Shocker, TJX Credit Card Breach Settlement Proposal Lacks Any Real Settlement

from the oops-we're-real-sorry dept

TJX, the parent corporation of retailer TJ Maxx,proposed a settlement to the class action suits leveed against it in what could be largest credit card breach ever, approximately 45 million records. TJX is offering claimants up to three years of credit monitoring along with $20,000 identity theft insurance coverage. This settlement sounds pretty good, until you read the fine print (via Consumerist). In order to qualify for the settlement, you must have returned an item to the store without a receipt; this limits the claimants to approximately 455,000 people, or only about 1% of class. The remaining 44.5 million are only eligible for $30 vouchers in store credit, and only with documented proof of a loss. This definitely seems like a slap on the wrist for TJX. Sure, it’s bad, but surely TJX hasn’t lost 77% of its customer base from this incident. Finally, in a clever move at the end of the settlement proposal, TJX took this as an opportunity to announce that all of its stores will be having a 15% sale sometime in 2008. Way to turn a class action lawsuit settlement into free advertising, TJ Maxx.

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Companies: tj maxx, tjx

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Comments on “Shocker, TJX Credit Card Breach Settlement Proposal Lacks Any Real Settlement”

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6 Comments
Killer_Tofu (profile) says:

Why

mention the ad that TJMaxx mentioned at the end of it?
Just don’t mention it and you are helping to defeat their purpose.
Then again, most people reading here will probably like the company less for knowing that TJM tried that.
Now if only we could get everyone who considers shopping at TJM to read this first.
I actually got a coworker to stop shopping there because of this shit. =)

OkieFromMuskogee says:

It's all about legal fees

A high percentage – too high – of class action suits are nothing more than a game of “gotcha” between a company and an ingenious law firm. This case is a good example. I’m getting about one notice a month that I’m part of a “class” that someone has “wronged.” Typically the class members get some nearly-worthless coupons or something equally frivolous, and the attorneys for the “class” get something like FORTY MILLION DOLLARS.

I’m not a defender of corporations. In fact, you could call me a rabid populist. But class action suits have become an extortion racket working for the benefit of greedy lawyers. The judges who approve the legal fees in these cases should be impeached.

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