class action, revisited

[beaky]

I dimly recall an earlier thread about receiving notice of rights to part of a settlement from a mfr. or service provider... seems Netfix has extended the deadline in the case I mentioned. An excerpt:


This settlement arises from a class action lawsuit entitled Chavez v. Netflix, Inc. that was filed in San Francisco Superior Court (case number CGC-04-434884) on September 23, 2004. The lawsuit alleges that Netflix failed to provide "unlimited" DVD rentals and "one day delivery" as promised in its marketing materials. Netflix has denied any wrongdoing or liability. The parties have reached, and the Court has approved, a settlement that they believe is in the best interests of the Class Members. Under the terms of the amended settlement, Netflix will provide eligible subscribers with the benefit described below.

   Current Netflix Members: If you enrolled in a paid membership before January 15, 2005 and were a member as of October 19, 2005, you are eligible to receive a free one-month upgrade in service level. For example, if you are on the 3 DVDs at-a-time program, you will be upgraded to the 4 DVDs at-a-time program for one month. There will be no price increase during the upgraded month. The upgrade in service level will automatically end after one month and your subscription will return to the previous service level, unless you choose to continue at the higher service level and pay the regular subscription rate for that level after the upgraded month.

So, you see, the "offending" party is sometimes required to spread the word to their customers...
Much as I think this Chavez person was just being clever to try to grab some money, I might take a one-month upgrade... what the hell, they're offering. In the end, they can show this whole thing as a big fat loss for tax purposes.
I'm personally very happy with Netflix, at least as compared to the old way (standing on line with that stupid empty box, lousy selection, one out of three dics guaranteed to be scratched badly, racing to the rental store to return the movie and avoid the Mafia-style late fees, etc., etc.).
They're very rarely late (and that's more likely the USPS's fault), I've only had to return one disc due to damage, they're very lenient about lost discs, they get the new releases just ahead of the competition, and the selection is incredible.

[Scorpiоn]

I liked Netflix, personally I disliked their shipping though.  It took 2-3 days, and they didn't ship weekends, ensuring only one volley of movies a week.

I doubt this Chavez guy was just grabbing some cash.  Most companies do questionable stuff, but most people are willing to put up with it, including myself.  I don't like to start trouble.  My rebate was about Espon and their dubious ink detection.  The only problem I have with these settlements is they never solve the problem in question, but rather agree to just dole out some cash.

[beaky]

I haven't tracked the shipments too closely, mostly because I rarely find time to watch the movies until the weekend anyway, but they usually arrive the day before the date specified in the email notification.

[Scorpiоn]

Well, I can't complain (at least not anymore) because I don't really find myself interested in movies.  I rented The Great Raid, but never watched it.  I saved it to my PC just in case I force myself to...  Same with Syriana.  I might as well stop renting.

[Chris_F]

I've been named party (without my concent) to two different class actions.  In one I "won" $1.35 and in the other I "won" $0.95 or so.  I was "wronged" in one case because my computer monitor was labeled as a 14" and was actually slightly less.  In the other I was "wronged" by a CD club who charged a little too much for shipping (even though the as delivered prices on their disks was awsome).  According to the court documents the attournies representing my interests got paid roughly $10-$50 MILLION dollars for their efforts.

So I have to wonder: is thos whole "class action" thing really about protecting consumers, or is it about lining attourney's pockets?

[Katahu]

So I have to wonder: is thos whole "class action" thing really about protecting consumers, or is it about lining attourney's pockets?

B: Lining Attorney's Pockets