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T-Mobile Letting Sidekick Users Break Contracts

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6:50 PM - October 13, 2009 by Jane McEntegart

Here's an interesting little piece of information for Sidekick users who have had it up to the teeth with T-Mobile: if you shout loud enough, you can break your contract for free.

A post on Giz tells the story of one reader who, having experienced the recent Sidekick-apocalypse first-hand, called T-Mobile to see what his options were. Here's what Gizmodo's source was offered by the T-Mobile agent:

• I'm released from the contract if I want (Yeesh, of course I better be. I can't believe I had to ask).
• I can get a G1 for $129 (not sure if that's the normal contract renewal pricing or not; doesn't sound like a great deal to me).
• They also suggested Blackberries etc, but I didn't get the pricing (since those are design disasters compared to SK or iPhone).

Now, earlier on T-Mobile released a statement saying they might be able to get some of the data back. For customers who felt the harsh realities of permanent data loss, T-Mobile was offering a $100 giftcard and a month of free service. Naturally there are some users who aren't satisfied and say the compensation isn't good enough.

If you were a Sidekick user and had just lost all of your photos, emails, text messages, to-do lists, contacts etc., which would you prefer? A hundred bucks and a free month of service or a clean break from your network provider, giving you the option to take your custom elsewhere? Let us know how you feel in the comments below!

Source : Tom's Hardware US

Talkback
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Anonymous 10/13/2009 6:23 PM
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wildwell 10/13/2009 6:32 PM
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I think the customer should be given the $100 gift card regardless if they stay on as customers or not.

hellwig 10/13/2009 6:34 PM
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It's good T-Mobile is allowing people out of their contracts. After all, how can you claim a service contract is valid when you failed to provide any service?

However, this wasn't T-Mobile's fault past the fact that they trusted Danger (and Microsoft) with the management of the data servers. I would stick to T-Mobile, but definitely not with the Sidekick. Try a G1, MyTouch, or even a BlackBerry, and avoid the cloud.

That said, even Google and RIM could screw-up, and cause a loss of data due to a failed synch or something similar, no modern technology is safe from idiocy. Always keep your own backups (if possible) of anything you consider valuable.

Anonymous 10/13/2009 6:35 PM
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I stopped reading after the person dissed Blackberry. If you put SK above Blackberry then you are retarded.

sunflier 10/13/2009 6:36 PM
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This is Dangers fault. THEY should be the ones handing out money as they FAIL-ed to backup the data prior to the SAN upgrade.

the_krasno 10/13/2009 7:04 PM
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arrghushakaboorga 10/13/2009 8:43 PM
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I'd probably want to leave contract and still be offered compensation for the time I'd have to spend getting everything back regardless of whether or not I switch networks

bk420 10/13/2009 9:28 PM
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I need to dump Tmobile soon! I can't afford to lose credit data or security breaches.

wndrrd 10/13/2009 10:21 PM
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"They also suggested Blackberries etc, but I didn't get the pricing (since those are design disasters compared to SK or iPhone)."

Haha now that is funny. Umm lets see my Blackberry links to my outlook so contact, calender, to-do lists are alway at my finger tips. Design disasters that is funny SH*T......lol

wndrrd 10/13/2009 10:22 PM
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Quote :They also suggested Blackberries etc, but I didn't get the pricing (since those are design disasters compared to SK or iPhone).




Haha now that is funny. Umm lets see my Blackberry links to my outlook so contact, calender, to-do lists are alway at my finger tips. Design disasters that is funny SH*T......lol

geminireaper 10/14/2009 12:09 PM
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the_krasno :
I would like a phone that actually works and a compensation for the damages caused by the data loss.All in all, I wouldn't settle for less than $1K.


Thats the problem with most of you people and your AOL mentality. AOL started the garbage of inconvenience credits now everyone feels they are entitled to it. Im glad my company has adopted a policy of doing away with convenience credits. Your service was out for 3 days. You get a credit that is = to 3 days of service which is truthfully all anyone is entitled to. Convenience is arbitrary therefore not measureable in any shape or form.

rdawise 10/14/2009 4:11 AM
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geminireaper :
Thats the problem with most of you people and your AOL mentality. AOL started the garbage of inconvenience credits now everyone feels they are entitled to it. Im glad my company has adopted a policy of doing away with convenience credits. Your service was out for 3 days. You get a credit that is = to 3 days of service which is truthfully all anyone is entitled to. Convenience is arbitrary therefore not measureable in any shape or form.



What problem are you referring? How is it a problem to hold a company accoutnable to the same standards you are being held to. Let's say you want to break you're 2 year contract. Are you charge a prorated amount or a flat fee? Let's say you're call is dropped in you're home calling area. Are you repaid for the time lost (note that companies that do offer this type of repayment have limits)?

Companies hold you to a flat standard. Not some "Convenience" system. You should hold a company in that same respect. How do you value data, pictures, contacts....which may be pricless. Service is not arbitrary, which these customers lost.

On side note. I'm curious. What company do you work for?

Anonymous 10/14/2009 4:38 AM
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When T-Mobile had issues with it's contract with ATT for their towers. They let people that were affected out of their contract. Here they are giving options to customers to leave or switch to a different product. I feel that many of the other carriers would not give these same options. I also agree that lost data is a users responsibility, not the company who made the product. If you backup your information on a hard drive and it dies do we hold the hdd company liable for the drive and the information? I am sure I am the minority for this opinion, but it is mine.

techguy378 10/14/2009 8:15 AM
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@IT for the Masses - It depends. If you're paying somebody to let you store data in the cloud then as the user you are not 100% liable for your data. The company you are paying is just as liable as the user. All of the T-Mobile Sidekick phones were nothing more than a pretty looking dumb terminal that couldn't function without an internet connection to T-Mobile's network. In this case the user had zero liability because they had no control over where their data was stored.

anamaniac 10/14/2009 8:24 AM
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I'm quite satisfied with the resolution to the issue.
Give people $100 and a free month, or let them freely exit the contract (hopefully with the $100 still).

Hope Slayer 10/14/2009 4:20 PM
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Regardless of who dropped the ball and what phone is crap or isn't I think it needs to be said that out of all the service providers I've ever used T-Mobile has by far been the absolute best in trying to correct any service or hardware issues I've ever had.

When an account rep calls you out of the blue and they reccomend you downgrade to a lower service tier because you aren't using alot of text messages but your paying the higher price for unlimited I think that says alot about a companies priorities. Most companies want to upsell you to death. Plus they threw in a free custom shell and gel cover for my new MyTouch simply because my data plan didn't activate on the day I was to recieve my new phone. If they keep the level of service they've had the past two years I'll gladly renew my contract again in another two years.

naterandrews 10/14/2009 6:57 PM
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I think that TMO is being very accommodating- $100 bucks plus a free month of service (voice and data) is a great "we are sorry". You can break your contract as well if you feel put off enough as well. What would you expect them to do, they aren't the ones holding the data.

Considering what TMO is doing, do you think other carriers would be so generous? WWATTD- What would ATT Do?

techguy378 10/14/2009 8:36 PM
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@naterandrews - AT&T and all of the other carriers out there were never stupid enough to make a mistake of this magnitude. What cell phone company in their right mind would sell a device that can only store personal data remotely? T-Mobile must have the dumbest people in the world in their upper management.

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