WASHINGTON, D.C. (NEXSTAR) — An online contact lens company will pay $3.5 million as part of a settlement agreement reached Friday to resolve allegations that the company violated the Fairness to Contact Lens Consumers Act and the FTC’s Contact Lens Rule.
According to court records, the government alleged that Hubble Contacts sold its products without taking the steps required to verify the subscriber’s contact lens prescription, improperly substituting Hubble’s own brand of contact lenses for those originally prescribed by consumers’ eye care practitioners and procuring what it falsely portrayed as independent consumer reviews of its products and services.
“Hubble’s business model boosted its bottom line but created needless risk for its customers’ eye health,” Director Samuel Levine of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection said. “Today’s action makes clear that firms will pay a price for deceiving their customers, flouting the Contact Lens Rule, and using misleading reviews.”
Vision Path Inc., the parent company of Hubble Contacts, will pay $1.5 million in civil penalties and $2 million in consumer redress.
The Court also ordered Hubble to refrain from altering prescriptions to change the brand prescribed, to verify the prescription for contact lens orders submitted without a written prescription, to cease other deceptive practices and to satisfy ongoing recordkeeping, certification and compliance obligations.