Second class action suit targets Powerbeats Pro battery life, charging issues

Posted:
in iOS
A Powerbeats Pro owner has filed a class action lawsuit against Apple for its "false, misleading and deceptive" advertising over the wireless headphones battery life and charging case.




An existing class action suit claims that Powerbeats Pro don't last the advertised nine hours. Now a separate, second one takes issue with both the nine hours, and Apple's claim of how long they can run with the aid of the charging case.

"[Apple] markets its Powerbeats Pro as rechargeable, high-end Bluetooth headphones," says the filing, included in full below. "In an effort to attract buyers willing to pay hundreds of dollars for premium headphones, Defendant boasts that the Powerbeats Pro will last 'up to 9 hours listening time' on a single charge from their charging case, and that the charging case provides a total of 'more than 24 hours listening time.'"

"However... [Apple's] charging case fails to consistently and adequately charge the Powerbeats Pro headphones due to a defect in its design and/or due to Defendant's use of substandard materials," continues the suit. "As a result of this defect, the headphones cannot maintain a proper connection with the charging case and are thus unfit for their intended purpose."

The suit further takes aim at the alleged issue that these wireless headphones have problems connecting to different devices.

"Further, and again despite [Apple's] advertisements and assurances regarding its Powerbeats' Bluetooth connectivity," says the suit, "[the] Powerbeats Pro headphones do not consistently connect to other devices via Bluetooth as intended or advertised."

The suit was filed on February 3, 2022, in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, County Department, Chancery Division. A hearing is scheduled for June 3, 2022.

Powerbeats Pro Class Action by Mike Wuerthele on Scribd

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 11
    larryjwlarryjw Posts: 1,031member
    Mine work just fine.

    A couple of times, the case didn’t recharge an earphone, but the remedy was to reset the earphone in the case.

    Sure, that was inconvenient, but getting ambulance chasers involved didn’t seem to be the next step.

    As an attorney, there are far more important causes one needs to focus on. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 11
    DSCODSCO Posts: 2member
    I agree with this lawsuit. My headphones had all these issues as well as an inconsistent Bluetooth connection. 
  • Reply 3 of 11
    I got caught up in this. For me it’s the left one. Won’t charge no matter how many times I reseat it. Which is sad because the sound is superior but it’s very inconsistent to the point where it’s useless. How do I get in on one of these suits?
    soundsinmotion
  • Reply 4 of 11
    This happens to me a lot. It’s always just one of them that doesn’t charge but the other one does. Annoying to go workout and one ear is 100% battery and the other is 10% battery 
  • Reply 5 of 11
    psych_guy said:
    I got caught up in this. For me it’s the left one. Won’t charge no matter how many times I reseat it. Which is sad because the sound is superior but it’s very inconsistent to the point where it’s useless. How do I get in on one of these suits?
    Sadly these class action suits make so little for the consumer. The only ones making money in these are the law firms doing the class action. You’ll probably get like a check for like $1 if they win the lawsuit.
  • Reply 6 of 11
    Had the same issues with inconsistent changing as well.  I cleaned the contacts on the case and headphones with electrical contact cleaner and the charging issues have been resolved for about a year now.  Since cleaning them I also wipe off any sweat from the headphones after my workouts before putting them in the case.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 11
    I got my PowerBeats Pro a couple of weeks after they were first released. Had to get the black pair as they hadn’t released any other colour options when they first came out. 
    Surprised to see so many other users have had issues with them charging or with Bluetooth connection. I have never had this issue. My wife got a pair about 2 years ago and has never had the issue either. Although she does always get confused which way around they need to go when putting them back in the charging case.  :D
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 11
    leighrleighr Posts: 253member
    I experience this issue every few weeks, and it’s related to the design of the case and how the headphones magnetically seat in there. It feel like this could be improved if the case had a light to indicate that each headphone was seated correctly, or alternatively a better mechanism for making electric contact. The other issue I have is that as they don’t have a power off button. If I don’t have the case with me (which happens when I run home from work) then overnight the charge depletes from 80% to zero, and require charging before their next use. It seems that it would be easy to incorporate a long press to turn them off completely and save battery. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 11
    davgregdavgreg Posts: 1,036member
    I had a pair of these and they worked very well.
    I bought a pair of the newer Beats Fit Pro and passed the old ones - with a new set of ear tips - on to someone else.
    They are fine.
    edited February 2022 watto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 11
    zoetmbzoetmb Posts: 2,654member
    psych_guy said:
    I got caught up in this. For me it’s the left one. Won’t charge no matter how many times I reseat it. Which is sad because the sound is superior but it’s very inconsistent to the point where it’s useless. How do I get in on one of these suits?
    Sadly these class action suits make so little for the consumer. The only ones making money in these are the law firms doing the class action. You’ll probably get like a check for like $1 if they win the lawsuit.
    That’s true when there are lawsuits claiming that the stock price dropped because of whatever.  When I get those mailings, unless I own a substantial number of shares of that particular stock, I don’t even bother filling out the forms because it’s not worth my time.  It usually works out to a few cents per share. 

    But in a product case like this, if won, the company generally does have to provide something substantial to the class - either service, an improved product or a substantial credit. 

    Just by the people posting here, this anecdotally appears to be a real problem.  I wasn’t part of any lawsuit, but my current MacBook Pro NEVER got anything near advertised battery life - I’d get 4 hours at most. I was really pissed off about that especially considering how expensive that machine was. 
  • Reply 11 of 11
    The charging case is definitely defective. We have airpods, airpods pro, and the Beats Fit Pros in this house. All works well. But  my wife's Powerbeats Pro are require an amazing amount of cleaning and delicate positioning to make sure both headsets charge. It definitely a flawed design. Apple really needs to address it.
    edited February 2022
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