Is "smartphone***settlement.***" legit for claiming 25$ settlement as an iphone 6/7 user?

Settlement in regards to iPhone device performance litigation class action lawsuit Case No 18-MD-****-EDJ is legitimate and should be taken seriously by any person falling within the affected serial numbers. The problem with how the public is being notified is that there will be a large percentage that will either be swayed into accepting the ridiculous terms or they will do nothing because of the way it’s disemminated to the affected owners and how it’s worded in the agreement. If you want to be part of it they aggressively try and get you to agree to sign the forms they keep throwing at you. They do not make it easy to find out the details of the settlement and they make it extremely difficult to just want to be excluded. If for some reason you assume it’s a scam, you don’t get notified because of some change in contact info, if you don’t remember to submit a response by the deadline and just do nothing....you not only don’t get a $25 payment but you forfeit your right forever to file for any related issue included in the extensive release they spell out in the settlement which is not easily understood by the top level document lent you receive. They include a general release which points to some very serious privacy issues that I am personally uncomfortable accepting for a $25 check. In addition, the settlement which Apple agrees to is at least $310,000,000 (yes three hundred and ten million dollars) at a min and up to close to 500 million dollars of which, the legal firms are asking for a minimum of 90 million plus all additional approved legal fees which will be taken off the top before the potential $25 is distributed to the actual owners.

If you do not respond to the letter, you automatically forfeit any right ever in regards to any damage or complaint in the future and do not get $25.

If you Want to opt out good luck. This could be any reason you may have. If you disagree with the terms, with admitting guilt, with the amount the lawyers are getting or how much money Apple has to pay them or what impact it will have on the price of future devices, if you disagree with allowing your privacy rights to be flushed down the toilet without say so, or you just feel lawsuits are not your thing....whatever reason you don’t want to agree or be part of it. Maybe you had an issue that damaged your life as a direct result and think you would just like to let that be your option to take the time and decide if you know the full extent of this settlement before you agree to $25, then you have to do something that requires you to go find out how to submit your request to opt out. There is no form provided for that and you have to write a letter to a specific address with information they require including your serial number which you have to provide or research and send it to the address you have to find by Sept 6 just to get excluded from the lawsuit. And you have to sign your own and mail it to the PO Box by Sept 6. So they really want you to just take the $25 so they can get the millions and never mind what it means or costs overall. I just thought $25 was a little insulting coming from a legal firm getting a huge amount and Apple agreeing to the huge payment just makes me scratch my head. I am not in any need of suing them at this point but I certainly will not sign up for $25 so they can pay some lawyers which will end up being paid by consumers anyway and I just sold my rights that are addressed in the small print in court papers that you really don’t want to have to spend time finding and reading the volumes to find what you are agreeing to.

Not good for Apple users short term or long term and very poorly explained to the public.

[Edited by Moderator]

Mariaaggie892 wrote:

Settlement in regards to iPhone device performance litigation class action lawsuit Case No 18-MD-****-EDJ is legitimate and should be taken seriously by any person falling within the affected serial numbers.

No, it is NOT legitimate. The email is a SCAM to allow some criminals to to steal the identify of anyone foolish enough to respond to the email or to click a link in it and provide personal information. Anyone who did so should assume their identity and any personal information they provided has now been compromised.

When the case is actually settled the affected class members will be contacted individually by the court appointed agent.

[Edited by Moderator]

Forbes 7.14.20 article:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimwang/2020/07/14/how-to-claim-your-25-from-apples-battery-slowdown-settlement/#684b6cf95369

Apple isn’t giving anyone $25. Apple is giving $500,000,000 to an award distributor, who will give $70,000,000 to the lawyers who brought the case, about $100,000 to the named litigants, and distributing the rest among everyone who files a claim. So the amount anyone gets can be more or less that $25. And it appears to be legitimate, unfortunately.

I did some online search to verify if it was a legitimate course case. It is unfortunately. Neither did I endorse this court case. Here is the link: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/6431809/in-re-apple-inc-device-performance-litigation/?filed_after=&filed_before=&entry_gte=&entry_lte=&order_by=desc

Scroll down to see the May 27, 2020 that there will be a motion hearing on 12/4/2020. It is a motion hearing not a settlement hearing. So....this case is still dragging on. Not settlement yet.

In the above link, you can also view who are involved in this court case - defendant, plaintiffs, and others. The list of involved parties is lengthy. In case there is a settlement, plaintiffs and others will be paid first. They will gobble up big $$$$$ while we iPhone users may get $25 or less. To sell my personal information (name, address, phone number and iPhone series, etc.) for peanut? BIG NO NO.

If there was no settlement in place the website to file your claim, drop out, protest attorney fees, etc. would not be in the website of the company selected to handle the procedure by the court. And they are working under the supervision of the court so I’m not seeing all this fear for your private information.

That hearing on December 4th is just for the judge to approve the results of the information that is due by October 6th. Apple already settled this. If this one works like any of the other ones I’ve been involved in that December 4th hearing will last about 10 minutes.

The deadline for filing a claim with the US District Court was October 6, 2020. You had to have purchased and used your phone in the United States between 2017 - 2018

It does not seem legitimate. Beware anyone asking you for Checking Account and Routing number. No one asks this for $25.

There is no info about the Attorneys or legal entity or governmental entity sending thi sinfo.

By default, Apple will offer $25 to any current or former owner of a covered iPhone. Named class members will receive $1,500 or $3,500, and around $90 million will go toward attorneys. The settlement has a minimum payout of $310 million, so the payment might increase if few people file claims. Conversely, if payments exceed the $500 million cap, each iPhone owner will receive less money. https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/2/21161271/apple-settlement-500-million-throttling-batterygate-class-action-lawsuit/#CH5zYw

I agree. I never dreamed clicking on a link that is supposedly Apple related - I checked the link on the internet for complaints - would lead to prolific scam calls.

That link took my serial number and appeared to be legit - but it was not.

no coincidence at all - it was a scam.

The emails are legitimate and so is the site. No, you would not be able to do it directly with Apple.

Not exactly. If there are scam sites to get people to provide data thats a different issue.

The settlement is preliminary but Apple has agreed to the latest terms if certain conditions are met which is defined in various parts of the court docket. the reason they have to contact you is that you must agree to be part of the class action group - the point if class action is to get everyone one one settlement so no more lawsuits come at them. They have to notify you (by law before hand in a reasonably thorough manner to demonstrate that the majority of affected people are included in the agreement or consensus. Thats why they can say if you do nothing you lose your right to claim a settlement nor can you bring any future suits against them.

I would definitely make sure you have the correct website for submitting the info though. And if you do nothing, you just lose $25 AND your option to claim anything in the future.

But a majority has be on board brfore it can be considered class action (If too many opt out there no longer a consensus overall.)

tekscrivener wrote:

The article explains the settlement but does not provide any indication that the sign-up page on smartphoneperf… is legitimate. It still may be someone else trying to intercept personal information. Until apple confirms that this is the correct place to enter your information, I won’t trust it.

That is smart of you and you are wise to not respond to something not verified in any way.

It is NOT legit. The case has not been fully settled yet. If you provide ANY PERSONAL information, you do so at your personal risk. In other words, it's a scam.

I received the email and I followed all the steps to register my 6S about 2 hours ago and I have received 47 scam phone calls from California - spoofed probably - and voice messages telling me to call 208-262-0*** to speak with an Apple rep.

so far this looks like a scam of epic proportions.

[Edited by Moderator]