Instacart will refund $60 million to settle US FTC allegations

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Grocery delivery giant Instacart has agreed to hand over $60 million in refunds to settle allegations from the US Federal Trade Commission. 

The FTC says the company spent years dazzling customers with shiny promises, like “free delivery” and a “100% satisfaction guarantee,” that didn’t quite survive contact with the checkout screen.

According to federal regulators, Instacart’s idea of “free delivery” came with a small catch: a mandatory service fee that could quietly balloon to as much as 15% of your total order. 

Then there was the “100% satisfaction guarantee,” which sounded comforting until something went wrong. 

Late groceries? A frazzled delivery experience? 

The FTC says customers often didn’t get full refunds, despite the guarantee implying that total happiness, or at least total reimbursement, was part of the deal.

To make matters messier, regulators claim Instacart didn’t exactly roll out the red carpet for refunds. 

The refund option was allegedly buried in the self-service menu, nudging customers toward accepting credits for future orders instead of real money back. 

If that felt intentional, the FTC says you weren’t imagining it.

Instacart’s subscription service, Instacart+, also came under fire. 

The agency says the free trial sign-up process failed to clearly explain that customers would be charged once the trial ended, resulting in surprise charges that, according to the settlement, will now be refunded.

“The FTC is focused on monitoring online delivery services,” said Christopher Mufarrige, noting the agency’s goal of making sure companies compete transparently on price and terms.

Instacart, for its part, acknowledged the settlement in a blog post while firmly denying any wrongdoing, calling the FTC’s case “fundamentally flawed.”

All of this arrives as Instacart faces fresh scrutiny over a study suggesting its AI-powered pricing tool may show different prices to different customers for the same items. 

Instacart says retailers set prices, and any AI tests are random, not personal. Still, Reuters reports the FTC has already opened a new investigation.