Apple now paying out $95M in AppleCare lawsuit settlement

AppleInsider · August 25, 2022 9:16PM

Apple is starting to send out payments in its $95 million settlement of a class-action lawsuit over refurbished devices used as replacements for AppleCare repairs.

AppleCare

Hagans Berman, the law firm handling the case, began sending out emails to members of the class on Thursday. According to an email seen by AppleInsider, a payment notification email will be sent by Aug. 30 that will allow class members to claim their payments electronically.

Those who are eligible to receive a payment in the settlement will have until Nov. 28, 2022 to claim their payment.

Payments will be sent out to any customer that purchased AppleCare or AppleCare+ coverage for an iPhone or iPad after July 20, 2012 and who received a refurbished device as a replacement.

The original lawsuit, which was first filed in 2016, alleged that Apple was misleading customers about its AppleCare terms. More specifically, it said that refurbished devices were not "new or equivalent to new in performance and reliability" as the term outlines.

Although the iPhone maker argued that refurbished devices were still "equivalent to new," Apple's efforts to have the lawsuit tossed largely failed. In September 2019, a U.S. District Court judge certified the class.

Apple has admitted no wrongdoing on its part. It still agreed to pay out $95 million to settle the lawsuit back in October 2021.

Hagens Berman is getting about half of the settlement. Users shouldn't expect big cash from this settlement -- the email that we received shows a $14.45 payout.

More information about the settlement can be found here. A full text of the email sent to AppleInsider is available below.

According to our records, you are eligible to receive a payment of $14.45 in the settlement for the matter entitled Maldonado, et al. v. Apple Inc., et al., Case No. 3:16-CV-04067-WHO.
As Settlement Administrator for the matter, we're sending you this courtesy email to inform you that by August 30, 2022, you will receive a payment notification email that contains a link to claim your payment electronically. Once you receive that email, you will have until November 28, 2022 to claim your payment.

Read on AppleInsider

badmonk · August 25, 2022 9:31PM

as a frequent purchaser of refurbished Apple products I would say they are better than new…they look new, have the requisite Apple clear panel wrapping. But they have performed better than the products that I have purchased new. I suspect that is because they undergo more stringent QC testing. The only thing you don’t get is the box.

At a time when we should be cutting down with the disposal of e-waste this is bad news.

darkvader · August 25, 2022 10:08PM

badmonk said:

as a frequent purchaser of refurbished Apple products I would say they are better than new…they look new, have the requisite Apple clear panel wrapping. But they have performed better than the products that I have purchased new. I suspect that is because they undergo more stringent QC testing. The only thing you don’t get is the box.

At a time when we should be cutting down with the disposal of e-waste this is bad news.

They've gotten better at refurb failure rates, but I suspect that's because they're mostly not actually refurbished at all these days, they're just customer returns of virtually new computers.

It used to be that Apple refurbs would have close to a 50% DOA rate. I used to tell customers "Sure, go ahead and buy the refurb, you'll save money, and we'll make money fixing it under warranty when you get a dead computer."

Mondain · August 26, 2022 12:44AM

"Hagens Berman is getting about half of the settlement."

Wow. What a world we live in.

indieshack · August 26, 2022 3:57AM

Hagens Berman is getting about half of the settlement. Users shouldn't expect big cash from this settlement — the email that we received shows a $14.45 payout.

Yikes - so everything I've seen and experienced from class action lawsuits indicate that where possible it's not a good idea to join them where given the choice.

laytech · August 26, 2022 8:51AM

Once again, only the lawyers win!

macgui · August 26, 2022 11:29AM

Mondain said:

"Hagens Berman is getting about half of the settlement."

Wow. What a world we live in.

laytech said:

Once again, only the lawyers win!

indieshack said:

Hagens Berman is getting about half of the settlement. Users shouldn't expect big cash from this settlement — the email that we received shows a $14.45 payout.

Yikes - so everything I've seen and experienced from class action lawsuits indicate that where possible it's not a good idea to join them where given the choice.

Yes, by all means, you should get your own lawyer and sue outside of a class action. See how that works out for you. Every time there's a class action judgement announced, there's the same whining of "only the lawyers win. Well, maybe you should have got to law school.

it is disappointing that lawyers get so much of the pot at the end of the game. But if the job was easy, you'd be doing it. Or maybe at least one of you. Who's going to file their own lawsuit and what do you think their odds are going to be?

The big payday for law firms, and not individual lawyers for the most part, is probably a big reason to take on class actions in the first place, but not in every case. Apple's responsibilities and actions going forward aren't clear to me. I tried reading the significantly redacted certification and gave up. I'm no lawyer. Maybe Apple has to provide new replacements for defective merchandise. If that's the case, customers win. And their replacement kit will be cover by AppleCare.

Will Apple rewrite AppleCare somewhat, and will that work for future claims. I have no idea. A few of my Apple buys have been refurbs but only when they've been significantly cheaper than retail. For the last few years there have been so many great deals from authorized retailers it hasn't made sense to buy refurbs.

Limit the percentage of lawyers' fees and plaintiffs get more money. That would almost guarantee fewer lawsuits with much less legal redress. If somebody's got a viable alternative that both better awards plaintiffs and stops egregious corporate practices, regale us with The Answer.

verne arase · August 26, 2022 12:04PM

darkvader said:

They've gotten better at refurb failure rates, but I suspect that's because they're mostly not actually refurbished at all these days, they're just customer returns of virtually new computers.

It used to be that Apple refurbs would have close to a 50% DOA rate. I used to tell customers "Sure, go ahead and buy the refurb, you'll save money, and we'll make money fixing it under warranty when you get a dead computer."

I've bought plenty of Apple refurbs and never had a problem. They always seemed just like new - and I suspect that if their condition was not just like new they'd never be offered in the Apple refurb store.

So who are you and who were you working for when you would tell customers what you were telling them, and who did the refurbishment?

crowley · August 26, 2022 1:37PM

verne arase said:

darkvader said:

They've gotten better at refurb failure rates, but I suspect that's because they're mostly not actually refurbished at all these days, they're just customer returns of virtually new computers.

It used to be that Apple refurbs would have close to a 50% DOA rate. I used to tell customers "Sure, go ahead and buy the refurb, you'll save money, and we'll make money fixing it under warranty when you get a dead computer."

I've bought plenty of Apple refurbs and never had a problem. They always seemed just like new - and I suspect that if their condition was not just like new they'd never be offered in the Apple refurb store.

So who are you and who were you working for when you would tell customers what you were telling them, and who did the refurbishment?

He's whatever he needs to be in order to shit on Apple with whatever made up story is convenient. Ignore.

hammeroftruth · August 26, 2022 1:58PM

darkvader said:

badmonk said:

as a frequent purchaser of refurbished Apple products I would say they are better than new…they look new, have the requisite Apple clear panel wrapping. But they have performed better than the products that I have purchased new. I suspect that is because they undergo more stringent QC testing. The only thing you don’t get is the box.

At a time when we should be cutting down with the disposal of e-waste this is bad news.

They've gotten better at refurb failure rates, but I suspect that's because they're mostly not actually refurbished at all these days, they're just customer returns of virtually new computers.

It used to be that Apple refurbs would have close to a 50% DOA rate. I used to tell customers "Sure, go ahead and buy the refurb, you'll save money, and we'll make money fixing it under warranty when you get a dead computer."

Is that how you used to gouge your customers by spreading lies about refurbished computers? To be fair, I’m talking about refurbished by Apple and not some other entity. You do know that Apple does refurbish its own stuff AND gives you the same warranty as new and the option to add Applecare right?

ApplePoor · August 26, 2022 2:13PM

On December 22, 2018, my wife and I were struck by a stopped car on a red light car at an intersection where that driver was looking left, saw a space in the traffic and accelerated. Only issue was we were directly in front of the car and the count down timer showed 14 seconds as we stepped off the curb. My right foot received crushed bones from the left front tire. My wife was knocked over backwards and her scalp was split from her skull and blood was every where and she was unconscious. The best truma hospital in the state was 3 miles away. She was in ICU within a few minutes with traumatic brain injury. I ended up with steel pins in the bones to help them heal in a straight line.

This was a slam dunk case for liability of the driver and we were approached by lawyers wanting to make easy money. Their percentage (if they won) was in a range of 30% to 50%.

The young driver had the minimum state insurance coverage. The insurance carrier could not wait to pay the policy limits to preclude a trial where the family's home and all their assets were at risk. We chatted and received the max limits with no lawyer.

We are seniors so Medicare and the co-pay insurance covered the medical bills. But Medicare has to be reimbursed for their expense in an accident.

We have very high limits on our under-insured/uninsured car policy. We also have vey high medical payments coverage. My carrier of 30 years stepped up and covered all the medical bills. They also made a substantial pain and suffering payment to both of us all without a lawyer.

Money does not give you back the life you had before the accident. But keeping it all for us and not paying a lawyer 30% for making a few phone calls was a blessing.

These Class action suits under discussion are always brought by lawyers and the victims get pennies while the lawyers get the dollars.

indieshack · August 26, 2022 2:43PM

macgui said:

Mondain said:

"Hagens Berman is getting about half of the settlement."

Wow. What a world we live in.

laytech said:

Once again, only the lawyers win!

indieshack said:

Hagens Berman is getting about half of the settlement. Users shouldn't expect big cash from this settlement — the email that we received shows a $14.45 payout.

Yikes - so everything I've seen and experienced from class action lawsuits indicate that where possible it's not a good idea to join them where given the choice.

Yes, by all means, you should get your own lawyer and sue outside of a class action. See how that works out for you.

My wife recently declined a class action against an employer and represented herself. She got $5k versus the $40 for the class action was paying out. It doesn't always require a lawyer, depends on the circumstances.

geekmee · August 26, 2022 4:07PM

I am sure Apple figures…
it’s the cost of doing business.

bobolicious · August 27, 2022 1:39PM

... is there an environmental benefit to all when refurbished products are recommissioned ...?
I look to refurbished options even when upgrading due to the lower footprint, high quality and positive experiences I have had...
As a bonus the lower cost usually covers Applecare+, which has offered support and repair coverage for 3+ years,
and has seemingly become more important with onboard storage...

ApplePoor · August 27, 2022 5:16PM

I have had good experiences with refurb Apple products. Nø fancy box for the landfill is even better as no inks to contaminate the immediate area of the box when it finally gets wet.

Both of my new Studio Displays came in a super fancy box inside a plain cardboard brown shipping box. Twice the material for the landfill. If the folks had spent as much time designing the box on the on board computer system, perhaps fewer issues requiring software updates would have occurred.

My Mac Studio was dropped shipped to the local Apple store from China. It was perhaps in a larger box with other Mac Studios or in it's own brown box like the displays., I do not know.

Touching my wood desktop, no problems so far with the Mac Studio. The fancy box was another "engineering marvel".

browncoat3 · August 27, 2022 11:09PM

crowley said:

verne arase said:

darkvader said:

They've gotten better at refurb failure rates, but I suspect that's because they're mostly not actually refurbished at all these days, they're just customer returns of virtually new computers.

It used to be that Apple refurbs would have close to a 50% DOA rate. I used to tell customers "Sure, go ahead and buy the refurb, you'll save money, and we'll make money fixing it under warranty when you get a dead computer."

I've bought plenty of Apple refurbs and never had a problem. They always seemed just like new - and I suspect that if their condition was not just like new they'd never be offered in the Apple refurb store.

So who are you and who were you working for when you would tell customers what you were telling them, and who did the refurbishment?

He's whatever he needs to be in order to shit on Apple with whatever made up story is convenient. Ignore.

Actually having worked for 3 different authorized retailers over a span of 9 years I can attest that the refurbs did typically have more problems. 50% is probably hyperbole but it is a much greater than a new one. Some speculation on my part that, this was probably due to the fact that Apple had (maybe still has) an unofficial policy that when a computer has been repaired more than 3 times in a year they just replaced the whole unit. Then they would fix them again and sell them as refurbs.

shysterlawyers · March 24, 2023 10:43PM

AppleInsider said:

Apple is starting to send out payments in its $95 million settlement of a class-action lawsuit over refurbished devices used as replacements for AppleCare repairs.

AppleCare

Hagans Berman, the law firm handling the case, began sending out emails to members of the class on Thursday. According to an email seen by AppleInsider, a payment notification email will be sent by Aug. 30 that will allow class members to claim their payments electronically.

Those who are eligible to receive a payment in the settlement will have until Nov. 28, 2022 to claim their payment.

Payments will be sent out to any customer that purchased AppleCare or AppleCare+ coverage for an iPhone or iPad after July 20, 2012 and who received a refurbished device as a replacement.

The original lawsuit, which was first filed in 2016, alleged that Apple was misleading customers about its AppleCare terms. More specifically, it said that refurbished devices were not "new or equivalent to new in performance and reliability" as the term outlines.

Although the iPhone maker argued that refurbished devices were still "equivalent to new," Apple's efforts to have the lawsuit tossed largely failed. In September 2019, a U.S. District Court judge certified the class.

Apple has admitted no wrongdoing on its part. It still agreed to pay out $95 million to settle the lawsuit back in October 2021.

Hagens Berman is getting about half of the settlement. Users shouldn't expect big cash from this settlement -- the email that we received shows a $14.45 payout.

More information about the settlement can be found here. A full text of the email sent to AppleInsider is available below.
According to our records, you are eligible to receive a payment of $14.45 in the settlement for the matter entitled Maldonado, et al. v. Apple Inc., et al., Case No. 3:16-CV-04067-WHO.
As Settlement Administrator for the matter, we're sending you this courtesy email to inform you that by August 30, 2022, you will receive a payment notification email that contains a link to claim your payment electronically. Once you receive that email, you will have until November 28, 2022 to claim your payment.
Read on AppleInsider

Apple now paying out $95M in AppleCare lawsuit settlement

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