The Federal Trade Commission said 160,000 customers will be provided a small payment after an Ohio-based company allegedly misled them about the price of corrective eye surgery.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, LasikPlus advertised that customers could get their vision corrected for $300. In reality, only a small percentage of customers were eligible for the promotion.
To be eligible for corrective eye surgery at the $300 price, patients would need to have near-normal vision and good enough vision to drive without corrective lenses. The FTC said the company typically quoted a price between $1,800 and $2,295 per eye.
The FTC also accused the company of not stipulating that the $300 price was per eye.
The advertisements purporting $300 procedures ran from 2015 through 2020 on television, radio and online.
Americans lost record $10 billion to fraud in 2023
U.S. consumers lost the most money to investment scams — over $4.6 billion — than any other type of fraud in 2023.
As part of the settlement between the government and LasikPlus, nearly 160,000 customers will split a $1.25 million payment. The settlement also involves customers of LasikPlus' Joffe MediCenter. The average payment will work out to be about $8.
Most consumers will be notified of the settlement via email. A few thousand people will get a letter in the mail informing them of the settlement.
The FTC said consumers did not learn the actual price of the surgery until they had spent "considerable time and effort undergoing lengthy full-dilation eye exams and in-person consultations."
Customers who believe they were impacted can go to the FTC website to file a claim to get a share of the refund through May 20.
