Walmart got caught violating California’s environmental laws by dumping hazardous materials improperly and agreed to pay $27.6 million to the state to settle a lawsuit, the L.A. Times reports. [More]
settlements
Car Warranty Robocallers Banned From Telemarketing, Will Pay $665,000
By 3.25.10
The FTC says that the person behind a deceptive robocalling operation that allegedly used prerecorded messages to “fraudulently pitch extended auto warranties to U.S. consumers” will have to pay $655,000 as well as “turn over the proceeds from the sale of his second home in Florida and two luxury cars, a Porsche 911 and a Lexus sedan.” [More]
Rent-A-Center Settles With Washington Attorney General Over Customer Abuse Claims
By 3.2.10
Rent-A-Center, the furniture/appliance rent-to-own company (“For When You Want to Piss Away Your Paycheck!”), has settled with the Washington Attorney General’s Office over charges that its employees harassed customers who were late on payments. Last year, the company’s employees in Washington were accused of trying to kick in one customer’s door and threatening another one with jail, among other things. [More]
Snow Thrower Wheels Still Exploding 4 Years After Recall
By 2.15.10
Recalls are imprecise and never fully successful, but how can they be improved? Jeff Gelles of the Philadelphia Inquirer took a look at the recall problem with snow throwers manufactured by a company called MTD, and sold under Yard Machines, Troy-Bilt, and Craftsman brands. The snow throwers used plastic wheel rims which sometimes exploded, so in 2006 the company cooperated with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and announced a recall. [More]
Get $1000 In Ameriquest Mortgage Settlement
By 2.2.10
If your home mortgage was serviced by the defunct Ameriquest or its affiliates, you could stand to receive payouts starting at $1,000. Just enter your loan number on the settlement website and it will tell you if you’re eligible. The $325 million settlement came after a multi-state investigation which found shady lending practices that failing to disclose that loans had adjustable rates, failing to disclose the terms of the loan, refinancing homeowners into inappropriate loans, inflating home appraisals, and charging excessive fees. [ameriquestmdlsettlement.com] [More]
Dating Site eHarmony Settles Same-Sex Class Action For $2 Million
By 1.27.10
In 2008, eHarmony responded to complaints that it wasn’t serving gay and lesbian customers by setting up a second website, Compatible Partners, and keeping those customers separate from the official site. Some users sued the company, saying anyone with bisexual interests were being forced to pay twice for the same service. Now eHarmony has settled the class action and will allow members of either site to participate on the other one without having to pay a second time. [More]
AT&T Announces Proposed Settlement Over ETF Class Action Lawsuit
By 1.15.10
Chris wrote in to us this afternoon, “I found this gem in my AT&T wireless inbox [today]. I received no notification it was there, just happened to notice that I had a new message from AT&T online.” It’s an announcement that AT&T Mobility has arranged a proposed settlement over a class-action lawsuit concerning early termination fees. If it’s approved, there’ll be a settlement fund created from which AT&T customers “may receive monetary or other benefits.” [More]
Tyson Chicken Settles Class-Action Suit, Will Pay $4.4 Million To Consumers
By 1.14.10
If you bought Tyson chicken from 2007 to 2009, you may want to start keeping tabs on the new settlement being considered by Tyson to settle the class-action suit against it. The agreement was filed earlier this week, and a review is scheduled for tomorrow. If approved, approximately $4.4 million will supposedly be available to disburse to consumers. [More]
RC2 Agrees To Pay $1.25 Million Over Lead Toys
By 12.29.09
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has just worked out another penalty settlement with a toy company over those lead-tainted toys that graced shelves from 2005 to 2007. Reuters says RC2 will pay a $1.25 million civil penalty to resolve allegations that it “imported and sold Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway toys with paints and surface coatings that contained lead levels above legal limits.” About two years ago, RC2 settled a class-action lawsuit over the same toys. [More]
Vonage Reaches $3 Million Settlement With 32 States
By 11.17.09
If you had trouble canceling your Vonage account in recent years and ended up getting charged for services you didn’t want, you might be eligible for a refund under an agreement Vonage just made with the attorneys general of 32 states.
Target Pays New Jersey $375K To Settle Fraud Charges
By 11.10.09
Target has agreed to pay New Jersey $375,000 to settle charges that it sold baby formula and non-prescription drugs that had expired, and that it charged higher prices on some products than what was displayed on the shelves.
MoneyGram Agrees To Pay $18 Million Back To Fraud Victims
By 10.20.09
MoneyGram International announced today that it would pay $18 million to the FTC to settle charges it allowed wire fraud to happen between 2004 and 2008. MoneyGram’s press release notes that they disagree with the FTC’s view of the matter, but $18 million is a hell of a lot of money to pay if you don’t think you were in the wrong. The press release from the FTC, on the other hand, provides plenty of detail illustrating MoneyGram’s negligence, as well as the criminal behavior of some of its employees who were in on the frauds.
Epic: Kindle 2 Fails Man's Drop Test, Forces Amazon To Pay Him $400
By 10.20.09
Paul bought a Kindle 2 from Amazon. He dropped it one day, and it sort of broke but not entirely, and Amazon wanted $200 to replace it. Instead, he got them to send him a $400 check, while still keeping the device. How? [More]
Amazon Clarifies When It Will Remove Kindle Books
By 10.2.09
As part of a settlement with the customer who sued Amazon over the 1984 fiasco this past summer, Amazon has clarified under what circumstances it can delete your books. Notably, Amazon is not saying that it will never again delete books, which keeps the Kindle in the “do not buy” list for consumers who want unequivocal ownership of the items they purchase. In fact, despite the muted praise Amazon is receiving for doing this, the best we can say about the clarification is that it’s about time, but that it still doesn’t address the fundamental ownership issues raised by the Kindle licensing system.
Target Must Pay $600,000 To Settle Lead Paint Charges
By 10.1.09
Looks like the CPSC can afford donuts tomorrow for their office: Target has agreed to pay $600,000 for selling toys with too much lead on them from May 2006 to August 2007, reports Reuters. The fine “resolves allegations” over the issue, so now Target can focus on what it does best, which is act crazy.
Judge To BoA: "I'm Glad You Think $91,000 Is Not A Lot Of Money"
By 8.11.09
Recently, the SEC settled with Bank of America over charges that the company mislead its investors about the $3.6 billion in bonuses paid by Merrill as the brokerage was being taken over. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff, however, isn’t buying it. He’s refusing to approve the settlement until it can be shown that the $33 million Bank of America agreed to pay is adequate. That’s nice, but he best part is that the judge is being hilariously sarcastic during the hearings.
DISH Network Will Pay $5.9 Million Back To Customers
By 7.17.09
In 2006, five states launched an investigation into DISH Network‘s crummy sales practices after hundreds of complaints from consumers. Now the company has agreed to pay $5.9 million to 46 states in a settlement announced today—and at least some of that money is earmarked for DISH customers.
Be Careful, Costco Backdates Renewals
By 7.7.09
If you let your Costco membership lapse, then 2 months later renew it, Costco will backdate it to day it lapsed instead of the day you renew. The result: your 12 month membership suddenly shrinks to 10 months for the same price. Consumer Reports notes that Costco used to backdate renewals by as much as 5 months before a recent class-action settlement.
