Amazon Prime class-action lawsuit approved in Quebec

A package from Amazon Prime is loaded for delivery on May 9, 2017. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Mark Lennihan)

Amazon Prime customers in Quebec who didn’t get their packages on time are one step closer to getting some financial compensation.

A Superior Court judge has approved a class action lawsuit against the American online retail giant after a Quebec resident claimed the promised delivery times that came with his Prime subscription weren’t met.

The plaintiff, Jean Desnoyers, alleges that the late deliveries were the result of Amazon closing all its warehouses in Quebec in January 2025, and is seeking a refund for his Prime subscription or a discount.

He is also seeking punitive damages.

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The allegations in the request for authorization of the class action have not yet been tested in court.

In a judgment issued last Friday, Superior Court Justice Dominique Poulin agreed to allow the case to move forward.

Class members include all Quebec residents who were Amazon Prime subscribers between Jan. 22, 2025 and March 31, 2025, made a purchase on amazon.ca, and whose delivery time exceeded the promised one or two-day guarantee.

In the complaint, the plaintiff alleges Amazon knew it would be unable to fulfill its contractual obligations for deliveries and used “misleading representations” regarding the deadlines of eligible items for Prime deliveries.

Amazon decided on Jan. 22, 2025, to shutter all seven of its warehouses in Quebec and handle deliveries through local third-party delivery companies.

According to the judgment, Desnoyers signed up for Amazon Prime in 2022 based on guarantees of deliveries in one or two days on eligible items, but then “the Prime delivery service soon began to deteriorate shortly after these closures. Delivery times were not met, and orders were cancelled. On Jan. 29, 2025, he placed an order for a pack of razor blades — an eligible item — with delivery scheduled for the following day, Jan. 30. However, the delivery was made on Feb. 3, 2025."

The judge allowed Amazon to submit certain evidence about the plaintiff, including his order history showing that while some orders were delivered several days late, others arrived within the Prime deadline.

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The “majority” of his orders came on time, with a “low” number being delivered late.

The plaintiff, meanwhile, also submitted evidence from news articles and social media posts about late deliveries after the warehouses closed.

Based on the evidence presented so far, the judge wrote that the plaintiff’s case has merit, and the facts are “sufficient to suggest that Amazon was not fully able to deliver within the promised timeframes during the weeks following the closure of its warehouses.”

The judge will have to decide whether or not Amazon’s actions violated Quebec’s Consumer Protection Act and the Quebec Civil Code, and if it can be held liable.

The Montreal law firm Slater Vecchio LLP is representing the plaintiff.