Steve Ballmer Speaks Regarding the Sidekick Debacle
PCWorld has an article on Microsoft’s CEO, Steve Ballmer, and his attitude towards the Sidekick disaster. He was quoted as saying:
“It is something we are going to have to address and explain to customers our method and process and quality approach and what went wrong in that case and how we are making sure that it does not happen again”
“It is not clear there was data loss,” he said. “Initially we thought there was. We are working hard to get all the users’s data back in the Sidekick case. I think we believe we will get all user data back at this juncture.”
So rest assured, even the CEO of Microsoft is noticing this mess-up.
October 21st, 2009 at 1:03 pm
He even is continuing with the no data loss crap, so is it that I just add random names with no other information to my address book myself?
October 21st, 2009 at 1:17 pm
I still haven’t gotten any data back!!! Every time I try it says they are unable to restore at this time or I get an error message. 1 month free data is not fair compensation even if we do get data back. I want the 100 dollars regardless!!
October 21st, 2009 at 1:45 pm
i still havent gotten anything back either and keep getting that error message
October 21st, 2009 at 2:03 pm
ok i have gotten some of my contacts back not all of them but some what you need to do is if you are getting that err message you need to call tmobile tec suport and they can load them back on to your phone
October 21st, 2009 at 3:51 pm
LOL@ “we think we believe”
what’s that Ballmer?
You THINK you believe you can get the data back?
October 21st, 2009 at 8:46 pm
I went through the restore contacts process and received most, but not all and some of the contacts came back all messed up with partial items missing within each contact such as not the entire im address and my addresses disappeared.
I called T-Mobile and they said that Microsoft is still working on retrieving all of the info.
I am very upset because on their website they gave us false hope that they would restore all of our contacts and for me, that is not the case. I am missing about 250 of my contact that I had on the day it crashed.
Still hoping everything will come back, but it is appearing less and less likely. : (
October 21st, 2009 at 8:53 pm
Oh and in addition to this, my battery for my Sidekick LX keeps dying even after charging it all night long.
T-Mobile doesn’t sell them anymore, they refer you to EliteXtreme and they also don’t have any, they are on backorder now for the last week and they said one more week before they will receive them in stock.
Has anyone else noticed that their battery dies really easily lately? I somehow think that the process that Microsoft is doing is somehow taxing the system and causing our Sidekicks to crash.
Has anyone else been experiencing the same thing?
October 21st, 2009 at 9:11 pm
@Lynn: You can find batteries here too: https://www.sidekickshopper.com/SidekickLX/Accessories/Battery
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:39 am
I think the reason why our batteries die so quickly is because its half the size its usually on the sidekicks lol
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:05 pm
No one has said anything about bookmarks, I haven’t heard anyone say they’ve gotten that back. Contacts are important, but I’m even less likely to remember all the URLs I had bookmarked. Anyone gotten those back?
October 22nd, 2009 at 5:04 pm
those will be available at a different time.
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:12 pm
No bookmarks, no custom settings (hey! why did you want to get non-tmail emails anyway and who cares if those AOL buddy alerts go off in meetings now?)
Anyone notice that this blunder only covered up another one? That they were having massive troubles with email before the outage?
October 25th, 2009 at 8:35 am
Well, as I know most if not all sk users have gotten their contacts back and that’s it. The Contacts are an old sync though, I noticed people’s numbers who had changed, in the recovery file, those people’s numbers were their old ones, not the new ones. Also, I was missing some contacts. It doesn’t matter now, I took the plunge yesterday and ordered the Cliq, partly so I could keep the plan I have for another 2 years, I don’t like the Project Dark plans. When I talked to T Mo yesterday, they said Microsoft will let them know which users data cannot be recovered, on Oct. 27th, so then T Mobile will start giving out the $100 cards then. My SK service is getting turned off on the 27th so, if my stuff isn’t back by then, I will be getting that $100, and I will be taking screenshots of all the empty stuff as evidence. Then, I will only be paying $100 for the Cliq and that’s not bad at all.
Finally giving up my Sidekick *tear* I’m sad. Sidekick, baby, I’ll always remember my 1st time with you, I lost my T Mobile virginity to u, you were just a SK2 then and now we’ve grown… up, and I have to say goodbye. I’ll miss you, we’ll always have customizable bumpers, skins, and times with no themes, hahaha. I really am sad though. End of an era. This means I probably won’t be visiting this site that much anymore, so goodbye people, if you don’t see me again. I’ll still probably check back now and then
October 26th, 2009 at 11:50 am
on ph 2 hrs. with tmobile. was able to get 30.00 credit on my bill . however, n ot able to download any of my contacts. it went straight to my excel on my computer and its ONLY the contacts that i had manually put back in on my sidekick in last few days. None of the old contacts are there, lost a lot! My hearing impaired daughter, son in law, MANY hearing impaired customers lost important business data and numbers plus could not communicate . Worse, they have double hard time contacting customer service and are not being included in the loop of getting any credits unless they are willing to give up more time (or have time) to try and access customer service thru relay services. I went to a tmobile storefront to beg for help to use an old sim card to try and retrieve contacts by putting it in one of their phones on display. the guy would not help me and said just go home and wait and proceeded to talk over me to the next customer (in hopes to make more sells i am sure!) . They are alll aboutl sells in the store fronts, not service. I cannot help my daughter cuz of the HIPPA law , we will have to walk in to another store front ( and pray for a helpful not rude worker) and try and get me on as authorized user in order to try and speak for her to get the help she deserves. So, as unhappy a tmobile user i am at this point, hey guys we should all be greatful we at least are hearing and have easier access to some answers and solutions than the thousands of hearing impaired tmobile customers have . I was told today that we still dont have catalog or facebook access (hello i already knew that) and dont know when we will have. Also was told that only a select few will receive the l00.00 and would receive a letter in the mail if we are a qualifier. I laughed when i read that they now believe it only effected a “minority” of customers. Everyone one i know that has a sidekick has been effected and lost everything. And oh,,, yes my battery zaps fast. it wont hold a charge all day long now and before it held 2 days. some days it goes a half day with or without a lot of use. This started also in mid Sept as soon as i started having outage problems. I started calling back Sept l4th when i lst started having outages and drops. T mobile is only admiting to problems started Oct. l4th,, but its wrong, started much sooner.
October 27th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
I’d like to say”thanks T-Mobile”for the credit to my account. Me losing everything and the catalog to recover my callertunes,ringtones,games,skins,etc.,monies I’ve paid out for these applications and you won’t re-inburse me for the drama over th Sidekick outage,no further help can be given me? I’m on my 3rd Sidekick! Please,give your customers a break! I know things take time but can you REALLY assure us that there will be no more “happenings”and what is the probability of being reimbursed for the monies for applications and etc..we have lost?
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:40 am
I strated realizing that my sidekick also has been dying quickly.I used to go the whole day with like almost a half of battery,now my phone dies.im not sure what’s going on.and itss almost december and still no book marks or anything