First Sidekick class-action lawsuits predictably get underway

Our usual rule is to ignore attention-seeking class-action lawsuits until they make it past the critical step of being certified by a judge, but we think it's pretty wild that the Sidekick debacle has already resulted in two separate suits in two different states. That's a turnaround time of just a few days, really -- and now that Microsoft is saying it can restore most of the lost data, it'll be interesting to see if these cases can push on past the early stages. Both the California and Washington state cases allege that T-Mobile misled customers into thinking their data was secure, but for some reason we're particularly amused at the California case filed by a mother whose aspiring model and singer-songwriter daughter lost "photos and song lyrics" she'd entrusted to her Sidekick -- honestly, what judge can't relate to her situation?

[MarkAnderson Posted Oct 15th 2009 3:41PM]

WALL OF TEXT!

Paragraphs for the love of god!

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 15th 2009 4:59PM]

And maybe if your letter to them would have had an ounce of professionalism, they might have done something with it other than throw it in the trash when they received it. Correct grammar and proper punctuation might have helped, too. Acting like a child will rarely gain you anything, other than being treated like one.

[Kulahan Posted Oct 15th 2009 5:19PM]

Your letter makes you sound like a 2 year old. Also, you misspelled several things in that letter.

[CJ Posted Oct 15th 2009 7:45PM]

Yes, having your mobile phone not work for a few days is because you're considered a 'second-class citizen'.

I guess all those Vietnam veterans should stop staking out that rubbish bin for people throwing half-eaten bagels out, and march on T-Mobile and DEMAND that you recieve that recogntion and money you DESERVE.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 15th 2009 2:51PM]

There is, and never has been any guarantee that your data is 100% protected from data loss. The only thing they do is make sure your data doesn't get hacked.

[CMC Posted Oct 15th 2009 3:05PM]

At the end of the day, the massive loss of customers might be more harmful than any lawsuit. Seems as though people have a fair enough reason to ditch TMO or at least get a new line discount on a smartphone that can be backed up instead of being stored only in the cloud.

The loss of trust is as bad if not worse than the data loss. It's sad, but the SK and Danger's days are probably numbered.

[GeoGuy Posted Oct 15th 2009 3:20PM]

No matter how this thing turns out, I would love to see those song lyrics and pictures. I am sure they are nothing less than spectacular.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 15th 2009 3:42PM]

So T-mobile is giving away a month of free data, and $100 IF you lose data (most of which is recovered)

A class action lawsuit will last for years, and will net an end user......$15?

In turn, Tmobile will retract its free data offer AND its $100 offer, but the lawyers will make millions.

Well done america. Wonder why corporations stop doing what is right? because you will just sue them anyway.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 15th 2009 8:29PM]

+1

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 15th 2009 6:05PM]

I'm a Blackberry Bold, Shorty is a Sidekick!

[cbizarre Posted Oct 16th 2009 8:27AM]

Well, they're pretty damn forgiving. First of all - if you can't pay your bill, they will let you use your phone AND text messaging features for almost a full month and a half after the missed payment.

AND... even when they shut your service off - you can still receive calls (good for people who are waiting on an employer to call them back, emergencies, ect.)

I dunno, it sounds pretty damn forgiving to me, considering you signed the damn contract that spelled it all out from the very beginning that you would stick with them for at least two years, and pay them every month for service.

It really ends up being your stupid decision to sign on to use a company for two full years.

Oh yeah, that measly $200 you pay (when you decide to BREAK your LEGAL agreement) covers the cost of you $400 phone that you got for free. So... it sounds pretty damn fair all and all.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 26th 2009 9:04AM]

Nilay, among those who lost significant data especially, I think there's a fair amount of outage outrage among Sidekick-ers. I wanted to add a strategy to reduce your cell bill by around 20 percent for those T-Mobile customers (or even people with other carriers, for that matter) who want aren't satisfied and want to go farther than the discounts, coupons and freebies. I'll cut to the chase: I work in the consumer advocacy division of the company Validas, where we electronically audit and subsequently reduce the average cell bill by 22 percent through our website, http://www.fixmycellbill.com. Put simply, Validas guards against frivolous and unnecessary charges that inflate your cell bill more than it should be for your usage. You can find out for free if fixmycellbill.com can modify your plan to better suit your needs by going to the website.

For more info, check out Validas in the media, most recently on Fox News at http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/consumer/conlaw/lower_cell_phone_bills_072409 .

Good luck to everyone on further reducing those wireless costs.

Dylan
Consumer Advocacy, fixmycellbill.com