Coding Cloud Heroku May Face Lawsuit Over Bait-and-Switch Claims
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Re: Coding Cloud Heroku May Face Lawsuit Over Bait-and-Switch Claims
#2>Heroku declined our request for further comment. “Unfortunately, we can’t publicly comment on legal matters,” said spokeswoman Dana Oshiro in an email. “Heroku is committed to our customers’ success and focused on delivering the best possible product and experience. We’ll continue to update our customers via our blog.”
I don't run a company, and I'm not responsible for maximizing return on my shareholders' investment. So maybe I lack the mental schemas that make these sorts of statements seem reasonable, but they always strike me as short-sighted. Yes, admitting wrongdoing may open you up to legal liability. But it seems to me that, in the long run, it's far better to take your licks and own up to your mistakes than to hide behind the shield of pending litigation. My gut instinct is to offer a sincere mea culpa and provide a transparent roadmap to improvement, and if you lose a court case then so be it. I'd like to think that the good will and respect you build from accountability and honesty will ultimately outweigh any short-term losses from court settlements or judgements.
As I said, I don't live in that world. I would be saddened, though not necessarily surprised, to learn that I was wrong.
Re: Coding Cloud Heroku May Face Lawsuit Over Bait-and-Switch Claims
#3If the decisions made by Heroku to misrepresent the product were made prior to the Salesforce acquisition (December 2010) do the founders of Heroku have any liability? Would this sort of thing be a consideration with an acquisition?
Re: Coding Cloud Heroku May Face Lawsuit Over Bait-and-Switch Claims
#4IANAL, but my understanding is that threatening a class action lawsuit is easy, but actually bringing an action to court is extremely difficult. And (at least to me) this seems like an awfully weak case -- I don't see any obvious or intentional fraud.
The whole thing seems strange to me. I don't really understand what Rap Genius hopes to gain here. If Heroku wasn't providing enough performance for their money (regardless of technical cause), then why did they stick around so long?
Would Rap Genius still have sued if the documentation had been 100% correct and instead the problem was just plain old slow I/O on Heroku's side?
Re: Coding Cloud Heroku May Face Lawsuit Over Bait-and-Switch Claims
#5>Heroku declined our request for further comment. “Unfortunately, we can’t publicly comment on legal matters,” said spokeswoman Dana Oshiro in an email. “Heroku is committed to our customers’ success and focused on delivering the best possible product and experience. We’ll continue to update our customers via our blog.” I don't run a company, and I'm not responsible for maximizing return on my shareholders' investmen…
What makes this proposed class action suit possible is that Heroku did admit[0] that their service didn't match up with what their documentation and website claimed, that they messed up, and would be fixing it. And it wasn't something like "our documentation and site could have been misinterpreted", they actually admitted the website and documentation were inaccurate with metrics which were incorrect. It's like a class action lawyer's wet dream of culpability on the part of the defendant.
[0] https://blog.heroku.com/archives/2013/2/16/routing_performan...
Re: Coding Cloud Heroku May Face Lawsuit Over Bait-and-Switch Claims
#6>Heroku declined our request for further comment. “Unfortunately, we can’t publicly comment on legal matters,” said spokeswoman Dana Oshiro in an email. “Heroku is committed to our customers’ success and focused on delivering the best possible product and experience. We’ll continue to update our customers via our blog.” I don't run a company, and I'm not responsible for maximizing return on my shareholders' investmen…
Seeing that there is a website/lawfirm[1] threatening legal action, I can bet Heroku/Salesforce lawyers jumped on that ASAP and let all their employees that are allowed to talk publicly not to comment on the issue anymore.
The US legal system is setup that if a company admits fault in something like this, it makes defending yourself much more difficult. Meaning if a lawsuit is brought about, it's not about proving innocence anymore, it's about mitigating the damages you will have to pay. Your lawyer is going to want to have as many options available to him/her to deal with your case during it's lifespan, and admitting fault before the lawsuit even begins will limit the lawyers options when it comes to negotiations and what tactics they can use in the courtroom.
Re: Coding Cloud Heroku May Face Lawsuit Over Bait-and-Switch Claims
#7On one hand the Rap Genius expose seemed like they got duped and mislead, but on the other hand something about this lawyer mentioned in the article comes off as ambulance-chase-y to me.
Re: Coding Cloud Heroku May Face Lawsuit Over Bait-and-Switch Claims
#8If the decisions made by Heroku to misrepresent the product were made prior to the Salesforce acquisition (December 2010) do the founders of Heroku have any liability? Would this sort of thing be a consideration with an acquisition?
I don't believe any decision was made to misrepresent the product. The product just evolved and the product documentation didn't. The end result is the same — the product was advertised with inaccurate claims — but this appears to be more a case of neglect than a deliberate misrepresentation.
Re: Coding Cloud Heroku May Face Lawsuit Over Bait-and-Switch Claims
#9>Heroku declined our request for further comment. “Unfortunately, we can’t publicly comment on legal matters,” said spokeswoman Dana Oshiro in an email. “Heroku is committed to our customers’ success and focused on delivering the best possible product and experience. We’ll continue to update our customers via our blog.” I don't run a company, and I'm not responsible for maximizing return on my shareholders' investmen…
They have made public statements on their blog, and hopefully that will continue.
In this situation, I think it is the right move to avoid getting involved with this shameless law firm trying to incite drama for their own gain.
Re: Coding Cloud Heroku May Face Lawsuit Over Bait-and-Switch Claims
#10IANAL, but my understanding is that threatening a class action lawsuit is easy, but actually bringing an action to court is extremely difficult. And (at least to me) this seems like an awfully weak case -- I don't see any obvious or intentional fraud. The whole thing seems strange to me. I don't really understand what Rap Genius hopes to gain here. If Heroku wasn't providing enough performance for their money (regard…
Ianal stands for I am not a lawyer, so "a lawyer" in "IANAL a lawyer" is redundant.