The FTC has ordered Razer to pay over $1.1 million in refunds to those who purchased the Razer Zephyr RGB mask which was supposedly "N95-grade". It wasn't.
First reported by IGN, The Federal Trade Commission has said that the $1.1 million total must be returned to users due to its misrepresentation of the Razer Zephyr mask. The company claimed its face masks were N95-grade (which are commonly found in surgical applications) but no such official certification was ever passed, and the company changed the fine print on its website to reflect that back in 2022.
FTC Director of Bureau of Consumer Protection Sam Levine said: "These businesses falsely claimed, in the midst of a global pandemic, that their face mask was the equivalent of an N95 certified respirator" and that Razer only "stopped the false advertising following negative press coverage and consumer outrage at the deceptive claims". Scathing words indeed.
The Razer Zephyr was available for $100, which means that roughly 11,000 consumers are owed their money back for the purchase of the ill-fated COVID-era face mask. It was available in the US online and through its three physical stores as well as the country's native Singapore while supposedly selling out almost instantly.
While the filters were not the grade promised, you did get a fair amount of them in the box. The starter pack included 30 filters which would last you around three days apiece, so you would be covered for 90 days before needing to invest in filter packs for $10 a pop, but by that point, the product was quietly pulled from stores. Any mention of the Razer Zephyr has been scrubbed on its website.
When contacted by TechRadar for comment, Razer told us: "We disagree with the FTC’s allegations and did not admit to any wrongdoing as part of the settlement. It was never our intention to mislead anyone, and we chose to settle this matter to avoid the distraction and disruption of litigation and continue our focus on creating great products for gamers. Razer cares deeply about our community and is always looking to deliver technology in new and relevant ways."
"The Razer Zephyr was conceived to offer a different and innovative face-covering option for the community," the Razer spokesperson continued. "The FTC’s claims against Razer concerned limited portions of some of the statements relating to the Zephyr. More than two years ago, Razer proactively notified customers that the Zephyr was not an N95 mask, stopped sales, and refunded customers."
The mask was originally announced at CES 2021 as a proof of concept known as Project Hazel before it was made official to the world to purchase later that year. While it didn't feature an N95 respiration system, it did have RGB lighting and swappable filters. A Zephyr Pro, complete with voice modulation, was announced a year later but never materialized.
