Attorney Contact for people whom AAMC botched the application

[Bengal Tiger]

hey applicants:

there are some anti-trust law firms who are looking into all the screw ups by AMCAS. If you feel that you have been personally affected by any of the AMCAS services (which is almost every one of us), here is the contact info. of a really attentive attorney who is knowledgable about this issue.

Name: Sanjay Rangchot
Contact information:
Go to <a href="http://www.lchb.com" target="_blank">www.lchb.com</a> and use the Contact section to drop an email addressed to him.

The cool thing about this guy is that he is not your stereotypical lawyer. Who know with a little proactive action, we may all be looking at a nice refund from AAMC for its aweful service.

BT

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[A. Caveman]

well bengal, you're right, they've been slower than usual this year. but they've made things great for august mcat students. so i'm not complaining. and STILL april mcaters got their interviews MONTHS before august mcaters, just like in the past. relatively speaking, things haven't changed.
now as far as them totally losing someone's file that submitted early (ie w/april mcats) and putting them behind even the august mcaters/late submitters, then THAT is a problem. but i would think that that's pretty regular. every year many many people are screwed by aamc losing their file perhaps, or maybe their committee letter wasn't sent until very late even though they requested it early, or maybe some recommendation writer delayed the letter and totally screwed someone up, etc. shat happens, but we can't sue because of it. as far as the general delay everyone's had...hey, things are still the same, relatively, and the schools will interview late into april perhaps just to catch up.
now as far as negatives, the schools might have gone more on numbers this year than in the past just because amcas initially just sent numbers back when verified apps weren't being sent out yet. i guess that's unfair, but where was the guarantee that we wouldn't be delayed??? it seems to me that you will only win if you can prove that YOU and a select few others were treated unfairly. but then wouldn't you have to prove that you were purposefully targeted? i mean people don't win lawsuits based on having bad luck with a service, do they?

 

[Bengal Tiger]

hey caveman:

I agree with 90% of what you are saying except for your conclusion. I honestly believe that the damage is not to a select group of people, but all of the 40,000 people who have received bad service from AAMC.

All I am suggesting is that if AMCAS is a contractual service, then it definitely did not live up to its side of the agreement to provide that service. (I mean, how about a 1 800 number with some real voices on the other side, as opposed to hours of hold period on a long distance call!).

I think all applicants deserve a full refund regardless of the final outcome of your application.

Good luck to you on the application process.

Tanzid

 

[YBee]

Whether or not we deserve a refund is fairly irrelevant in the general scheme of things when a class-action law suit is considered - if such a law suit were to take place and if the plaintiffs were to win, I can assure you that all the money would go to the lawyer and each of us would get $2, if that. Bottom line: don't waste your time.

P.S. Did you say 'anti-trust' lawyers? !!! Ridiculous. (anti-trust legislation in general that is, before 20 people jump on me for being narrow-minded, insensitive, etc.)

 

[none]

No one's going to sue. I have yet to see any hard core evidence of a potential/real suit. Lots of talk and no papers filed.

 

[alice]

amcas lost my application to a school i added in september (not an august mcat) after finally catching the mistake, i managed to talk the dean into letting me apply. however, i have only just gotten the secondary and sent it in. i think i had an edge at a lot of other schools because my file was complete so early. i got interviews at 75% of the schools i applied to (and this mixed up school was mid-range in terms of selectivity), and had completely finished interviewing by early december.

in short, if i don't get an interview at this school, i am blaming amcas and jumping on board any bandwagon i can find. they have a monopoly. which is okay if the execute the service they proport to provide.

 

[A. Caveman]

Tanzid,
AMCAS is not a contractual service. they never agreed to enter into any contract with us; they never made any promises. also, the fact that so many people got screwed (everyone!) will not help your case cuz there was no promise made. you might have a case if you could prove that they set out to screw certain people. but that would be it.
although, ybee, i think tanzid and others are more interested in punishing amcas (millions) and making them shape up for next year's applicants than they are in making lots of money off of them. i might be wrong though.
i'm actually neutral. i'm not for punishing them, but i understand where you come from, so i would not stand in your way if you took action. BUT i'd like to know what angle these 'anti-trust' lawyers are coming in from.

 

[BeckyG]

From what I understand, to have a claim for this type of lawsuit (or any for that matter) you need to show damages. Delay in time is not, in itself, a damage - especially when everyone was affected in the same way. In other words, you can't allege that you were looked upon less favorably because your application was delayed precisely because AMCAS produced the same screw ups for all applicants. Also, emotional damages would be hard to prove because almost all med school applicants experience anxiety and/or emotional distress at some point during their application. And, as A. Caveman was alluding to, even if there was an implied contract between applicants and AMCAS, it probably did not include a timeline expectation (i.e., that they would get the application to schools in X number of weeks). The bottom line is that you would have to demonstrate that you incurred a loss or damages to keep the claim in court.