Pop quiz: What do Microsoft and Best Buy and John Gotti and Michael Milken have in common? Surprisingly, all four have at one time or another been charged with racketeering under the 1970 RICO Act, with the former two entities facing revived charges surrounding an alleged ongoing fraud that began more than seven years ago. Specifically, San Francisco's 9th US Circuit of Appeals has "reversed and remanded" an earlier dismissal of a suit in which plaintiff James Odom claimed that Microsoft and Best Buy colluded to sign him and other unsuspecting customers up for paid MSN subscriptions when they purchased a PC at the big box retailer. Although Microsoft began doling out refunds to those whose credit cards had been illicitly charged as early as 2003, interested parties still seem keen on winning a verdict against the software giant, and were seemingly unswayed by offers of increased Hotmail storage and free Zunes -- and now, as the case heads to US District Court in Seattle, even the mighty Geek Squad's powers are completely useless.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
andy @ May 10th 2007 10:34AM
@Kevin
Evil except for the fact that they've already offered refunds and parting gifts for years without any court intervention.
I guess piling on is the new cool, huh? I guess I'm a little old fashioned in that when someone gives me my money back and some free stuff, I consider that a satisfactory resolution.
steve @ May 10th 2007 10:18AM
"even the mighty Geek Squad's powers are completely useless"
They were useful in the first place?
Mike @ May 10th 2007 10:47AM
So I suppose if someone pickpockets you, takes a $20 out of your wallet and then you catch him, everything is cool as long as he gives the wallet back and maybe gives you a gmail invite and a $25 gift cert to buy something from a store he owns?
andy @ May 10th 2007 10:53AM
@mike
No, but I'm cool with the US mint if they give me my money back and free trip somewhere.
I didn't say I wouldn't be pissed at best buy, the one who took my money without my permission.
akijikan @ May 10th 2007 11:38AM
There's a reason San Francisco's 9th US Circuit is nicked named the "9th Circus"
Cook @ May 10th 2007 12:15PM
Simply giving a refund doesn't resolve the issue completely, because RICO allows for treble damages. Although I'm a lawyer now, I was working at Best Buy as "geek squad" (although they didn't call it that at the time) during this whole fiasco. I remember shoving MSN down customers' throats but I don't remember ever telling someone to sign up without them understanding that this was a temporary trial. I'm sure there is more to it though.
Kevin @ May 10th 2007 12:55PM
Im a current Best buy employee, and maybe Best Buy used to suck. But since I've worked there I've been inundated with nothing but costomer centricity this, costomer centricity that. We go to extremes to make our customers happy. And although we still try to sell them all of our services, we dont shove them down their throats.
smile @ May 10th 2007 3:19PM
Bill Gates finest hour.
poreilly @ May 10th 2007 4:25PM
That MSN signup thing hapened to my mother.
She bought a computer back in '04. And a few months ago I was at her house as she was paying bills, and in passing she mentioned the extra charge Comcast was charging for internet. I was all ready to call up Comcast when I looked at the credit card bill and saw that is was an MSN charge. I asked her how long she had been paying this and told her she didn't need it anymore. I didn't have the heart to to tell her she had been getting ripped off for over a year.
Granted she should have known what she was signing up for and she should have been questioning the charges on her credit card. But little old ladies aren't good at those kinds of things.
The kicker is that the computer she bought was a Mac...so why the MSN was even pitched to her by the Best Buy Employee is quite suspect. I hope he enjoyed his crappy "Top Accessory Salesman of the Month" award....dick.
nottakingitpersonally @ May 11th 2007 1:09AM
there isnt nor ever was 'top accessory salesman of the month.
you 'didnt have the heart'?
apple and the tree...