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Class Action Suit Forces Palm to Replace Dead PDAs
leshert writes "After years of denying the problem with bad backup capacitors, Palm is settling a class action suit. If you have a dead Palm m100, m105, or m125, fill out the paperwork, and send it in, Palm will replace it with a new unit. No word yet on with what they'll be replacing it with, but I can imagine there are a lot of pack-rat geeks like me with one or more dead PDAs stashed away in a box."
My fiancee had an m105 with the capacitor problem. We couldn't even get $20 at a garage sale for it, so we traded it to a friend for a bunny.
$*(#!@ing bunnies...
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
I just got the paperwork in the mail for this lawsuit a couple of days ago. I've been using a palm m100 for a few years, despite the battery problems. I just got used to always keeping it backed up on my computer.
The only time it caused any major problems was when I lost the data on my computer and went to load the info off of my palm and found the batteries to be dead. I tried replacing them, hoping that it would work as it's supposed to despite it's bad track record (can't remember if it ever worked right), but of course, it cleared the memory and I lost all my data.
The terms of the lawsuit say that it will be replaced with a new or refurbished palm of equal or greater value, so I'm filling out the forms in hope of getting something a bit better, but I'd settle for a properly working replacement. I can't imagine they will come up with that many equal replacements, especially since this just got on slashdot, so that seems like it would increase the likelihood of getting better replacements.
Break the mindless monotony!
Half the posters here seem to be advocating fraud. Way to go guys.
The more you know, the less you understand.
I'm in Canada, and would love to have my buggered m105 replaced.
And no backlighting. IMO giving a Zire 21 in exchange for any of the effected Palms will piss people off. The Zire 21 just plain sucks if you've ever owned a Palm before.
I wish someone could confirm for me what type of replacement they would give me.
It's Palm, what do you think they'll offer? With their track record I suspect some nasty, scratched up M1xx or used Zire 21. I would be very, very surprised if anything else was offered. Forget new since this is a great way to clean out their refurb supply.
It would've been nice if they had offerred a choice of a replacement or $100 (the cost of the Zire 21) off of any new Palm. I've had four different Palms (thankfully no defects) but my Tungsten E is my last. I'm moving over to the Nokia 770 (which runs Debian) when it comes out this fall. Palm has had way too many defects in which they have been way too slow to resolve them. There are also many complaints about their horrible tech support. And I see no change in that in the future.
The company Jeff Hawkins and Donna Dubinsky started in 1992 and the Palm of today have nothing in common. The early days of Palm were exciting. The Palm of today is a rotting corpse.
"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence or insanity but they've always worked for me" - HST
Some of you are overlooking a few points.
First, while the players involved with the suit have reached a settlement, it has not been approved by the court. While chances are the court will approve, its not a done deal. And the notice I got says that court hearing is not until August.
Second, before you all go looking for dead PDAs at yardsales and on eBay, the settlement also says its limited to m100, m105, and m125 PDAs that have that battery problem BUT ARE OTHERWISE FUNCTIONAL, and Palm(One) has the right to physically check your PDA to make sure that is the only problem.
Third, it says your unit will be replaced with a new or refurbed m100, m105, or m125. While you might end up having your m100 replaced with an m125, they are not going to take your banged up m100 and give you a shiny new T5 still in the shrinkwrapped retail box.
And forth, it also states the settlement is limited to one per address. While obviously there are ways around this one, its not hardly worth the trouble for such an outdated PDA.
Finally, I've seen a lot of posts here to the effect of "if Palms are so bad, why do you want another one?". The reason you see comments about Palms sucking is because the people who have them and like them don't comment. Its like complaints about PayPal...while the hundreds of people who have problems with PayPal make the evening news, you don't hear about the hundreds of thousands of people who never have a problem and are happy.
I have two m105s and a Zire 71. Other than losing the data while changing batteries in the m105s (which is why I synced daily), I have been extremely happy with all of them. And when I decide I need some additional function not in my Zire 71 and I need to replace it, it will be with another Palm product.
I want a new quote. One that won't spill. One that don't cost too much. Or come in a pill.