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

The only personal information they require is the same info to open an apple account, so they already know this. Online scams mean they take your personal information to get into your bank account, etc. Please don't confuse people.

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]

I got it too. Seems legit as it’s specifically referenced in this article. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-iphones-settlement/apple-to-pay-up-to-500-million-to-settle-u-s-lawsuit-over-slow-iphones-idUSKBN20P2E7

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]

Utter nonsense. Apple did not lie about it. They told the TRUTH, which is that phones with a weak battery would be slowed down so they wouldn’t abruptly shut down while in use. See—>iPhone Battery and Performance - Apple Support, specifically the section “preventing unexpected shutdowns”. Then they offered to replace weak batteries for $29 for the next year after they added this FEATURE that was designed to protect phones from sudden shutdowns. The feature is still in all iPhones sold since this feature was added 3 years ago. Apple did make one mistake; they didn’t announce ahead of time that the feature had been added.

Maybe I’m mistaken, but the slowdown was to keep the freaking iPhone from shutting down when the battery capacity was too low. And people freaking complained about it. And freaking lawyers make milllions. What a world.

Yes, people are that cheap and self-entitled. All for apple taking steps to avoid having a device not shut down completely on them. Apple should have instead stopped those devices from being able to update at all. Then imagine the screams of planned obsolescence people would have accused Apple of.

FYI, if I even qualifed for the $25, I would not accept it and I will opt out if I'm contacted when waaaay in the future the court appointed agent reaches out to me.

Only lawyers are making any money. Its ridiculous. But they have to get the bulk of affected people to either sign the form and take the $25 as part of the class action settlement or they need to keep people from doing anything at all which also keeps them by default in the class action because by do nothing they forfeit their right. There is only one way to opt out (if you feel Apple should not pay 90 million plus to a group of lawyers over this and disagree with the lawsuit because its going to be paid by the consumer in the end and you may noy know the full extent of whats defined in the settlement. The lawyers dont want you to opt out ( so even if you think its bs ) so they keep it as vague and laborious as possible. Pretty slimy

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.)

RetracM wrote:

Can you please explain?

What is there to explain? I get a multiple scam messages a day that want me to click on a link and provide information. Why should this be any different? It is remotely possible that this one is legitimate, but as there has been no updated news about the suit since March 2 I lean towards scam. If it was legitimate I would have expected at least a press release from the attorneys and news stories in major news media, especially Forbes, which delights in anything that would embarrass Apple.

I would not want to give anyone legal advice nor suggest you provide any sensitive information to someone with unsavory motives. There will not be a press release for every internal clerical process at the preliminary stages. This is a formal requirement however that the Plaintif is required to contact the affected population to get them to agree to be part of the “class”. They are required to make a concerted reasonable effort (and it is in their full interest to get all of the group to agree but all they are required to push forward is proof that you were notified based on info that Apple has already supplied. They already know the affected serial numbers and have the list of the registered owners last apple ID, they will verify it for you if you cant find the serialnumber but they are also liable if they do not protect that information so they do not give that out without you verifying- this is the legit legal counsel though - And not suggesting if you have a scam letter but in this case you are not providing any data that is sensitive on its own. You are only providing verification for them to know you are you and not someone claiming to be you for $25. There is no request for ss# and if you enter a incorrect response like a name that is not associated with an affected serial number, it just tells you thy have no record, nor do they provide you any additional information if you try and input someones stolen data. But they want your agrrement to accept the deal. You wont get anything now this is just initial step to get everyone to agree.They have to provide that to the court and Apple before they can finalize and then present for signatures. If you do nothing they understand there will be certain amount of people who wont respond and I dont know what is allowed statistically/legally. But if you do nothing and dont sign its no biggie to them if they can show they contacted you. You just dont get $25 and forfit any future right. Its only$25 so its nit worth risking if you feel strongly about the feelin its a scam. So not worth it. But they are ok as long as they get a majority. The problem lies in if they get people to actively opt out. then they have an issue. Why they make that not easy.

But if you dont respond its not an issue for either the plaintiff or defendant. So no one should be risking personal peace of mind if they dont trust verification process bu any means. Again not worth $25. But if you want to opt out you do have to write a letter on your own and mail it to the administrator so they can include thenumber if people who are keeping their legal rights to themselves for whatever reason. And that can be the unknown that makes the agreement less attractive to Apple. They will only accept it if they get everyone to aggree or feel that anyone who does not want to be included will be any probable future litigation threat. They want to shut and close that now whether its frivolous or valid. Thats why they show in the court docket which is public accessible and you have the right to view if you can dig for it or find someone who will, its there. But I posted that and it was removed and I was told it was not techical in natire. I dont want Apple to pay a bunch of lawyers 90million but I am sure they did due diligence to evaluate what they are getting and they want this too. So you have to make a personal choice in the matter or do nothing. There is no ethical or moral obligation and you should not feel pressure that why doing nothing is a decent option if you dont want $25 for it. But doing nothing you have to understand means nit being part of the settlement if or when the details are finalized and signed. THERE is a deadline of Sept 6 though. So you would need to decide by then.

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.

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.

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.

Providing your Apple ID and Password to anyone can be unwise. I was not confusing people. I was suggesting people be careful.

This does appear to be real now. Doesn't matter to me. I won't be applying for a payment. And I did own iPhone 6. I think this lawsuit reeks of selfishness. Yes, Apple should have let people know they were intentionally slowing phones down on phone's whose batteries were failing and could have caused phones to shut down. That was their only mistake. Not telling people. Slowing the phones down was intended to help people, but many didn't see it that way.

Personally, I'd feel dirty accepting money for something which was not malicious in intent in any way.