(NEXSTAR) – Grocery delivery company Instacart has agreed to pay $60 million in refunds to customers who were affected by its alleged “deceptive tactics” to obscure delivery and membership fees, according to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. The FTC announced the settlement last week in a pr ess release alleging that Instacart “engaged in numerous unlawful tactics that harmed shoppers and raised the cost of grocery shopping for Americans.” Specifically, Instacart had been accused of advertising “free delivery” despite charging a service fee for delivery, which itself was “not clearly disclosed” to customers, the FTC said. This fee could tack on as much as 15% to a delivery, according to the agency. Instacart had allegedly also advertised a free-enrollment process for its Instacart+ service, but “did not adequately disclose” that Instacart+ is a paid subscription service. In addition, the FTC’s announcement included further allegations that Instacart made it difficult for customers to obtain refunds on orders if they were not “100%” satisfied with their order. In some cases, the FTC said Instacart made it harder to report issues with their orders, leading customers to settle for smaller credits toward future purchases instead. Gold, silver prices hit new highs as investors seek safe-haven assets “Instacart misled consumers by advertising free delivery services—and then charging consumers to have groceries delivered — and failing to disclose to consumers that signed up for a free trial that they would be automatically enrolled into its subscription program,” said Christopher Mufarrige, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, in the press release. “The FTC is focused on monitoring online delivery services to ensure that competitors are transparently competing on price and delivery terms.” A representative for Instacart was not immediately available to disclose how the company would be identifying eligible customers, or how the payments would potentially be processed. “Instacart is proud to offer a transparent, affordable and consumer-friendly service. We provide straightforward marketing, transparent pricing and fees, clear terms, easy cancellation and generous refund policies – all in full compliance with the law and exceeding industry norms,” the company said in a statement provided to the Associated Press. Customers, meanwhile, may be able to find updates on Instacart’s progress at the FTC’s refunds process page. Powerball jackpot hits $1.6B: The only states where you’d actually get $1B Earlier this month, Instacart had also come under scrutiny for another reason: The San Francisco-based company was accused of charging some customers more than others for the exact same items as part of a pricing experiment. The allegations stem from a study conducted by Consumer Reports, an advocacy group known as Groundwork Collaborative, and the non-profit news organization More Perfect Union. The findings reportedly suggested that Instacart’s grocery delivery app displayed different prices for different customers purchasing identical items. In some cases, the prices differed by as much as 23%, the report said. Calling the price differences “negligible,” Instacart has hit back at the allegations while stopping short of denying the reports’ findings outright. In a company blog post published after the reports came out, Instacart admitted to facilitating randomized “online pricing tests” with a “subset” of 10 retail partners. The company suggested that the tests were part of its plan to “[double down] on affordability” and “make services like Instacart accessible to more consumers.” Instacart also claimed that during testing, “prices never change in real-time, including in response to supply and demand.” The company likened its testing to pricing experiments that a grocery retailer might conduct in-store. Nexstar’s Alex Baker contributed to this report. ...read more read less