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Taking Staples to Small Claims Court?

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hsli

Junior Member
New York -
I'm thinking of taking Staples to small claims court. I had to sign a waiver against loss of data & I paid for a back-up, but they never backed-up the file locations needed and then lost financial data that has taken me over 12 hours so far to re-enter. This is in addition to 3 1/2 years of personal photos that are lost forever. They refunded me the back-up fee, and have offered to refund the fee for reinstalling the operating system, but they lost all of my financial data including back-ups for 3 years. I need to re-enter the data for this year in order to produce reports for income tax purposes for my own personal use as well as 3 business. This will probably take at least an addtional 36 hours of data input. My question is this.... if I signed the waiver, but they failed to properly back-up (in this case, they didn't ask where the specific files I needed were), do I have any case, or should I just file a complaint w/the BBB. Their corp. offices offered a lousy $50 coupon! Any input would be appreciated!What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
 


Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
Why would you not back up your own data?

And, the waiver you signed likely precludes you from successfully suing.
 

BL

Senior Member
New York -
I'm thinking of taking Staples to small claims court. I had to sign a waiver against loss of data & I paid for a back-up, but they never backed-up the file locations needed and then lost financial data that has taken me over 12 hours so far to re-enter. This is in addition to 3 1/2 years of personal photos that are lost forever. They refunded me the back-up fee, and have offered to refund the fee for reinstalling the operating system, but they lost all of my financial data including back-ups for 3 years. I need to re-enter the data for this year in order to produce reports for income tax purposes for my own personal use as well as 3 business. This will probably take at least an addtional 36 hours of data input. My question is this.... if I signed the waiver, but they failed to properly back-up (in this case, they didn't ask where the specific files I needed were), do I have any case, or should I just file a complaint w/the BBB. Their corp. offices offered a lousy $50 coupon! Any input would be appreciated!What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
There is always a chance at lost data when reinstalling the operating system .

There's always stories from having it done at big stores .

Best to have it done at a well known local shop and specify what it is you want saved .

Even better is to back up or create and image on separate media before format or reinstall .

Having said all that you could still try to retrieve data , photos etc. I say try .

Head over here WorldStart Message Boards register and ask how , or take it to a reputable local PC shop and see if they could still try to retrieve what it is you want.
 

Banned_Princess

Senior Member
you could have easily backed up your photos by uploading them online.

I make sure all of my photos are posted online, facebook, myspace, photobucket.

At least I know if there were to be a computer meltdown, my precious photos are in the webs.
 

hsli

Junior Member
I did back-up my own data... they re-formatted over both my hard drives and they never backed up my primary drive. I gave them specific instructions, that no one took note of. I didn't come to this forum for information on what or how I should have backed-up my drives. My question is regarding the fact that they didn't do what they were paid to do. My financial data for the last 3 years was backed-up on a secondary drive as well as 2 back-ups on the primary. They were paid to back-up everything. I specified that they needed to be sure that the photos and financial data were safe. These were the only two things the DIDN'T back-up. In addtion, I now have to pay someone to correct my drives, because they put them in the wrong slots & then reformatted them & now I can't do any back-ups drive to drive. I send them to a data recovery company and there's no chance of retrieving the data.

If anyone has any legal (not computer) advice, I'd appreciate it.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
I did back-up my own data... they re-formatted over both my hard drives and they never backed up my primary drive. I gave them specific instructions, that no one took note of. I didn't come to this forum for information on what or how I should have backed-up my drives. My question is regarding the fact that they didn't do what they were paid to do. My financial data for the last 3 years was backed-up on a secondary drive as well as 2 back-ups on the primary. They were paid to back-up everything. I specified that they needed to be sure that the photos and financial data were safe. These were the only two things the DIDN'T back-up. In addtion, I now have to pay someone to correct my drives, because they put them in the wrong slots & then reformatted them & now I can't do any back-ups drive to drive. I send them to a data recovery company and there's no chance of retrieving the data.

If anyone has any legal (not computer) advice, I'd appreciate it.
1: You signed the release, not us.

2: Backing up means to drives that are NOT in the same computer. Additionally, you claim that you did back up your own data...but then you say you didn't. It's on you because of your inadequate back-up policies.
 

BL

Senior Member
I did back-up my own data... they re-formatted over both my hard drives and they never backed up my primary drive. I gave them specific instructions, that no one took note of. I didn't come to this forum for information on what or how I should have backed-up my drives. My question is regarding the fact that they didn't do what they were paid to do. My financial data for the last 3 years was backed-up on a secondary drive as well as 2 back-ups on the primary. They were paid to back-up everything. I specified that they needed to be sure that the photos and financial data were safe. These were the only two things the DIDN'T back-up. In addtion, I now have to pay someone to correct my drives, because they put them in the wrong slots & then reformatted them & now I can't do any back-ups drive to drive. I send them to a data recovery company and there's no chance of retrieving the data.

If anyone has any legal (not computer) advice, I'd appreciate it.
You signed the waiver.

http://www.recovermyfiles.com/free-data-recovery-download.php

Next time use an external drive for backup , and if your PC needs work unplug the external and keep it in a safe place.

http://soundbytes.org/archives/ Be sure to listen to uncle Dave's rants.
 
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TheGeekess

Keeper of the Kraken
I did back-up my own data... they re-formatted over both my hard drives and they never backed up my primary drive. I gave them specific instructions, that no one took note of. I didn't come to this forum for information on what or how I should have backed-up my drives. My question is regarding the fact that they didn't do what they were paid to do. My financial data for the last 3 years was backed-up on a secondary drive as well as 2 back-ups on the primary. They were paid to back-up everything. I specified that they needed to be sure that the photos and financial data were safe. These were the only two things the DIDN'T back-up. In addtion, I now have to pay someone to correct my drives, because they put them in the wrong slots & then reformatted them & now I can't do any back-ups drive to drive. I send them to a data recovery company and there's no chance of retrieving the data.

If anyone has any legal (not computer) advice, I'd appreciate it.
They refunded the money and you signed their paper.

And I've recovered data before from HDDs that had been reformatted more than once before I did the recovery. :cool:

IT professionals recommend scheduled OFF-SITE backups of ALL CRITICAL DATA. If they don't, you need a different IT professional.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
They refunded the money and you signed their paper.

And I've recovered data before from HDDs that had been reformatted more than once before I did the recovery. :cool:

IT professionals recommend scheduled OFF-SITE backups of ALL CRITICAL DATA. If they don't, you need a different IT professional.
I suspect the OP is their own IT "professional"
 

hsli

Junior Member
Thank you!!

You signed the waiver.

Try free data recovery software to view deleted files: Recover My Files

Next time use an external drive for backup , and if your PC needs work unplug the external and keep it in a safe place.

Sound Bytes - Your User Group of the Air Be sure to listen to uncle Dave's rants.
All the unsolicited computer advice added to the frustration I was feeling, however, I checked out recovermyfiles.com as you recommended and recovered ALL the files Staples lost. Thank you wo much for giving me that link. I was missing financial data for 2 companies and my own personal finances that were all needed for tax returns. You saved me months of work!:D

The most frustating thing out of all of this is that Staples Techs are supposed to know what they are doing and they don't! They hire people that don't know what they're doing & those of us who rely on them suffer because of it!
 

BL

Senior Member
All the unsolicited computer advice added to the frustration I was feeling, however, I checked out recovermyfiles.com as you recommended and recovered ALL the files Staples lost. Thank you wo much for giving me that link. I was missing financial data for 2 companies and my own personal finances that were all needed for tax returns. You saved me months of work!:D

The most frustating thing out of all of this is that Staples Techs are supposed to know what they are doing and they don't! They hire people that don't know what they're doing & those of us who rely on them suffer because of it!
Now back it all up . A) External hard drive. and to B) CD Disk , etc .

There are programs that backup everyday . Worldstart forums to ask.

Keep a copy offsite in a safe location in case of fire/water .

Glad to have helped.
 
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Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
All the unsolicited computer advice added to the frustration I was feeling, however, I checked out recovermyfiles.com as you recommended and recovered ALL the files Staples lost. Thank you wo much for giving me that link. I was missing financial data for 2 companies and my own personal finances that were all needed for tax returns. You saved me months of work!:D

The most frustating thing out of all of this is that Staples Techs are supposed to know what they are doing and they don't! They hire people that don't know what they're doing & those of us who rely on them suffer because of it!
I'm glad this worked out for you.

I would like to address the second portion of this post. The fact of the matter is that sometimes things happen in spite of all precautions. That's just the way it is. THAT is why one should back-up data. The back-up procedures should be in-line with the nature of the items being backed up.

For example...my tax returns are VERY important and get backed up to multiple off-site locations. My family photos, even more so.

The funny pictures of puppies I find on the web...not so much.
 

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