Last week, millions of blackberry users were affected by a service outage that began with a failure in RIM's European data centre and spread across the world for days. Frustrated users around the world started exploring possible consumer lawsuits against RIM. Discussions about breach-of-contract are being talked about due to the fact that the company failed to provide services, and also consumer- fraud claims because the customers were mislead about the reliability of RIM's networks. Consumers could have a difficult time winning these claims because it is very difficult to prove damages that occurred because of the outage other than failed service.
RIM was on damage control this past week, and are giving customers free premium apps. If consumers are looking to be compensated financially, they may be waiting a while. In this article in the Toronto Star it said that if RIM wanted to pay back all affected customers it could cost the company anywhere from $15million to $26million.
Do you think Blackberry users have a right to sue?
For more info: http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1073081--rim-could-face-lawsuits-for-blackberry-problems
Hi Julia,
ReplyDeletePersonally, i do not think that all blackberry users have a right to sue RIM. This was 100% an awful situation for blackberry users where users were not able to receive emails, blackberry messenger messages, and all apps were out of service. I agree that users were mad, frustrated and business communications were altered but I think that suing RIM might be a step that is too severe. If users are really that mad then they could switch to another cellular device that is more reliable then RIM- which has happened and which has in turn decreased RIM sales etc. I think when RIM has been offering free apps to consumers was a good decision, and potentially offering other free benefits for all blackberry users. As long as RIM shows that they care for their customers and putting them first, then I think that is sufficient.