As the historic Mastercard collective action approaches its 10th anniversary, the prospect of actually handing out compensation is starting to look real. In theory, £100m of the sum agreed last year will be available to share among roughly 44 million people who lived in the UK between 1997 and 2008 and went shopping at the time.
The big unknown, of course, is how many will come forward to claim up to £70 in free money. Research earlier this summer suggested that one in three consumers would suspect a scam. All the more so if asked to enter their bank details online.
Class champion Walter Merricks has a solution. Apparently, when the claims portal goes live, it will offer three options: cash; shopping vouchers; or a donation to charity. The latter two won’t require bank details. The aim is to attract at least 2.2 million claimants – each getting £45 – to deflect criticism that the claim was a humongous, lawyer-enriching waste of time.
Obiter guesses the number will be higher but plans to file a claim anyway. As the saying goes, there are some things money can’t buy; for everything else, there’s Mastercard.
No comments yet