Refurb Xooms Sold with Personal Info on Them

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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This could be a nightmare in the making for the hundred or so original owners of Motorola Xoom WiFi tablets that were recently resold: the original owner’s information was never erased and the OS was never returned to its original condition. The tablets were resold on Woot.com, so if you bought one of these tablets, you may have bought more than you bargained for.

Motorola says if you returned a Xoom tablet to the listed retailers between March and October 2011, you will get a free two year membership to Experian’s ProtectMyID identity protection service.
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Wow. Free 2 years of identity theft protection. How about something that can replace peace of mind? Oh, nothing? Well then maybe a boatload of free stuff could start that.

Seriously? 2 years of identity theft protection? I suppose there may be a way to track whose they were ahead of time and once they are identified, I would say a pretty long term Motorola gift basket may go a little farther than a theft protection which usually doesn't do a damn thing.
 
If you are too stupid to wipe it before sending your stuff into companies for a fix (unless you cannot), than oh well. It's only 100 of them anyways, not such a great big deal.

It is bad though. Motorola should know to wipe all the drives of returned customer products for refurb sales..... I could see some noname tablet company doing this, not a big name like Motorola.
 
Ok, since I have a bunch of Android devices myself, how would one go about completely eradicating all personal information off the device?
 
It really isnt so much about JUST identity theft as it is about the fact they can have access to buy stuff on android markets, amazon, google accounts g docs, gmail, g music & more... yea, glad I wasnt one of those few.

Someone who isnt even into identity theft could still cause you a HUGE credit card bill & not even know they were doing it to you...sad.
 
I purchased one of the effected devices from Woot a while back. A few days ago I received an e-mail from Woot.com asking if I would mind sending it back to them for a proper, secure deletion of data. For my trouble I got a $100 dollar AmEx gift card. My device appeared to be in 'like-new' condition, but I suppose they are casting a larger net than necessary or simply don't know which ones were deleted properly and which were not. I only use it for entertainment in the car for the 3 year old, so I am happy to oblige in return for $100. Makes the purchase seem like an even better woot at the end of the day.

Here is the text from the mail, if you care:

"Dear <redacted>,

Want to do a good deed and possibly get paid for it? As somebody who purchased a Motorola Xoom Wi-Fi tablet from Woot.com between September 29, 2011 and December 4, 2011, pay close attention to the rest of this email. There may be money – and good karma - in it for you.

Motorola Mobility has notified us that some of those tablets were not fully refurbished by Motorola. Specifically, Motorola may not have completely wiped previous user data off the devices.

Let's be clear here: only the original purchasers of these devices may have had their personal information compromised; Motorola is also addressing this issue with the original purchasers who may have been affected. At no point was your information as a Woot customer compromised.

So why is this your concern? Well, Motorola is nicely asking the Woot customers with the affected devices to return the devices to Motorola so that the refurbishment process can be completed. Of course, Motorola will also pay for all the necessary shipping, in the form of a pre-paid shipping box. Your newly reset Xoom will be back in your hands in about 3-4 business days. And so will a $100 American Express gift card for your trouble.

We encourage you to participate in this process by calling Motorola Customer Support at 1-800-734-5870, then selecting option 1 (tablets). Since not all of the Xooms sold by Woot are affected, Motorola will check your serial number to see if you need to return your device. You may also check online at www.motorola.com/xoomreturn. If your serial number is on the list, you're eligible to participate in the process and receive the $100 American Express gift card.

Before you send your Xoom to Motorola, be sure to back up your music, videos and photos, as Motorola's factory reset will erase all of that stuff. Any applications downloaded from the Android Market can be downloaded again when your device is returned. If you’ve paid for any Android Market applications, logging into your Gmail account will allow you to download them again for free.

Woot and Motorola thank you for participating in this voluntary program. We hope the $100 American Express gift card is worth your trouble. And we apologize for any confusion or inconvenience this may have caused. If you have comments or questions for the Woot team, please contact us at [email protected].

Thanks,

Woot"
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Greene420 said:
If you are too stupid to wipe it before sending your stuff into companies for a fix (unless you cannot), than oh well. It's only 100 of them anyways, not such a great big deal.

It is bad though. Motorola should know to wipe all the drives of returned customer products for refurb sales..... I could see some noname tablet company doing this, not a big name like Motorola.
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Since these were refurbs, how do you know a user had the ability to wipe them? They might have been dead units when the user returned them.
 
I bought a Xoom from Woot. It seemed 100% clean to me. I haven't heard from them about returning it either, so I guess no Amex gift card for me.
 
I guess the techs that went through the refurb process decided not to do a complete factory reset of the partitions
 
I purchased a used Nintendo Wii from a local gamestop about a year ago. I ultimately decided to just take it back to the store and purchase a new one as the 'refurb', I later found out, didn't come with Nintendo branded hardware. It had a madcatz controller (yuck) with a Nyko wireless nunchuck and a taped together (broken base) sensor bar. Not a very good deal at all considering I only saved around 30 dollars.

Anyway, I decided to hook it up anyway and enjoy the game I just purchased (madworld) until I had the chance to take it back to the store. To my surprise, every last bit of the previous owners data was still on it. Downloadable games, Wii points, messages, everything.

I decided to erase all of their data, but I told the manager at gamestop when I returned it and it he couldn't care less. I didn't get it... isn't that a liability? I guess it's a good reminder to NEVER sell or trade anything with personal information still on it.
 
arentol said:
I bought a Xoom from Woot. It seemed 100% clean to me. I haven't heard from them about returning it either, so I guess no Amex gift card for me.
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Read the email above and check your serial number yourself. It may be in the list and just not contacted regarding the incident.

DL
 
dr.stevil said:
I purchased a used Nintendo Wii from a local gamestop about a year ago. I ultimately decided to just take it back to the store and purchase a new one as the 'refurb', I later found out, didn't come with Nintendo branded hardware. It had a madcatz controller (yuck) with a Nyko wireless nunchuck and a taped together (broken base) sensor bar. Not a very good deal at all considering I only saved around 30 dollars.

Anyway, I decided to hook it up anyway and enjoy the game I just purchased (madworld) until I had the chance to take it back to the store. To my surprise, every last bit of the previous owners data was still on it. Downloadable games, Wii points, messages, everything.

I decided to erase all of their data, but I told the manager at gamestop when I returned it and it he couldn't care less. I didn't get it... isn't that a liability? I guess it's a good reminder to NEVER sell or trade anything with personal information still on it.
Click to expand...

I've bought multiple consoles, repaired and resold from these forums. People on the [H] do not all follow this idea either. Hard to believe, but, not all people are conscious about their data and the exposure they put themselves in by configuring these devices with all of our personal information and either returning them, sending in repair (most of time replaced), or even just plain reselling a device. I also purchased a bluray player off ebay that was still linked to someones netflix, blockbuster account, pandora, youtube, google calendar, etc. Just think of the can of worms you can open up...
 
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