FTC Now Refunds People Who Bought Razer’s Zephyr Masks

If you let your brain get the better of you and buy an N95 mask from Razer, the company best known for its computer keyboards and mice, then you may be entitled to compensation, a refund. The Federal Trade Commission announced on Monday that came to a standstill is a gaming equipment company that will set aside $1 million to refund people who bought the Razer Zephyr, a temporary “N95” mask that was sold by the company during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under the agreement, the FTC he said sends checks and PayPal funds containing full refunds to the 6,764 buyers who purchased the mask. According to the agency, buyers who purchased Zephyr will have 90 days to receive a check or 30 days to approve their PayPal payment. The FTC will be sending payments based on the documents received from Razer and will not require consumers to pay any interest.

Payment represents the end of a surprisingly A saga that saw the FTC crack down on Razer for falsely advertising its Zephyr masks. The company began offering masks in 2021, saying that the product was “registered by the FDA and tested in a lab for 99 percent BFE (Bacteria Filtration Efficiency)” and offered “greater protection compared to disposable/cloth masks” due to its “reversibility”. High protection N95 type filters. “

Turns out, not so much. According to the FTC’s investigation, Razer has never submitted Zephyr masks to the FDA or the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health for testing, and they have not been certified as N95 class. Instead, the company tested through a third-party contractor, but the results showed that the masks were in short supply. To qualify for the N95 class, the mask must achieve 95% or better filtration efficiency. A third-party test saw the Zephyr max at 86.3% in the fan zone, and is “typically the lowest rated.”

Despite knowing this, Razer decided to market the mask as the N95, which is pretty cool. The company sold the masks for several months from the latter half of 2021 and early 2022, charging $100 a pop before pulling the plug on the investigation.

Although the company later notified consumers that the Zephyr “is not a medical device or certified as an N95 mask,” it did not inform consumers that a refund was available. As a result, the FTC found less than 6% of Zephyr purchases received their money back—something it plans to fix with this settlement. It’s better late than never.