Macrocosmic Technologies

A settlement has been proposed between TJX and the lead plaintiffs for consumers who were affected. Divided into two classes are those whose financial details were exposed and those whose identity information was exposed. If you lost money, you can collect up to two $30 gift certificates, provided you can document the loss, including your wasted time at a princely $10 per hour. If you returned something without a receipt, and gave your driver’s license, you can collect three years of credit monitoring too. Oh, and they’re going to have a sale sometime in 2008 where you can get 15% off.

So, if a company implements shoddy security practices and causes mass card cancellation, as well as untold identity theft and consumer fraud, instead of quietly burying it, you turn it into a marketing event. Got it.

I have an $80 charge from 11/05 against a card that was used at TJX during the period that thieves had open access to the credit card details. Needless to say, FCRA’s 60 day dispute period is long gone, so a lawsuit against TJX may be my only reasonable recourse. Treble damages, court fees, time lost, and identity monitoring and theft protection come up to a tidy sum. Even if I accepted the class action settlement, I’d get, at most, $60 in gift certificates for my lost $80.