Class Action Settlements:Do you join?

[Anonymous]

About once per quarter, I receive an email about joining a class action settlement. Nearly all involve consumer issues and only take seconds to join. I received a $200 Zelle deposit into my account on Friday that I had completely forgotten about for a complaint I joined last summer. A few years ago, I received $400 from a car dealership, and over the years, various smaller amounts. After the Friday deposit, I asked a few friends if they join, and only one said that they did.

Curious if anyone out here joins? And what downside could I be missing by joining?

[Anonymous]

Yeah. The best one was long ago, the one about credit card exchange rate fees. We got hundreds of dollars.
I have gotten a few bucks here and there for things. Sometimes I don't bother.

[Anonymous]

I recently filed a claim for the beef lawsuit. Its the first time I joined w/o specific proof I was harmed.


My family eats beef and I buy it regularly; during the period I lived in Washington, DC, one of the eligible states. I dont have grocery receipts from 10+ years ago but Im reasonably certain I was affected so I filed.

[Anonymous]

There is no downside. Unless you opt out (which is an affirmative step where you write to the court and asked to be removed from the class), you are a member of the class whether you claim money or not. 99% of the time, if you don’t claim you share, it will just get redistributed to everyone else.

[Anonymous]

I treat it like a hobby. The submission process is incredibly easy and only takes a few minutes to complete. Submit and forget and then a few months later you might receive something.

On my own, I wouldn't have sued the companies and only briefly glance at what the allegations are. So if the defendants are saying I too was harmed, I agree and join, lol.

With all our information floating out there, I assume lawsuits will become part of the norm. Count me in.

[Anonymous]

I join all the time. Love that a lot of them will send you money via Venmo now too.

[Anonymous]

I join. I don't care about the small payout, but I'm a lawyer and believe in the system.

[Anonymous]

I get busy and forget to deal with them. I've missed out on a couple that might have yielded me some hundreds of dollars. Automotive.

We got about $250 from Hertz for misrepresenting Mexico rental car prices. I agreed they deserved to pay out on that. We were forced into a larger car on arrival because they were out of the car class we reserved and wouldn't comp us on an upgrade.

I got $12 from a Hearst magazine privacy settlement that I filed for because I believe companies need to be more mindful of our data. It was supposed to be $30 though...more people filed than they expected.

I think I also got $20 for some kind of stock-related misbehavior by an oil exploration/pipeline company.

The ones I forgot to file were related to car repairs that I had gotten repaired under warranty.

[Anonymous]

I first joined one for a car I then owned. A small part of it caused an accident that killed people and a class action suit was started. I responded and received about $200. Since then I get them for various consumer things that I bought like an off brand car vacuum, a baby gate for our dog, and other things I can't recall. The most I received was about $500, and my DH thought it was for something an utility company had not fixed correctly.

[Anonymous]

My husband works for a consumer packaged foods company. I’m always afraid to take part in those claims because they could come back and haunt us- ie if he has to go look for a new job, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I get busy and forget to deal with them. I've missed out on a couple that might have yielded me some hundreds of dollars. Automotive.

We got about $250 from Hertz for misrepresenting Mexico rental car prices. I agreed they deserved to pay out on that. We were forced into a larger car on arrival because they were out of the car class we reserved and wouldn't comp us on an upgrade.

I got $12 from a Hearst magazine privacy settlement that I filed for because I believe companies need to be more mindful of our data. It was supposed to be $30 though...more people filed than they expected.

I think I also got $20 for some kind of stock-related misbehavior by an oil exploration/pipeline company.

The ones I forgot to file were related to car repairs that I had gotten repaired under warranty.

I received one from a car dealership that had been selling previous rental cars without alerting buyers. The car in question was a Toyota Camry, and one of the best cars I've ever had. I never had any issues, but I benefited because I purchased it during the incident window.

The ones that annoy me are the small payouts. I got a check for less than a dollar once that I threw away. For cases like that, the settlement company should offer the option to donate it to a local food bank.

Since most occurrences take several years to become a lawsuit, I recommend checking old email accounts if you frequently change them. Nearly all the settlement emails I get go to my old Yahoo account.

[Anonymous]

I’ve done a few if it’s easy to qualify. I don’t do the ones that require a lot of documentation that takes too much time to find.

[Anonymous]

Few easy ones years ago. I have minimized buying, holding, sending money, borrowing or whatever got me into them previously.
I don't want my name, address, phone number out there.
I have received fake settlement and class action notices and I don't want to figure out what's real, what's not.
NW has also gone up. I don't need to do any of it for money, but rather stay out.

[Anonymous]

How do you know if they are legit?

[Anonymous]

Where is a good place to learn about them? Any legit websites that make it easy to sign up?