AT&T Mobility has agreed to offer refunds to customers who were charged for third-party services like ringtones, although if you were frequently a victim of this you’ll quickly exhaust your refund quota: “Customers will able to claim refunds for spurious charges that appeared on up to three of their monthly bills between Jan. 1, 2004, and May 30, 2008.” AT&T should be sending out a notification to its customers “soon,” but you can already download a refund request.
settlements
Massive TransUnion Settlement To Reveal Credit Scores
By 6.1.08
Did you have a credit card between Wednesday and 1987? Great! You’re part of a massive class action settlement with TransUnion. The credit reporting agency has agreed to fork out services worth over $100 to every cardholder as a way of saying “sorry for grossly violating federal privacy laws by selling your private data to businesses!”
Today Is The Last Day To File A Claim In The Credit Card Foreign Transaction Fee Class Action
By 5.30.08
If you were planning on filing a claim in the credit card foreign transaction fee class action, today is the last day to do it.
By 4.23.08
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A California court has upheld the scrawny Netflix “throttling” settlement from 2006. That was when Netflix settled a class-action lawsuit that alleged they intentionally slowed down the rental rates of high-renting customers. The settlement only really benefited lawyers and Netflix, but it stands.
Leukemia Survivor Who Had Identity Stolen By Lab Tech Tells His Story
By 4.10.08
We wrote about Eric Drew a few weeks ago—his personal information was stolen by a shady lab technician while he was undergoing treatment in 2004.
Exclusive: AOL's Collections Guide Encourages Agents To Lie And Deceive
By 4.5.08
An anonymous tipster sent us AOL’s 153 page internal collections guidebook for prying money out of delinquent account holders. The guide shows that AOL is following some of the debt industry’s most egregious collection tactics by encouraging agents to deceive and lie to customers. After the jump we present AOL’s scare tactics, tricks to negotiating a substantial discount, and the full collections guide.
Judge Wants To Know Why 31 Law Firms Are Seeking A Cut Of The "Credit Card Hidden Transaction Fee" Settlement
By 4.2.08
Last year’s class-action settlement against Mastercard, Visa, and several banks over the fees they charged customers who traveled abroad came up to about $336 million, and of that, 31 law firms are claiming a total of about $86 million for fees. The federal judge responsible for determining how much they get paid wants to know why.
Leukemia Survivor Settles ID Theft Lawsuit With TransUnion; Five More Companies To Go
By 3.27.08
When Eric Drew was in the hospital being treated for leukemia five years ago, a lab technician stole his personal information and began opening up credit card accounts in his name.
CVS To Pay $36.7 Million For Improperly Switching Medications
By 3.18.08
CVS has settled a lawsuit that alleges the pharmacy giant improperly switched customers to a more expensive form of their medication in order to collect more money from Medicaid.
Reebok To Pay $1 Million Fine After Lead Poisoning Death
By 3.18.08
Two years ago athletic shoe giant Reebok announced a recall of 300,000 lead tainted charm bracelets that were given away as free gifts with the purchase of children’s footwear.
11 Drug Companies Agree To Pay $125 Million For Fixing Prices
By 3.13.08
The Prescription Access Litigation (PAL) coalition filed suit against 11 drug companies in 2002 for artificially inflating the average wholesale price, or AWP, of certain drugs, including ones used to treat serious illnesses such as cancer and HIV. This week, PAL announced that the companies have agreed to pay $125 million to settle—82.5% of the amount will be used to compensate third-party payor’s claims, and the remaining 17.5% will be used for consumer claims. Here’s a list of the drugs involved, and after the jump is a quick guide to see whether you’ll qualify for a claim, pending the judge’s approval of the settlement.
AT&T Mobility Agrees To Refund Money To Florida Customers & Pay $2.5 Million To State's CyberFraud Task Force
By 3.4.08
Florida’s Attorney General scored a victory for consumers last week, when AT&T Mobility agreed to refund fees that third-party vendors snuck onto thousands of accounts under the guise of “free” ringtones, wallpapers, and text content. They also agreed to hand over $2.5 million to help fund the state’s recently-created CyberFraud Task Force, to spend $500,000 for “consumer education on safe Internet use,” and to start policing third-party vendors better and make sure all billed items are clearly described.
By 2.4.08
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Former electric heater company Vornado will pay the government a civil penalty of $500,000 and deny any wrongdoing for failing to report incidents of heater fires from 1993 to 2004, says the CPSC.
GTA San Andreas "Hot Coffee" Settlement Offers $5 To Soothe Your Injured Mind
By 1.29.08
Horribly offended by the GTA: San Andreas “Hot Coffee” mod in which you could (help, help) indulge in crude polygon sex? Great. You’re being offered a $5 cash settlement.
Mann Free Movie Tickets Settlement Requires Your Credit Card Number
By 1.22.08
Between December 2006 and January 2007, Mann Theatres in Southern California printed the expiration dates of credit cards on receipts. If you were one of the lucky suckers who saw a movie there during this period and paid via credit card, Mann’s lawyers want to make things right by giving you two free movie tickets and some free popcorn. However, to qualify for the free tickets, you have to provide your credit card number. This is like the end of “The Lion King” where the new cub is held aloft—the circle of life continues.
U-Haul To Pay California Customers $50 For Failing To Honor A Guaranteed Reservation
By 1.20.08
U-Haul has settled a class-action suit by agreeing to pay customers $50 each time they fail to honor a confirmed reservation. The settlement comes after an appeals court agreed that the rental giant had “engaged in fraudulent practices.”
