Supreme Court rejects Microsoft, Best Buy appeal in racketeering lawsuit
The Supreme Court Monday rejected an appeal by Microsoft Corp. and a unit of Best Buy Co. Inc. to dismiss a lawsuit alleging violation of racketeering laws through fraudulently signing up customers for Microsoft’s online service.
[…]
The dispute began in 2003, when James Odom sued the companies after purchasing a laptop computer at a Best Buy store. Odom alleged that Best Buy included a software CD with his purchase that provided a six-month free trial to MSN.Best Buy allegedly signed Odom up an MSN account with the credit card Odom used to pay for the computer. After a six-month free trial ended, Microsoft began charging him for the account, the suit charged.
[…]
The lawsuit alleges the companies violated RICO by engaging in wire fraud when they electronically transmitted the plaintiffs’ financial information. The plaintiffs are claiming damages in the “tens of millions,” which if tripled would top $100 million, Girard said.
When MSN is outlawed, only outlaws will have MSN!
It seems like Best Buy is being caught in a lot a scams lately. Makes you wonder why people shop there. Their prices aren’t THAT good.
M$ and Best Buy, 2 douche companies I wouldn’t mind see going down.
Wait until Best Buy’s policy of in-store discounts (as opposed to rebates) catches on before you wish them out of existence.
Sounds like a simple fraud case. Especially after the victim never authorized the account or activated it. Someone got caught.
it seems like RICO is getting stretched to breaking.
Instead of using RICO to catch corporate organized crime, we need new laws written specifically for that.
But count on the congressional conservatives blocking any attempt to stop rich criminals. They are only “law and order” conservatives when it applies to people like us, working people, the poor, minorities, etc. etc.
So RICO remains the best tool.
I am not so sure this is as much a Microsoft scam as it is a Best Buy scam. Although we do not know if Microsoft was giving kick backs to Best Buy?? But how this guy did not realize he was setup by Best Buy and charged for MSN is just stupidity on his part.
Seems a lot of people sue because of their own lack of brains.
Sure, their are scams everywhere! They are out there because people are stupid.
This is like using the Patriot Act to go after a strip club.
Best Buy sold me a notebook for the kid, along with an expensive service contract. She spilled water in the thing. Guess what’s not covered….
The notebook came with a NetFlix subscription, and some iTunes-ish music subscriptions. I was able to kill all of that except NetFlix (which she wanted anyway), but it was “find out what’s happening and whack it” rather than “sign up”….
(No MSN, though.)
They’re off my “buy” list….
Normally, I wouldn’t waste the money on a service contract, but with the kid involved, I was concerned about the keyboard and display being considerably more expensive to replace than the contract price. So far I’ve managed to “recover” one of two memory “sticks”…. The modem’s probably OK, as is the HD, but the WiFi card won’t work in my older machine, which would have been nice.
This is NOT what RICO was intended for, but if it works, fine. “Opt Out” is NOT the way to do things. Reminds me of AOL’s “permanent” memberships….
Regards,
Stu.
8. “Best Buy sold me a notebook for the kid, along with an expensive service contract. She spilled water in the thing. Guess what’s not covered….”
And that surprised you because………?
We supply to the school systems here and to the Indian Reservations in NM. They buy no fault service contracts. They can throw them in the river if they want to, we still have to fix them free. But we’re not Best Buy.
#7 “This is like using the Patriot Act to go after a strip club.”
And what exactly did you expect the Patriot Act to be used for? Catching Osama Ben Ladin?
But on to Best Buy. They actually were pretty good when they arrived on the scene 12 or so years ago. But they have deteriorated steadily, and now don’t even offer particularly low prices or wide selection compared to the competition.
Instead of the Patriot Act, we need legislation in this country dealing with “automatic renewal” schemes that:
1. Do not adequately disclose their terms
2. Make canceling them harder than signing up.
3. Can be entered into by someone other than the cardholder !
DAve
The only thing that a service contract is good for is lightning damage. If you live in a high lightning area, it’s a good idea. I had a Sharp Aquos 37″ HDTV replaced. Otherwise, if a device is going to fail, it’ll usually fail during the manufacturers waranty or not at all.
11. I am surprised your service contract covers “acts of God”, most that I have seen do not. Unless its one like I mentioned above, like a no-fault contract. Other than that, I totally agree, most defects will show in the first 90 days.
One guy got singed up for MSN and they’re suing for millions and using RICO? seems a little silly to me. Is it possible the cashier hit the “yes I want MSN” button instead of the “No I don’t want MSN” button”?
#14, Dave,
Apparently, like so many of the comments, you didn’t read the article.
He didn’t sign up for MSN.
He didn’t want MSN.
He didn’t know someone else signed him up for MSN.
Best Buy gave his credit card number to MSN.
He didn’t ask Best Buy to give his credit card number to MSN.
MSN used his credit card number to bill him for something they were not entitled to.
And the kicker,
He is not the only one to have this happen to him. That makes it a class action suit. Also, because there appears to be a concerted effort to defraud these customers, that makes it a RICO action. This is exactly the type of case RICO was designed for.
Call dumb, stupid or British one of the 3 but errr isn’t msn free. I’ve got it on my computer and i use it all the time and don’t get charged is there someting i’m missing??
#15 Mr. Fusion
I guess I only read the summation of the article posted above, it tells of one individual who had a problem. I know a few years back BB and some of the other retailers would run promos to get a rebate if you signed up for sub-par internet access through MSN or some of the other lame portals. I guess I lept to the conclusion that someone could have mistakenly been signed up during one of these promos. Let’s say there were 100 people signed up, accidentaly, among the hundreds of thousands computers sold during these promos. Could that still not be accidental? maybe some people wanted the crappy internet service and didn’t get it, maybe they should throw a shit-fit and sue the pants off of everybody too. Maybe Alex Jones should investigate the influence of the Illumanati on BB and MSN…
#16
MSN used to be a pay to use portal like AOL or Compuserve.
Capone looks like Steve Baldmer.
This has been happening since at least 2002. I bought a computer from BestBuy before I went off to college (still using it now, BTW). At the checkout, the cashier asked if I would like to sign up for 6months free MSN. I told him no and handed over my credit card (actually my dad’s).
About a year later, I got a call from my dad asking why I was spending $30 a month on MSN and what was MSN. I told him that I never signed up for MSN and that is was dial-up internet access.
He called MSN and explained the situation. They were understanding and told him that they had been getting lots of these kinds of calls. They refunded ALL of the charges, right then and there. They did not even try to get my dad to sign up for their service.
Thank you dave for your breife and enlitening answer to my question and on that note. i will put my two pence worth in. i work in big DIY shop in the uk and i’m one of the casheers and on occasion i’ve accidently added on the replacment cover that we offer on drills and lawnmowers and things. It’s easily done but its also easily noticed once you’ve done it. There are some big give aways the total is a bit higher but theres also the “ooopppps i heat yes, not no” that wanders through your head and in these cases you just remove it from the transaction another 2 or 3 botton presses. Anyways i’m loosing myself. my point is this the staff in this store will be aware that they have pressed an incorrect botton weather it was negligence or intentional that is not the point it would be easy enough to remove the details from the transaction i would have though my other point is more of a question.
Why has M$ been taken to court for raceteering unless i’m missing something they are simply on the wrong end of a casheer error or a stores miss doing. they may not be noingly envolved.