Buy.com class action-Hitachi fiasco. Do not delete

[spec411]

shonuff..are u in the bay area? take your car to ANY dealer in the bay area/silicon valley (i dont care if its ford or bmw) and i challenge you to find one under $80/hour...likewise for the other trades...sure theres $20/hour programmers but where we're livin skys the limit!@

its also why starting salaries at major law firms in SF jumped from 85k when i was starting law school to 125-150k now, places like Boise ID are still under 50k at a major firm

 

[WT]

Count me in as one of the original WMC's ... I waited til late Sunday night to jump on the deal but didn't think I would get the monitor either. I found my CC was charged the next day and had never NOT gotten the goods after this had occured. The posts were inSANE that day as everyone had an opinion on it. I started following the web sites created just for this particular event and realized that lawyers and lawsuits were not the answer. I did file a complaint with the BBB regarding Buy.com and received a letter from Buy.com. All I decided to do in the matter was not BUY from them anymore, regardless of the deal. That was my way of dealing with what was an honest foulup on their part, nothing more. Bait -n- switch is one thing .. this was another. BTW, some also remember their shady C300A deals where they had 18,000 in backorder at the time the 300A was dropped from the manufacturing line. They charged $65 to 18,000 CC's and never shipped a ONE ! Some people held on for months before canceling. I'm glad to read things have improved but we still have a ways to go ... damn, I still have my email correspondence and printed receipts for that Hitachi 19" too *sniff*

 

[Michael]

I am glad that Buy.com lost the lawsuit. I was a WMC. For those who were not around then, Buy.com had many, many poor business practices. They charged credit cards at the moment an order was accepted, even if they did not have it in stock and then they held onto the money for a long time. The monitors were just one example of their poor practices at the time, they did the same thing with a bunch of other items.

In addition, Buy.com attempted to make money through advertising at their site so they would want to drive as much traffic to their site as possible.

I agree that they have changed their business practices are are much better. However, I think it was the small claims judgements and the class action lawsuit coupled with the bad publicity they were receiving that caused the change. It has helped all consumers at all websites.

Michael

 

[KBtrade]

spec411, $85 an hour for a mechanic? Do you really think a mechanic working for a dealer sees that $85 an hour? a big or small repair shop still has to pay for insurance, electricty, special tools, training, etc, did you ever take that into account? If you don't like to pay an "incompetent" mechanic that much to fix your overpriced foreign car than fix the damn car yourself.:|

I worked as a heavy equipment mechanic for my dads construction firm, not beacuse I was uneducated or incompetent, it was because I enjoyed working with my hands and being outside most of the time.

oh btw, I didn't like paying my "incompetent" lawyers money for doing nothing so I fired them all. I went thru three incompetent lawyers trying to settle an estate, which none of them could seem to do for any amount of money. :Q

 

[Insomniac]

OK, I am still trying to figure this out completely. I was a WMC that cried about not getting the monitor, but I stopped there. I wasn't about to file a small claims suit over an obvious pricing error. I remember talk about a class action lawsuit, but I never knew it really happened.

Anyways, now that this is settled and the money will be paid who will get it? I did not receive any mail about opting out, I am guessing that is because I was never in. Are other people in the same boat as me? Michael? wje? Russ? Red Dawn? If so, what are you planning to do? I want to get my piece of the 'pie' since I was involved and it has been settled. I haven't seen any information about this suit being settled go out to any financial sites. Any ideas?

 

[50ftqueenie]

Very well said Nutiket and Spec (except for your "uneducated/incompetent mechanic" comment-- it kinda defeats the purpose of pleading your own case for others to respect YOUR profession, if, in the same breath, you slag someone's else's...).

Nutiket made some excellent points about the Wounded Monitor Children bringing about the change in buy.com and other companies that have consistently unfair business practices. People like this are keeping you--the customer-- from getting reamed everyday by Big Business. Instead of calling them greedy, you should be grateful that they had the stones to fight for all of you. I know I am.

 

[KBtrade]

Insomniac, I was never involved in the Monitor fiasco, but my observation as an outsider is once attorney fees and costs are deducted you might see a $25 gift certificate to Buy.com or a $10 coupon off a $30 purchase if your lucky.

I believe half the people that were involved in this fiasco just want to send Buy.com a message to change their ways, which they did.
The other half want a free monitor, some cash and a trip to Disneyland, sorry it ain't going to happen imo.

 

[KBtrade]

I know this is way off topic,

How come every so called "investor" to the stock market wants to file a class action suit everytime a stock drops in price or has bad news? didn't they read the fine print that there is no guarantees in the stock market. Do they know what risk/reward is? If not they should have their money in a FDIC insured savings account.

As a full time day trader I have benefited well from other peoples misfortunes when they panic and sell before asking questions, but it makes me sick when I receive enough class action suits in the mail to fill a dumpster each month, yes I throw them away.(I don't know why I receive them when I bought the stock after it has fallen in price...talk about a waste of trees.)

 

[Nightmare]

Kbtrade--

Normally when the is an investor suing the company for stock issues, it involves the company withholding information from the stock holders. Sometimes companies even LIE to their stock holders and then quietly sell their personal stock, only for the investors to get screwed.

--Nightmare

 

[KBtrade]

Nightmare yes I know that, but have you ever seen anyone personally benefit when and if they settle the suit, I never have.

 

[deepcover]

ShoNuff



<< Computer consultant $55/hr >>



I am a Systems Engineer for a large company, and I make ~$40 an hour, but I bill customers at $225 an hour. So I think the $55-$300 estimate was accurate.

 

[Insomniac]

I remember my dad getting like $20 once. I'm sure the lawyers made more than $20 a piece.

 

[CyBrShRk]

Lawyers are nothing but human garbage. Sure there are good, decent lawyers, unfortunately they are in a profession filled with bottom-feeders so they are guilty by association. I read all the nice lawyers explaining to us 'uneducated folks' why the world is better because of them. Some scum here tried to make us believe a mechanic makes more than a lawyer. Well I have been to many mechanics and they didn't charge me $75 to CALL the auto parts distributor and get my parts. Try to get a lawyer to make a FREE call...ain't happening! Class action lawsuits only make lawyers rich. The theory behind class action suits is good, unfortunately the lawyers are raping the process. Buy.com should be punished if they did those things but is it fair to make some lawyer rich while the people affected walk away with maybe pocket change? Crawl back under your rocks lawyers, the day is coming when we the people wake up and realize there are far too many of you scumbags and you are only destroying this country.

 

[Michael]

I never signed up for the class action and have not received the email. I'm trying to decide if I should put my claim in. I'm against lawsuits in general (I'm Canadian but now living in the US), but at times there is no other way.

The money from the lawsuit would make little to no difference to me, but if there was a settlement, then I am entitled to something as a class member. Maybe there will be enough to take my wife and daughter out to a nice dinner.

I am very glad that the major online retailers have changed many of their practices which has made it better for all of us. That's the victory I was hoping for.

Michael

 

[Nukem Duke]

Mods, don't you think it is time to lock this thread? It is serving no purpose other than causing tempers to flare. The first message says it all...any further posting is a waste of bandwidth.

Thank you.

P.S. I find it comical when people say they are suing buy.com or egghead.com to change their business practices or a matter of principle. If the products in question had been regular retail priced at $15 and the companies mispriced said product for $7.50, nobody would bother with a class-action lawsuit or a small-claims lawsuit. Principles don't usually kick in unless they can potentially make a couple of hundred dollars.

 

[Skooch]

Insomniac: I never applied to be, or thought I would be part of a class action lawsuit against buycom, but for some reason I received an email regarding the lawsuit. Im guessing the lawyers/law office obtained a list of the people who ordered from somewhere. Anyone who ordered the monitor with a credit card should be on a list somewhere.

Its not the fact that buycom mis-priced the monitor that made me mad, I was willing to let an obvious pricing mistake slide, it didn't bother me much when they charged my credit card before shipping the product (even though its a shady practice at best), the straw that broke this camel's back is when buycom decided to randomly ship monitors to a few people who ordered. All I did though is write a complaint to the BBB, and forgot about the whole incident.

As to the people that ask &quot;Would you do this to a mom and pop retail shop?&quot;, well I dont know about you, but I can certainly tell the difference between a big corporation who has the resources/personnel to correct/prevent this type of mistake, and the little guy trying to make an honest living.

 

[Insomniac]

Michael: I was against suing them too, but now this is over and a settlement has been agreed to. We just happen to be a part of that group now, and might as well get something out of it.

Skooch: My understanding was that the Monitors slipped out before they could be stopped to the first people who placed orders for FedEx overnight.

 

[Big Bomb]

Let's face it, &quot;changing business practice&quot; has nothing to do with it, greed has everything to do with it. No one intended to change the business practice when they tried to order these obviously mispriced monitors. They wanted to get them cheap, that's all. And many already had tried to take advantage of misprice by buy.com(20pk HDDs, 400pk CDRs etc).

The aftermath was funny. People cried wolf until today. Many if not most were mad because someone else got the monitors(buy.com shipped about 150 monitors they had in stock and canceled the rest), just not yours truly. Even worse, those who tried to take advantage first did not neccessarily get their monitors. It was funny to see the then quiet hot deal forums erupted into a full flame war.

BTW, if the poster at the time were not lying, it was the law firm first contacted perspective class action clients. And the suit seemed to fall apart back then, glad they settled. Should get my share if things go smoothly. Who said I am against greed?

 

[Slacker]

Lets not forget that the hot deals forum was created because of this situation.

 

[spec411]

REGARDING THE SETTLEMENT: from a brief read of the settlement , looks like $575,000 is to be distributed among the class (everyone who ordered and didnt get a monitor) which from reading other posts seems to be roughtly 1000 people...thats $500 pER PERSON! which is an EXTREMELY generous settlement...

I do agree class actions normally only produce $10 Gift Certificates for overpriced merchandise, and lawyers get the big $$$, but this settlement appears to be different than the norm. I believe it the $575,000 is separate from paying the attorneys fees, but even if the $190,000 attorneys fees are deducted, people should still see about $300 per person (NOT per monitor ordered).

REGARDING THE LEGAL PROFESSION: There really is no use trying to defend the legal profession here, as people have their minds set from bad experiences or what have you, but there are many younger people here who are entering adulthood and may find the need for an attorney in the future but will be afraid to seek one b/c of the horror stories they read here...yes people DO remember!

My comments regarding other professions DID NOT say mechanics (or any other profession) are uneducated, it said they charge $xxxx hour without BEING REQUIRED to go through the prolonged education process required of attorneys. They can begin earning almost immediately, whereas we cant.

Many can start working in their profession and making money at 18, but, an attorney is not going to even be able to make a decent salary till 25, and thats IF they went to school FULL TIME since they were 4 years old, and graduated on time from college and law school, and passed the bar quickly after...many of my friends who got into engineering have salaries and stock options that have brought their accumulated earnings into 7 figures right now, and they started making it at 20 and 21...

KBTRADE,, you seem to think lawyers get the full amount they bill you at...keep in mind, like with ANY of the jobs I referenced, these are BILLING RATES, an attorney DOES NOT EARN ALL $200+ an hour they bill for, just like the computer consultant does not earn what they bill for, and the mechanic does not earn what he bills for...EVERY job has overhead and other costs...we also have to get insurance, pay rent, pay secretaries, etc..

(AND no I DONT have an &quot;expensive&quot; foreign car, if you actually READ my post im quite poor and the NEWEST car ive ever owned has been 10 years old, domestic, and cost under $3000, but your hatred for attorneys b/c of your bad experience with them obviously wipes out everything else) plus ford and chevy dealers charge the SAME as the mercedes and BMW dealers for service...

Yes there are incompetent attorneys, yet I think we have all encountered incompetent people in every line of work..even CSR's, who we love to flame, are often at the mercy of their employers who refuse to give them the information or authority to actually help a customer.

Cybershark-again no point in trying to change your mind, but for people who havent used an attorney and may need one, keep in mind MANY offer a FREE consultation, often for 1/2 hour or an hour, to evaluate your issues and tell you if they are &quot;worth&quot; pursuing, both in terms of time and money needed....Sure, mechanics will call parts houses ALL DAY to charge you 300% their cost for a part, just like I'd call the court and tell you what the filing fees are (and I CANT &quot;pad&quot; those prices or else I'll face a malpractice suit)...

As you stated, I think many people dislike attorneys mainly because they receive bills from their attorneys for phone calls and writing letters, when most professions usually do not charge for this (they do indirectly but thats beside the point). You see on the bill, in your face, &quot;Phone call with client - $200&quot; and become very angry, and I know it is hard to understand, but SPEAKING and WRITING are the attorney's &quot;tools of the trade&quot;. Speaking and writing is what an attorney uses to &quot;make the repair&quot; and fix problems.

BTW, when was the last time a mechanic said &quot;I'll look at your car for an hour to see whats wrong with it and if you dont want me to fix it you dont have to pay me&quot;? doesnt happen.

Keep an open mind people.

 

[Format C:]

Note to fellow Ferengi Red Dawn...

Hello good friend. This is Quark. My ears tingle seeing you and the Grand Nagus (Harvey) having so much fun with the Huumons. Keep up the good work. The Council is observing your actions and a special commendation might be in order along with plenty of Latinum. The two of you are shining examples of our superior race.

 

[Nightfall]

I will believe this when I see the check. I have a feeling that we won't see anywhere near $300. Who knows how the money is going to be split up. It could be split up per monitor ordered or per person. We will have to wait to find out.

I wouldn't be suprised if I get a $20 check in the mail after everything is said and done.

 

[digme]

I don't understand Americans....when the focus should be the current eeree head egghead.com(which I would contribute my 1 month full salary of 3478.32 cents) to the cause for a class action suit or any suit, why try to hurt somebody after a year?

FOCUS ON EGGHEAD.COM.... I HATE THEM....... TOO MANY ERRORS.... WAY TOO MANY..... I HATE EGGHEAD [/B} and by the way they had another name before EGGHEAD.. I forgot/

 

[Valkore]

Digme:

I don't think they were anybody, before they were Egghead. Egghead used to be a chain of retail stores, much like your local Babbage's or Electronics Boutique. They closed all the stores and went online, gambling that getting into the fledgling market early would give them a boost in front of other companies doing the same. Well, it might have worked, if they didn't suck so much ass.

Egghead does (or did) run a site called Surplus Direct. Not sure if it's still around.

-V

 

[VorlonBlue]

Don't sue Buy.com! I mean, I've done the intern route years ago and it is not tough for one of them to make a seemingly miniscule error. Buy.com has had some incredible deals, and I challenge anyone to find another company that has offered so much, with the same level of service, and buying power! Are we all so greedy?