[geeks] Seagate buckles to math ignorant consumers

[Chad McAuley]

Lionel Peterson wrote:
> Hello all,
> 
> Seagate is going to offer cash rebates to buyers of retail Seagate
> HDs, accoridng to an article in COmputerWorld [0]. The crux seems to
> be that since many folks think 1K = 1,024 and not 1,000, despite the
> fact that they do silly things like quote their salary as $63K/year,
> their car lease allows them 15K miles/year, and in europe distances
> are measured in Kilometers, and weight in Kilograms (and in all cases
> mean 1K = 1,000, not 1,024), it seems Seagate is being held to a
> higher standard.
> 
> To claim your cash reward for mathematical ignorance, you simply need
> to *prove* you bought a retail drive (receipt and serial number) from
> an authorized retailer, and submit individual claims *per drive*.
> 
> I'm gonna file this under "Why Bother"...
> 
> BTW, Seagate is not agreeing with any claims, it is just cheaper to
> settle... Maybe they could make a donation to the school system to
> improve math education.
> 
> Lionel
> 
> [0]
> http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9045141


I got something in the mail about this a week or two ago, and after 
looking at the terms decided it definitely wasn't worth the bother. 
IIRC the cash refund is like 5% of the purchase price, and considering 
the one eligible Seagate drive I own was bought on Black Friday a year 
or two ago and cost me under $100 after rebates, getting $5 back isn't 
important enough for me to bother filling out a claim.  Not to mention 
that at this point I doubt I still have the receipt.

People have been complaining about this since I can remember being 
interested in computers, so I'm not too surprised a lawsuit like this 
came about.  I can't say I agree with it, but it doesn't surprise me too 
much that it happened.