I can recall getting a class action settlement for Toshiba (the floppy drive on laptops like mine--but not mine--did something wrong sometimes). What did I get? A $200 voucher to buy Toshiba stuff. Worthless since I wasn't buying any Toshiba stuff.
My Verizon Wireless settlement got me even less (they rounded calls up to the minute for billing--was anyone really confused after their first bill?). I think it was a check for around $4 and Verizon agreed to make the fine print bigger.
So who made money on all this? Well, one is forced to suspect that it was the lawyers. Check out the discussion on Overlawyered.
So, here's my view. All the class actions I've been hauled into over the years have been of no value to me. Somehow I suspect I'm not the only one.
Let's take the money away from the lawyers, and put it back into the pockets of the big corporations, so they can charge us less for products. How about this: a "Do Not Sue" register? If you are on it, class-action lawyers wouldn't be able to add you as a member of the class without your express approval.
Now all you legal-eagle types out there will ask: So how do we keep the blood-sucking companies from giving us terrible customer service, and shoddy products? My answer: Hell if I know, but clearly class actions aren't doing anything to help us.
Note: the class actions I've had the dubious pleasure of being involved with are not correlated with bad customer experiences I've had. Probably more the opposite.
My Verizon Wireless settlement got me even less (they rounded calls up to the minute for billing--was anyone really confused after their first bill?). I think it was a check for around $4 and Verizon agreed to make the fine print bigger.
So who made money on all this? Well, one is forced to suspect that it was the lawyers. Check out the discussion on Overlawyered.
So, here's my view. All the class actions I've been hauled into over the years have been of no value to me. Somehow I suspect I'm not the only one.
Let's take the money away from the lawyers, and put it back into the pockets of the big corporations, so they can charge us less for products. How about this: a "Do Not Sue" register? If you are on it, class-action lawyers wouldn't be able to add you as a member of the class without your express approval.
Now all you legal-eagle types out there will ask: So how do we keep the blood-sucking companies from giving us terrible customer service, and shoddy products? My answer: Hell if I know, but clearly class actions aren't doing anything to help us.
Note: the class actions I've had the dubious pleasure of being involved with are not correlated with bad customer experiences I've had. Probably more the opposite.
No comments:
Post a Comment