanning up to three years, without making hefty additional payments.

According to the final ruling, Life Alert now has an obligation to work with its customers to address their concerns, and the company is currently in the process of sending out notifications to current customers in New York within their first 36 months of their contracts. Among those, customers who have never requested contract cancellations will be notified of their right to cancel their services immediately at no additional cost. The company is additionally working to provide refunds for services paid recently, covering a period of up to 24 months.

Many have compared Life Alert’s services to competing companies in the sector, pointing out that Life Alert stood out with their practices of signing people up for long-term contracts without discussing shorter options first. The company will likely have to introduce significant changes to their operations in the future to comply with the recent ruling.