May 7, 2003, 4:31 PM PT
    A Los Angeles man has filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against
    Best Buy and Microsoft, accusing them of scamming customers by
    charging them for online services without their knowledge.

    The suit, filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, claims the
    alleged scam stemmed from a promotion in which customers at Best Buy,
    who paid for purchases with credit or debit cards, were given free
    compact discs that allowed them to try Microsoft's online service,
    MSN.

    Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, and Best Buy, the
    largest consumer-electronics chain, were partners in a pact dating
    back to 1999 to promote Microsoft's money-losing MSN Internet access
    service.

    "We haven't yet received the complaint and therefore have no comment,"
    a Microsoft representative said. Best Buy representatives were not
    immediately available for comment.

    Plaintiff Samuel Kim said he unwittingly became a victim in February
    after making a purchase at a Best Buy store in Los Angeles with his
    debit card. At checkout, a store employee scanned Kim's debit card
    and, without any explanation to him, scanned a trial MSN compact disc
    and placed it in his shopping bag, the lawsuit said.

    When Kim asked why the compact disc had been scanned, the employee
    allegedly said it was to keep track of inventory. But Best Buy
    apparently sent Kim's debit card information to Microsoft, which
    activated an MSN service account in his name without telling him, the
    lawsuit said.

    Kim did not use the compact disc but discovered after receiving his
    bank statement that Microsoft had deducted a monthly service charge
    from his account, the suit said. He has not been unable to get a full
    refund from either company, said Anthony Lee, his attorney.

    The lawsuit asks a judge to stop the alleged scam and demands a refund
    for Best Buy customers that were involved.

    "The ability of companies to charge people and actually take money
    from them without their knowledge is an interesting development and
    one that we are seeing more often, particularly through debit cards,"
    said attorney Eric Gibbs, who also represents Kim.

    Best Buy's shares fell sharply last October when it warned that it
    could lose its contract to market MSN, which provided advertising
    money and profit sharing to Best Buy, a major retailer of Microsoft
    products.