Another letter. Caution--I am furious about this situation and my cellular service provider's handling of it. There may some curse words in here.

Dear T-Mobile:

You have *got* to be kidding me. I have been a loyal Sidekick user for about 3 1/2 years. First I had the Sidekick 2. And then, last November, I got the '08 'Kick. Late September '09, my contacts and My Faves disappeared. I took my phone into the store. And the guy took the battery out to do the "hard reset". And things seemed to be ok for a bit.

On Friday, October 2nd, all that stuff disappeared. Along with all my emails, calendar entries, photos, photo messages and texts. Saturday morning, October 3rd, I took it into the store. The guy again took the battery out, and gave me a new Sim card. When that didn't restore my stuff, he called in. The service rep he reached said that T-Mobile was aware of the problem and had escalated it to a Tier 3, whatever the crap that means.

That was my last update on my missing data until the 6th of October (no numbers, emails or internet for four days now), when I got a FREE T-MOBILE MSG: "Sorry for your disrupted data service. We will automatically credit your account for 1 mo data charges. Details at t-mobile.com/sidekick"

Except for one small problem with that. I DON'T HAVE ANY FUCKING DATA ANYMORE, SO WHAT WOULD I ACCESS?!?! So, this response doesn't cut it for me. I'm livid.

Then, on October 10th, six days after I lost everything, I learned (by reading on a blog, not being told by T-Mobile) that all was most likely gone. As in for good. 376 contacts built since I got a cellular phone, countless emails, notes, pictures, picture messages, text messages, internet access, downloaded apps and ringtones are all gone. Forever.

Last night, at 5:15pm, T-Mobile released another statement. It's kind of long, but it thanks Sidekick users for our patience. Then, it insults us by stating that "In the event certain customers have experienced a significant and permanent loss of personal content, T-Mobile will be sending these customers a $100 customer appreciation card. This will be in addition to the free month of data service that already went to Sidekick data customers. This card can be used towards T-Mobile products and services, or a customer’s T-Mobile bill. For those who fall into this category, details will be sent out in the next 14 days – there is no action needed on the part of these customers. We however remain hopeful that for the majority of our customers, personal content can be recovered."

Why is that insulting, you ask me? I have lost everything in my phone. Everything. Some of those things are irreplaceable. Such as photos of my grandma. Phone numbers. Calendar entries for which classes I taught where and when. Notes on things I want to write about. Things which are probably only important to me, but goddammit, they're important to me! And I am one of THOUSANDS. And to make up for it, you offer some of us a $100 T-Mobile credit? But not all of us will qualify. Tell me, O Wise Oracle of T-Mobile, how do you decide who qualifies?

Oh, and what exactly have you been doing with the handsome sum I pay you monthly to maintain this data? You're pointing fingers at Microsoft, who bought Danger. Microsoft is saying, "well, it wasn't us. We outsourced to Hitachi." But I'm looking at you, T-Mobile, because I pay you.

I want all my information back. Since that's about as likely as a unified Middle East, then I want a smartphone, of equal value, with the same cost of a data plan that I had before you munged this up. I know it seems like a lot. But it's the least you can do.

Otherwise, I'm taking you up on the ETF waiver, and heading for an iPhone (meh) or a Blackberry (meh).

I went from being a huge Sidekick fan to wanting to chuck this thing into the Trinity River. I hate it with the fiery passions of 1000 suns.

*sigh*

I hate you so much. I really do.

Always,
Heather