BlackBerry users launch class lawsuits over service failure
Customers in the US and Canada want compensation for outages earlier this month
UNHAPPY Blackberry users have launched a class action lawsuit against Research in Motion, the company behind the mobile phones, in the US and Canada after the service collapsed earlier this month.
Millions of users all over the world were left without internet access, email and BlackBerry Messenger services after a crash at a datacentre in Slough. It took almost a week for the problem to be resolved.
Tech website Cnet points out: "RIM has offered free apps to say sorry, but hasn't offered any money back for the outage."
That is not good enough for some, and lawsuits were filed in California and Quebec on Wednesday. In California alone as many as 2.4 million are eligible to join the suit.
However, it will not be a straightforward legal action. Many users, inlcuding Eric Mitchell, who brought the suit in America, do not have contracts with RIM. "They pay their phone network for BlackBerry services. But the lawsuits claim this is an implied contract with RIM," says Cnet. ·
