I received an email titled as "Class Action Notice: In re Apple Inc. Device Performance Litigation" from Claims Administrator <DoNotReply@SmartphonP***Settlement.***> . This email ask me to file a claim for about 25$ settlement as an iphone 6/7 user on the website "smartphone***settlement.***". Is this a legit site or just a scam?
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iPhone 7, iOS 13
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.
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No, it’s legitimate, and if you look at the first page of the thread this was posted on July 2, long before the Epic games issue arose.
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.
Sure, check your mailbox. LOL
I don't know who you think you're writing, but:
A. We are all users on this user to user only forum
B. Apple isn't writing checks to anyone anyway
C. The settlement hasn't been fully finalized so money isn't being disbursed to anyone yet
D. You may not even get the full $25 you think you're getting as the number of claimants haven't been determined
E. The administrators of the claim will disburse checks and you'll have to wait along with anyone else
I got the notice too, in fact, I just got four copies of the second notice that went to the junk folder. Although I do have an iPhone 6 from December 2014--still on the original battery--it must be a miracle, although I don't use it as much as most people who have only a cell phone and no land line, use it for work, and also use it extensively for streaming an Internet. Anyway, there is a clause in the form you fill out to make a claim that you are declaring under penalty of perjury various things, one of which is that you suffered diminished performance. I believe at that time my battery was over 95% of design capacity, and the throttling only occurred when it got somewhere below 95%, so I never experienced it that I could tell (it's currently at 91% according to the iPhone info, but when I hook it up to Coconut Battery on my MacBook about nine months ago it was a few percentage points lower; I'm not sure which is more accurate). I would wager than Apple has records of customers' iPhones' percentage of design capacity, and knows whose phones were throttled and whose weren't, so that could be a trap, although I doubt they would pursue it.
A few years ago, out of the blue, I got a physical mail notice on a card of a class-action lawsuit proposed settlement with an auto maker for recording phone calls to their customer service number but not telling people they were recording them, which in my state is required by law. I had called that number a couple times within the last month or two of the six-month time frame in the lawsuit. I called the law firm involved and talked to one of their attorneys who informed me that the settlement was a fixed amount and how much each person got depended on how many people filed a claim--it could be anywhere from $75 to $500. I had a feeling that not many people would bother to file the claim, so I did, and a few months later I got a check for, $447. I don't know who instigated that lawsuit, probably some insider who contacted a law firm, but it was like found money to me, and of course the lawyers made money. That same auto company had, a bit earlier, created a voluntary program to compensate customers for incorrect mileage information for some of their cars, including the one I owned, giving them rebates based on mileage for the difference in the average cost of gas they would have paid if the car got the mileage stated. The program lasted as long as one had the car and would also be available to subsequent owners, as it theoretically affected the value of the car. By signing up for that program you waived your right to sue them over the issue, so it was a smart proactive move.
jamespatton22 wrote:
now the deadline has past and I find out this is a legitimate lawsuit. I had asked at the Apple store and online about this because when I looked at applying I was asked for my serial numbers (I had 3 phones that were supposed to qualify) but then I was asked for my Apple ID log in info so I was concerned. When I spoke to anyone with Apple they constantly warned me against providing it.
Well, you’re out of luck now. Lesson learned.
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.
Until everyone who is eligible has filed no one will get anything. The amount you get will be $500 million - $70 million to the lawyers - $20,000 to the primary filers divided by the number of filers. That is estimated to be $25, but it could be more or less. As the closing date is Oct 6 and it will take some time to complete the calculations don’t count on getting anything this year.
I believe that this is potentially a scam and someone is taking advantage of the epic games vs apple inc situation going on right now.
I followed the link and have received two more emails since the first email. The site itself looks legit and is posted up by Angeion Group LLC, which is a level service based in Philly. That’s what makes me unsure. I’m following this discussion because I’d like a little more information before I proceed with anything.
I’ve only received two emails about the settlement, they were not spam and it was because I owned two different iPhones that were covered by the settlement. Both included the true link for responding. Are these the emails you are referring to? Because they aren’t spam. If you are getting lots for spam email from some other place I haven’t received one of those.
royfromchandler wrote:
Is there an official response from Apple on this Community Chat about this issue? . Getting too many responses going both ways.
If it was a scam the Hosts would have removed the thread long ago. Does that answer your question?
now the deadline has past and I find out this is a legitimate lawsuit. I had asked at the Apple store and online about this because when I looked at applying I was asked for my serial numbers (I had 3 phones that were supposed to qualify) but then I was asked for my Apple ID log in info so I was concerned. When I spoke to anyone with Apple they constantly warned me against providing it.
It’s legit. Everyone saying it isn’t can’t read.
Read the requires for when you had to own the phone very carefully. It is not all iPhone 6 or iPhone 7 models, only those that were owned in specific time intervals.
Go for it. Or contact the court and file a complaint.
Is "smartphone***settlement.***" legit for claiming 25$ settlement as an iphone 6/7 user?
