Bought RAM 15 Years Ago? There Could Be Cash In Your Mailbox

Megalith

Megalith

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If you bought anything with RAM in it between 1998 and 2002, you might be getting a settlement check from a class suit brought against manufacturers that unlawfully inflated pricing.

RAM manufacturers…collaborated to artificially inflate the price of RAM. Big names implicated in the scheme include Samsung, Crucial, and NEC. The RAM manufacturers were sued for their anti-competitive behavior, and ultimately settled for $310 million in 2014. $200 million was set aside for payments like the $60 check Deadspin’s Tim Burke received in the mail yesterday. Others are reporting checks as large as $72.95. One guy on Twitter reported getting $128.
 
There's a thread in progress in General Mayhem about it, I got my check on Thursday for $42 and change. I'm sure I purchased far more than I claimed but I wasn't actually expecting to get "paid off" at any point. Now that I did get a check, I wonder how much I could have actually received considering how much RAM I've bought over the past 2 decades. :D
 
got 5 bucks back though i had purchased prolly about 20-30 something sticks of ram way back in the day DOH!
 
I bought a shit ton of ram then. How would I claim anything and tbh I have no clue how much I bought, but I was building a ton of systems at the time.
 
What vendors were you guys using back then? My Newegg history only goes back to 2004, and if I was buying RAM before that, I can't remember who it would have been.
 
Are you on a list of some kind? Did you actually prove that you bought memory back then? I mean we are talking like PC-133 days right? Buying your 128MB sticks.
 
westrock2000 said:
Are you on a list of some kind? Did you actually prove that you bought memory back then? I mean we are talking like PC-133 days right? Buying your 128MB sticks.
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No list, no proof, didn't have to be ram by itself, but anything containing dram, so consoles, printers, computers, PDA, etc.

I think I claimed like 4 consoles, 3 printers, and maybe 3 laptops and 15 sticks of ram and got like $86 +change back.
 
westrock2000 said:
Are you on a list of some kind? Did you actually prove that you bought memory back then? I mean we are talking like PC-133 days right? Buying your 128MB sticks.
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No proof of purchase was required for the settlement, however the sign up deadline has long past. Got $129.
 
Balkroth said:
No list, no proof, didn't have to be ram by itself, but anything containing dram, so consoles, printers, computers, PDA, etc.

I think I claimed like 4 consoles, 3 printers, and maybe 3 laptops and 15 sticks of ram and got like $86 +change back.
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Killerxp100 said:
No proof of purchase was required for the settlement, however the sign up deadline has long past. Got $129.
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Well, all I can say is.......jealous!
 
It wasn't just unadorned ram involved, it was anything and everything with ram in it from that era: laptops, pdas, printers, consoles, etc. I remember receiving a letter last year that my claim was going to take longer, I figured with the amount of shit I had on mine they were going to make me pull ancient receipts out of thin f'n air, but then yesterday I got a check for $181.63.

Don't know if it's too late but the site for the claims is DRAMclaims.com
 
Well this sucks.......I built multiple pc's back then and had all the game consoles of that era too :(. Never heard anything about this until now.
 
I actually sent in the settlement info a long time ago but have moved several times. I lose.
 
Same. I can't believe so many people on this site actually ever heard about this lawsuit. The fact that most people haven't is why the checks aren't all less than $10 though. Usually these things amount to about the cost of postage for any claimants and millions for the lawyers. Of course all those who got a check do have to figure out how to properly add it to their taxes since it does get reported to the government.

brentsg said:
Geez I bought a ton of stuff, didn't hear about the sign-up.
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This is a partial refund for being price gouged. Compensation for a loss is not a taxable event.
 
G_Sup said:
I actually sent in the settlement info a long time ago but have moved several times. I lose.
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I have moved three times sice I submitted my info for this. I still got a check for $136 yesterday.
 
153.88 in Friday's mail

have to wonder what the formula was for the payments?

I had ram, printers, video cards and I don't remember what else.
 
Sigh... don't know where I was and how I missed this one...
 
$72 here. I forgot what I put down, but I had built several dekstop computers then and at least 1 laptop.

I got the notice in the mail like 3 or 4 years ago because the laptop I purchased was shipped to me so the company had my address and I haven't moved.
 
$181.63 for me.

I signed ul for it so long ago I forgot about it. It was quite the surprise getting the check.
 
Despotes said:
I heard nothing until now. I bought a pc and lot's of RAM during that period :(
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A few years back they had a whole ad blitz around that lawsuit. I remember it being in a few magazines/newspapers, seeing commercials on tv, I imagine they spent too f'n much on ads which is why people ended up with next to nothing.

And for the folks who moved since they filed, go to their website and see if you can contact them to the effect, you might get lucky. Good luck!

I wonder if anybody ended up with more than $181.63, or maybe $181.63 is the top award tier.
 
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Deepminer said:
I imagine they spent too f'n much on ads which is why people ended up with next to nothing.
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Have you not been paying attention the amounts of money that have been paid out so far in this settlement, just from those of us that received payments and have reported it? I've seen like half a dozen people getting what appears to be the max of about $181, I myself got $42 and change, a lot of people getting more and not many getting less than me so, yeah, it's been a rather considerable chunk of money so far. I mean, I've been involved in other class action suits against various corporations, even one involving Bank of America a few years ago and that payout was like $8 and change so, this is pretty significant in my opinion.

For the record, the RAM that I claimed when I applied to this class action suit cost me about $190 with tax included (4 sticks of DDR 133 purchased in 2000 that I could directly account for meaning I had the original receipt for the purchase even in spite of me not having to actually prove I bought it) and I got basically 25% of that back so... as I said before, I'm fine withe settlement and was never really expecting to get more than a few bucks at most. I did actually purchase far more than just those 4 sticks of RAM in the time period the suit was working with but I figured I'd just lay claim to the 4 I had a receipt for just in case. I would easily have gotten that ~$181 max if I had just named off a bit more of them but I'm good to go.
 
This was spread like crazy, I found it off a link on facebook I think. The problem was it seemed like a thing people thought wouldn't happen at the time, I have 8 friends I sent it to and none of them filled out the form. Yes, most class action suits would be in the $10 range (if you remember the CD one from ~10-12 years ago, it was like $14 a person no matter what) so the fact that most people did not sign up for it is why the checks are for some decent amounts.
 
I bet the checks would have been like 5 cents if everyone actually signed up for the class action when it was available.
 
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