Few Takers For Microsoft's Settlement Cash

Makarand writes "According to this article on SiliconValley.com very few claims have been received to claim money from a Microsoft antitrust settlement in California. Only about 4% of the estimated 14 million eligible California consumers have bothered to file a claim till now. The deadline for filing claims is officially April 28 but is likely to be pushed back into May or June. Either, consumers have found the claims process too confusing, time-consuming and discouraging to keep them from making a claim or they are waiting till the last minute to file(like taxes). According to the settlement one-third of the unclaimed money will be kept by Microsoft and the rest will be given to Californian schools."

Comments

Microsoft is a public company

[skidoo2]

Microsoft is a public company. With millions of shareholders. That is, millions of owners. You want to own a piece of it yourself, and have voting rights regarding the company's future? Go buy a block of stock.

I know I'll probably get modded down and get all kinds of bad karma for this, but I hate to see /. dominated by so much misplaced anger.

Microsoft is not just Gates and Balmer. It is a voice for a large number of people. It's this voice that gives Microsoft the power it has.

I was eligible and didn't file - here's why

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't believe class-action lawsuits truly benefit anyone except the lawyers, who are the only ones that will receive any useful prize from the settlement. So let them get their money from Microsoft without my help, and if California schools get my $3.77, or whatever paltry fractional amount would have been sent, great, at least the money is being re-pooled into a useful amount again.

anybody gotta UPC??

[malus]

i'm in line for a refund on the MS products i purchased between the dates specified, but i can't seem to find UPCs from 1995(!)

give me a break. this settlement isn't getting responses, because people don't keep receipts for software for 10 bloody years.

MS gets away with it, again.

Like those rebates

[Smidge204]

It's almost like those rebate programs:

1) Overprice your product and offer a rebate

2) Bank on the fact that only a small percentage of customers actually mail in for the rebate, and do so correctly.

3) Profit

So MS's business model is looking more and more like:

1) Do whatever you want and let others/the government file antitrust suits.

2) Settle suits knowing almost nothing will be done to enforce/cash in on them

3) Profit

If Dubya wants to convince the public that the US economy is getting better, he should just designate litigation settlement income as a business sector instead of trying to classify burger flippers as "manufacturing jobs".
=Smidge=

Figures.

[dj245]

Few people ever recieve any sort of voucher or mail-in rebate from companies. I actually did get a rebate check for Flight Simulator 2000. The process was overly complex and long, leading to many people not bothering. It asked for receipts and bar codes some people might not have, or want to give up. You had to send in the original receipts, not a copy. The check had an expiry date, and there was such a small time allowance, that by the time I got it it had already expired.

Companies bet on very few, if any, people actually getting money out of these things. I wouldn't be surprised if the beancounters calculated it out in advance to be 5% or so. There are so many hoops to jump through, and they are so high, that few people get through the maze of red tape. Why would any company make it easy for someone to suck "free money" in the form of a rebate or voucher away from them? Best to make it as complex and as hopelessly complex as possible.

Normally I shun litigation as a solution to problems, but I think this area is a place where we could use some regulation. Things are so bad with rebates now that I wouldn't be surprised if cans of Tuna had rebates on them in the future, but cost $5 with $4 rebate. I know this is a little offtopic and Microsoft's situation is a little different, but their method of doling out their required settlement should be decided by someone with more common sense, not someone who wants to save the company the most money. I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft actually pays out less than 5% of what they actually owe the people.

Re:Needed: expanded moderation choices

[bobej1977]

Bah, you only get out of paying tax on the amount you donated. So if you donate $1 million, you'll only save $3-500,000 on your taxes. It's still a net donation of $5-700,000.