Another $54 million lawsuit

[Resolute 14]

This time against Best Buy.

http://redtape.msnbc.com/2008/02/a-lost-laptop-a.html

I'm somewhat surprised that the support for this chick in the comments is running as high as it is.

1. She should have known to back up her "irreplacable photos" and "thousands of dollars in music."
2. Stupid to buy an extended warranty that just adds 37.5% to Best Buy's profit margin. Especially on something not worth that much, all things considered.
3. While Best Buy certainly did give her the run around, they eventually offered $900 to replace a laptop that was only worth $800 one year previous.
4. Leaving legal/personal info on a laptop is just begging to have your identity stolen. Might as well leave your birth certificate and SIN/SSN card on a restaraunt table while you are at it.

Interesting to see where this one goes. She deserves some compensation, but that is a little ridiculous. I'll give her credit for being smart enough to know she'll get more money by winning the battle in the court of public opinion than she would in a civil court.

[fredr123]

She filed the law suit on her own, without counsel, and with her tongue in her cheek. She seems well aware that her claims for damages are not reasonable and chose the figure in honour of Judge Roy Pearson (the dry cleaner pants guy):

She also had reached the limit of her patience. In November, she filed her $54 million lawsuit against Best Buy -- by herself, without legal representation.

The amount intentionally echoes another lawsuit that made headlines last year -- a case involving a D.C. judge who sued a dry cleaner for $54 million over a lost pair of pants. That case was eventually dismissed.
Campbell freely admits she picked the same amount in an effort to attract media attention.

[fredr123]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

This time against Best Buy.

http://redtape.msnbc.com/2008/02/a-lost-laptop-a.html

I'm somewhat surprised that the support for this chick in the comments is running as high as it is.

1. She should have known to back up her "irreplacable photos" and "thousands of dollars in music."
2. Stupid to buy an extended warranty that just adds 37.5% to Best Buy's profit margin. Especially on something not worth that much, all things considered.
3. While Best Buy certainly did give her the run around, they eventually offered $900 to replace a laptop that was only worth $800 one year previous.
4. Leaving legal/personal info on a laptop is just begging to have your identity stolen. Might as well just park your vehicle in front of your house so jerks can smash into it with their car and drive away.

Interesting to see where this one goes. She deserves some compensation, but that is a little ridiculous. I'll give her credit for being smart enough to know she'll get more money by winning the battle in the court of public opinion than she would in a civil court.

Oh, and fixed. Sorry, Nehkara

[Ro]

Huh. After reading the article, I have to say I agree with the majority of the positive "good for her" comments.

Yeah, she didn't back up her stuff, and yeah, she had personal info on there. I would guess that at least HALF of all people who take their computers in for repairs are in the same boat.

Most CPuckers are smart/savvy enough technically to know that's probably not a good idea, but think about the people who buy things like extended warranties and take their computers into places like Staples for virus repairs and only buy stuff from overpriced "brand name/box store" shops because they feel more comfortable doing that. They don't know what they're doing half the time. Think of your parents. I can see my Mom doing something like that.

And how long would it take for the uninitiated to backup all their personal info if they haven't done that before? And what if they don't have an extra hard drive or storage device?

She probably made a bad decision or two, but BB's initial "offers" were insulting. I don't necessarily buy that the potential for identity theft and a bunch of personal photos/data lost forever is worth $54 million, but it's worth a lot more than a couple grand.

And she says herself she chose that number (54m) and filed it without a lawyer strictly so the case could get some national attention. It's not like she actually thinks she should get millions. It's about voicing her displeasure with a gobble gobble corporation that actually has the balls to send out a "customer service letter" like the one cited in the article.

So, yeah, good for her.

[ken0042]

Oh, I have a .wav file that would be appropriate for this thread. Anybody want to host it for me- PM me your email address. It's about 500kb.

[arsenal]

i have to be in the good for her camp.
Regardless of what she should have done to back up all her information, she entrusted BB to be competent enough in order to fix her computer, and return it to her.
Even if she backed up all her photos and music, her personal information is still on the computer, unless she does a complete erase of the hard disk. And seriously, who is going to do that? The reason that places like BB exist, is so that the general public do not have to deal with these issues.

That BB lost her computer, with her personal information and their pitiful attempt at compensation, the run around that BB gave her, that she has not received notification that BB has lost her computer to date, in my mind is enough to warrant the lawsuit.

So good for her.

[ken0042]

Also, how could she back up her info if the power button wasn't working on the laptop.

Granted, she could have been backing it up all along, but really; how many of us do that ourselves? (Who aren't self admitted geeks?)

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Ro

And she says herself she chose that number (54m) and filed it without a lawyer strictly so the case could get some national attention. It's not like she actually thinks she should get millions. It's about voicing her displeasure with a gobble gobble corporation that actually has the balls to send out a "customer service letter" like the one cited in the article.

So, yeah, good for her.

I've been debating this one with a friend on MSN, and I have to say that I'm of an opposite opinion, for the most part.

People choose gobble gobble corporation over the small corner store because it is (1) more convienent, and (2) often much cheaper. Part of the reason for this is that they cut back on things like customer service. This is something we accept when we choose to shop at such places. For all the gnashing of teeth in the comments section of that article, almost every person who shopped at Best Buy before reading that story will continue to shop there after. The righteous indignation is almost hypocritical in my view.

That doesn't excuse Best Buy, who should have been up front about what happened, and should have offered to replace the laptop as soon as they realized it was lost, but beyond that, I don't really see them as having any greater obligation. It took them a while to get to that point, for which they should be smacked down, but again this is what happens when you choose to sacrifice customer service for saving a few dollars when you shop there.

Best Buy isn't going to change, and neither are the shopping habits of anyone. Even if this lady never goes to another Best Buy, she's just going to walk into a Target or Circuit City and repeat the process all over again.

As far as her not having backups, we are well into the computer age, and this isn't some 80 year old grandma who has a computer only so she can play bridge online with her granddaughter. I've long since lost sympathy for people who don't take the time to learn a basic understanding of how a computer operates, or can't be bothered to back up their data. Burning a CD is freaking easy, and can be done straight from Windows XP. People that put their entire lives on their computers and take no steps to protect that information are pretty much begging to lose everything.

[fredr123]

But what if her thousands of dollars' worth of songs were subject to draconian DRM and would be illegal to backup? If they were legitimately purchased, the RIAA should be joined as an intervener...

[4X4]

I totally agree with Ro's post. And I like the little change made by fredr123. It's true. Not everybody can be an expert on everything. The math in evman's post in the alien thread made no sense to me, but I can change a battery in a car which makes no sense to photon, but he can fix a computer wayyy better than I can... How the hell are people supposed to know everything?
The woman thought they were going to fix an on/off switch. I'm with her on this. This isn't a case of the victim being the moron.

[burnin_vernon]

It'd be funny if some clerk there cleaned up a bunch of junk and found her laptop underneath.
Then again, I found it funny that the manager's name was Delissio.

[Prototype]

Originally Posted by burnin_vernon

It'd be funny if some clerk there cleaned up a bunch of junk and found her laptop underneath.
Then again, I found it funny that the manager's name was Delissio.

Are you sure that Manager isn't takeout?

[4X4]

Originally Posted by burnin_vernon

Then again, I found it funny that the manager's name was Delissio.

He should quit BB and become a delivery guy. It'd be delivery and Delissio!

[4X4]

fotze awaits the day someone files a $54 million lawsuit agains Bell.

[Bobblehead]

The thing that would concern me is the worry of identity theft.

What is the value of the personal information on that machine? If someone were to use that data to steal her identity and rack up the bills, how much would that cost her?

How long did BB know the laptop was lost before they admitted it to her?

Of course I think $54 million is outlandish, but I would think there are some more issues here that makes a $900 store credit seem insulting.

She should have gotten a real lawyer, instead of going for the publicity angle.

[arsenal]

she may pick up a lawyer pro-bono by going public like this. she wont get 54 million, but i love the publicity.

[Prototype]

Originally Posted by 4X4

He should quit BB and become a delivery guy. It'd be delivery and Delissio!

Crap... same joke, but I was way off. Nice work 4x4!