Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!bellcore!texbell!uhnix1!moray!siswat!buck
From: buck@siswat.UUCP (A. Lester Buck)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: Screwing Little Guys
Summary: Sue The Bastards!
Message-ID: <382@siswat.UUCP>
Date: 18 Mar 89 18:56:30 GMT
References: <79700022@p.cs.uiuc.edu> <96@armada.UUCP> <15903@cup.portal.com>
Distribution: na
Organization: Photon Graphics, Houston
Lines: 44

In article <15903@cup.portal.com>, dbell@cup.portal.com (David J Bell) writes:
> >> People get screwed all the time (I'm thinking about Apple customers)
> >> when a company introduces a new model at a random time of the year.
> >> Often, customer have bought machines the day before the new model came
> >> out, with no inkling that a new model would REALLY appear.  Apple has
> >> introduced two such machines in the last two months!!!
> >> 
> >> Don Gillies
> >
> >I don't understand this.  How is this screwing anybody?  If they paid
> >a fair price for the product capibilities, then how is it they have
> >lost anything?
> >
> >Doug Hoffman
> 
> Doug, I don't entirely agree. I've been caught in the same trap more
> than once. Even asked the vendor if new models were expected, and
> what new features/prices were anticipated. "Oh, no. We don't expect
> anything new for at least the rest of the year!" Bullshit! Now I have
> *last year's* product, at full retail price, and the NEW, IMPROVED model

If this had happened in Texas, you could sue under the Deceptive Trade
Practices/Consumer Protection Act.  Specifically, this practice comes
under the list of unlawful trade practices,

(23)	the failure to disclose information concerning goods or services
	which was known at the time of the transaction if such failure
	to disclose such information was intended to induce the
	consumer into a transaction into which the consumer would not
	have entered had the information been disclosed.

By following the procedure in the Act (30 days notice of intention to
sue, quoting above section), you can recover three times your
actual damages, up to $1000 dollars.  Just mentioning the DTPA
in Texas gets LOTS of attention from vendors.

Texas is not usually a leader in legal innovation, but it has one of
the toughest (if not THE toughest) consumer protection laws, and it
works.  I used it to file a small claims case once, and they caved
in instantly.  Some other states have similar laws - don't let
them screw you!

-- 
A. Lester Buck		...!texbell!moray!siswat!buck