The FTC is now refunding people who bought Razer’s ridiculous Zephyr masks

If you let your gaming mind win and buy an N95 mask from Razer, a company best known for its keyboards and computer mice, you may be entitled to compensation — well, at least a refund. The Federal Trade Commission announced Monday I reached a settlement With the gaming hardware company allocating $1 million to compensate people who purchased the Razer Zephyr, the short-lived “N95” mask the company sold during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under the terms of the agreement, the F.T.C He said Checks and PayPal payments containing full refunds will be sent to 6,764 consumers who purchased the mask. According to the agency, consumers who purchase a Zephyr device will have 90 days to cash the check once they receive it or 30 days to accept payment via PayPal. The FTC will send payments based on records received from Razer and does not require consumers to file a claim.

Payment marks the end of a Surprisingly comprehensive The saga that saw the FTC crack down on Razer for wrongly marketing its Zephyr masks. The company first began offering the masks in 2021, claiming that the product is “FDA-registered and laboratory-tested to 99 percent BFE (bacteria filtration efficiency)” and provides “greater protection compared to standard disposable/cloth masks” thanks to “ replaceable”. N95 grade filters for maximum protection.

Turns out, not much. According to the FTC investigation, Razer never submitted the Zephyr masks to the FDA or the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health for testing, and they were never certified as N95 grade. Instead, the company conducted tests through an outside contractor, but even those results showed that the masks were inadequate. To qualify for the N95 grade, a mask must achieve 95% or more particle filtration efficiency. Third-party tests saw the Zephyr max reach 86.3% in an area with fans, and was “tested much less frequently.”

Despite knowing this, Razer decided to market the mask as the N95 anyway, which is a big no-no. The company sold the masks for a few months spanning the back half of 2021 and the beginning of 2022, for $100 each before recalling the product when it began to come under scrutiny.

While the company informed buyers after the fact that the Zephyr “is not a medical device and is not approved as an N95 mask,” it did not inform those buyers that refunds were available. As a result, the FTC found that fewer than 6% of Zephyr purchases received refunds, which it seeks to correct through this settlement. Better late than never.