A LEGAL expert believes that BlackBerry users are unlikely to find consumer protection as underlined by national consumer commissioner Mamodupi Mohlala last week.
The crash of the phone's e-mail and messenger services began last Monday, affecting users in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India, Brazil, Chile and Argentina, and spreading to North America by Tuesday.
Research In Motion (RIM), the company behind BlackBerry smartphones said the problem was sorted on Thursday.
Commissioner Mohlala said consumers would find protection under sections 55, 56 and 61 of the Consumer Protection Act, which provides rights on the quality of goods, and liability for damage caused by goods.
However, Albert Aukema, associate in the competition practice at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr underlined the difference between goods and services, saying the outage was a services issue.
"Although the scope of these sections have yet to be interpreted by the courts, it is unlikely that such a challenge would be in line with the provisions of the CPA.
"If anything, the interruptions should accurately be categorised as impacting on the quality of the service being rendered to consumers," said Aukema.
"The interruption appears to have been unrelated to defects in the handsets supplied to consumers as part of the service offering."
Meanwhile, a number of SA-based mobile operators moved to provide some form of compensation to BlackBerry customers, "as a token of goodwill".
No hope for 'crashed' Blackberry users
A LEGAL expert believes that BlackBerry users are unlikely to find consumer protection as underlined by national consumer commissioner Mamodupi Mohlala last week.
The crash of the phone's e-mail and messenger services began last Monday, affecting users in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India, Brazil, Chile and Argentina, and spreading to North America by Tuesday.
Research In Motion (RIM), the company behind BlackBerry smartphones said the problem was sorted on Thursday.
Commissioner Mohlala said consumers would find protection under sections 55, 56 and 61 of the Consumer Protection Act, which provides rights on the quality of goods, and liability for damage caused by goods.
However, Albert Aukema, associate in the competition practice at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr underlined the difference between goods and services, saying the outage was a services issue.
"Although the scope of these sections have yet to be interpreted by the courts, it is unlikely that such a challenge would be in line with the provisions of the CPA.
"If anything, the interruptions should accurately be categorised as impacting on the quality of the service being rendered to consumers," said Aukema.
"The interruption appears to have been unrelated to defects in the handsets supplied to consumers as part of the service offering."
Meanwhile, a number of SA-based mobile operators moved to provide some form of compensation to BlackBerry customers, "as a token of goodwill".
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending
Latest Videos