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Judge Approves Settlement in iPod Suit
BabbaBooie writes "According to AppleInsider, on Thursday a San Mateo County judge granted final approval of a settlement in the iPod class action suit that affects as many as 1.3 million iPod owners who may have been victim to poor or defective batteries. Under the settlement, owners of either a first- or second-generation model are entitled to $25 cash or $50 credit at the Apple store. Owners of third-generation iPod models are entitled to a free replacement battery if the battery fails. The deadline for submitting a claim is September 30, 2005. Lawyers say the settlement could cost Apple as much as $15m."
Because they didn't make false statements about the battery life on an iPod...which is what the entire suit was about.
Big corporations need to pay for THEIR mistakes. Not THEIR customers.
it may cost them 15 million in coupons, but how much will it really cost them? after all, if everyone cashes in, it's that many more apple products out there in the hands of consumers.
As most people will never hear about this, or simply forget to get their cash in time.
Go here for teh [sic] funny.
Meanwhile, owners who actually paid Apple to repair a battery in one of the players will be entitled to up to half of that cost back.
Between this and the "$50 credit," does this seem like it's not really that great a deal for the people that were impacted by these defective batteries? I mean, aren't they still losing money because of a defective product?
"You're older than you've ever been, and now you're even older."
Why the judge was wearing an iPod suit is yet to be determined.
Anything you can do, I can do meta.
I can understand replacements on 3rd or 4th generation units. But by now, who would be able to tell if a 1st or 2nd generation iPod really had a defective battery, or if its just old?
I don't get it.
What about my 4G iPod which has poor battery life? Am I stuck with it?
How am I supposed to fit a pithy, relevant quote into 120 characters?
This is why built in batteries are bad! Not only does it screw the customer, it screws the manuf. in the end. Not that $15m is alot Apple, but still, it's a big damn drop of water in that bucket. They should use cellphone-style batteries. Keep an extra charged, jus tincase you stuck in the desert and need a soundtrack to your death-martch to the next gas station. Oh no, your batteries died, but wait, you have an extra one. pop. more music to die by.
Not to hurt any fans here on /. but I wonder if the customers have to go to court for something as trivial as a battery, does Apple really deserve the kind of following it actually does.
I first came to know of this battery thing here http://www.ipodsdirtysecret.com/message.html
Its good to have good products, and I believe Apple makes really good products, but I guess they need to be a li'l more flexible with something as trivial as a battery.
That's actually a decent anf fair settlement. I was actually surprised by that. Class action settlements these days amount to a cheesy $7.93 cent check or something just as equally worthless compared to the repair costs or the hardware costs involved.
That's news?!?!?!
Real news would be:
Judge Approves Settlement in bathing suit.
Old people fall. Young people spring. Rich people summer and winter.
I ran the test on my 3G iPod and the battery lasted >8 hours, so I'm not getting anything from the suit (except that my iPod is fully functional), but I was wondering about the test - you have to run it on all defaults after a reset, so shuffle is off, which I assume means that the HD is not being exercised very much (and I assume that the HD is the big player in the power budget). Does anyone have stats on how representative the test is, or how the run parameters were decided on?
You need to show proof of purchase for some of these, like the 3rd gen battery replacement option. I replaced my ipod battery myself about 1.5 years after buying my ipod. chances of still having proof of purchase? 5% :/
"Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door." - Emily Dickinson
I would think giving iPod hungry people $25-$50 credit will actually make Apple money.
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
The false claim was the 10 hour battery life. The suit was about the battery life, apple claimed 10 hours...most people, including myself, on the 3rd gen iPod barely got 5-6...that's an almost double claim on battery life. It was, at one point, a hot topic of discussion on some of the iPod forums.
Big surprise, the lawyers make a cool $2 million off this. That's right, they made $2m out of the $15m that "might" be collected by the deadline ONE MONTH FROM NOW.
Quit tech, folks, and go into Law.
The other issue being they also advertised 10hr playtime, when a few people were lucky to get 8, and most got 6. If your cellphone was advertised as giving 10 hours of talk time per charge, but you could only talk for 5 or 6 before it died, would you not consider that a defect, especially if the phone manufacturer told you that to fix it it would cost the same as a new phone?
Tm
Support TBI Research: http://www.raisinhope.org
When I saw the post, as always, I made a small bet with myself about how many posts would go by before some jackass raises the "let's somehow blame this on M$" flag.
After seeing the article, I thought to myself - there is no way this could be linked to m$, could it? So maybe at least 100 comments before the name shows up..
But wow - first post. un-fucking-believable. you sir, are a true moron.
If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants.
To be fair to Apple, the page only promises 10 hours of playtime. They don't promise another 10 hours after a recharge.
1. Sell products with defective batteries 2.a. Sell replacement batteries at a huge markup b. Lose lawsuit & send coupons which help sell more stuff. 3. Profit twice.
If it has a physical scroll wheel (i.e. a wheel that actually turns) it's a 1st Gen. If it has a solid wheel, but physical buttons arround the border, it's a 2nd Gen. If it has a solid wheel and buttons along the top of the wheel, it's a 3rd Gen. If it's got the click wheel like all the current iPods and iPod minis, it's a 4th Gen.
T Money
World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
The actual fair settlement for this would be to Refund the few people who *did* pay $200-$300 to get their 1g or 2g battery replaced, maybe even give them a bit more. Apple keeps a customer database, they know who did it.
Anyone who hasn't, tough cookies. $50 for a replacement service is perfectly reasonable when compared to other manufacturers, and has been around almost as long as this whole debacle. Batteries die, and I don't remember Apple ever claiming that they run the ipod on magic fairy dust that doesn't.
But giving anyone who bought an early ipod (which includes many that didn't die before the cheaper fix was announced) $25
a) Doesn't actually refund anything close to what the few people who got screwed paid.
b) Gives money to a bunch of people who bought a perfectly working product.
This, like most class action suits, is just another example of the messed up nature of our litigation-happy over-lawyered legal system.
How is it that Apple is beaten up over this, yet norelco shavers get out of this whole mess without a nick? (hehe, sorry, couldn't resist)
Seriously, though, norelco's been pulling the battery scam for a long time. Can I start a class action suit?
Aye, I registered my iPod, and I also got a letter from the lawyers that contained the claim form.
:)
Those product registration forms do more than JUST put your name in a marketing database. They also put you on mailing lists for product recalls in the event of dangerous or defective products, or they put you on mailing lists for class action settlements like this
For those who are going to complain about being put in a marketing database and getting junk calls, just check the box that tells them not to contact you, if it has one. If it doesn't have one, then you'll either have to give up the marketing info, or pay the price by not being notified.
Let's sue them too! Their old PocketPCs provided no way of easily changing the rechargeable battery without having to take the case apart (although the batt did last for a few years longer than the iPod).
-Palal
The article summary looks incorrect. I have a 3rd gen ipod and qualified for the settlement. The options for 3rd gen owners really are:
1)
replacement of the iPod's battery or (at Apple's discretion) a replacement iPod. [DO NOT SEND IN YOUR IPOD. Unless your claim is rejected by the Claims Administrator, you will be contacted with instructions on how to return your iPod and where to remit the applicable shipping and handling charges.]
OR
2)
a $50 Store Credit redeemable toward the purchase of any Apple-branded products or services (except iTunes downloads, iTunes Music Store Cards, iTunes Gift Certificates, or any other product redeemable for iTunes downloads or cash) at The Apple Store (Online) or at a kiosk (a computer linked to The Apple Store (Online)) located in a "bricks and mortar" Apple retail store. Store Credits may be transferred once but may not be aggregated with other Store Credits or redeemed for cash. Store Credits may be used to purchase multiple products but, in all instances, the full $50 credit must be used up or exhausted in a single transaction. Store Credit does not apply to any shipping, handling or sale tax charges applicable. Store Credit will expire within eighteen (18) months after the date of issuance.
Does this apply to international iPod owners as well?
Random is the New Order.
Well the battery on the original 5GB iPod I own still holds around 9 or more hours of play in it (according to the test).
So as far as I'm concerned the rep is good.
If enough people have experiences similar to mine, then they will maintain a good rep. So while it looks like a lot of people have issues, the real question is what percetage of the userbase are we talking about? I would imagine that it's smaller than at other companies, as people still seem very happy with Apple and iPod sales are still brisk.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Dear Plextor, My DVD-R drive motor died after only 30000 hours of constant DVD piracy. Your published specifications clearly state that the MTBF for my unit is 60000 hours. I researched changing the motor out myself, however it is not customer replacable, which I find totally unacceptable for such a complex and expensive electronic device. Although I've burned over 3000 DVD's since I purchased the unit, you should refund me the full purchase cost of my drive. The drive ran out of warranty last year and I chose not to purchase an extended warranty some years ago, which is entirely your fault. Anything less than a refund will cause me to whine incessantly on /. about how horribly unreliable your top selling, top rated drives really are.
See you in court,
Phil Ken Sebben
Is this for USA-ians only, or do the rest of us also benefit from the class-action lawsuit?