SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) – The San Francisco District Attorney’s Office on Tuesday announced a settlement with online repository of home service providers Angi, formerly called Angie’s List, over a lawsuit accusing the website of falsely advertising the scope of its background checks.
Angi will repay 50 percent of new member subscription fees to customers who subscribed to them while the website ran the allegedly misleading ads claiming they ran background checks on all workers who entered users’ homes when they only ran checks on owners, relevant managers, and principals of businesses on their website.
The payout is estimated to be $225,000 for the ads, which ran from June 23, 2016, to Feb. 8, 2017.
Angi also agreed to enter a permanent injunction aimed at preventing it from misleading customers about background checks, and will pay $50,000 in civil penalties for unlawful practices, prosecutors said.
“This settlement protects consumers who make important safety decisions about whom to allow into their homes,” District Attorney Chesa Boudin said in a news release. “Rather than providing accurate information so that consumers can make educated decisions about whom to trust, Angie’s List’s advertising misled consumers. I commend the hard work of our attorneys in bringing about this settlement to protect San Franciscans from further deception.”
Angi was not immediately available for comment on the settlement.