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Roughly 100 Motorola XOOM tablets sold by Woot were improperly refurbished - Moto wants them back

By John Velasco

Published: Feb 03, 2012, 1:19 PM

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Roughly 100 Motorola XOOM tablets sold by Woot were improperly refurbished - Moto wants them back

Just when we all thought we heard the last whispers about the very first Honeycomb tablet, the Motorola XOOM, it’s back in the spotlight as Motorola unloaded a press release today mentioning something that’s rather concerning.

Well, remember that killer deal that Woot.com offered last year for refurbished Motorola XOOM tablets, where they were selling them for $399? Apparently, it seems that approximately 100 out of a batch of 6,200 XOOMs were improperly refurbished, thus, resulting in some units retaining the information of the previous owner. Therefore, it’s possible that data such as photographs, documents, passwords, social networking information, and other personal information could’ve been retained on units when they were sold through Woot. Specifically, the affected models were sold between October and December 2011. For the rest sold outside of the time period in question, Motorola is adamantly confirming that units were properly refurbished.

In its attempt to ease the worries of customers who happened to buy and return units to various retailers such as Amazon, Best Buy, BJ’s Wholesale, eBay, Office Max, Radio Shack, Sam’s Club, and Staples, Motorola is actually offering them a complimentary 2-year membership to Experian’s ProtectMyID alert service. As a precaution, Motorola is also imploring former XOOM owners to change their passwords to protect their identity.

Well, what about those 100 or so units that are confirmed to be affected? Motorola is actively pursuing the return of those units to verify that the memory of each tablet is cleared properly. Additionally, they’re formally making apologies to those affected customers for any inconvenience that the problem is causing, and to better show its commitment, they’re continue to take any necessary steps to protect its data protection practices going forward.

source: Motorola

Motorola Mobility Notifies Certain Purchasers of Refurbished Motorola XOOM™ Wi-Fi Tablets of Refurbishment Process Error

LIBERTYVILLE, Ill. – Feb. 3, 2012 - Motorola Mobility, Inc. today announced that it has recently learned that approximately 100 out of a batch of 6,200 Motorola XOOM™ Wi-Fi tablets that were refurbished by Motorola Mobility may not have been completely cleared of the original owner’s data prior to resale. The affected tablets were resold by Woot.com between October and December 2011. While this matter likely affects only a small number of refurbished units, Motorola has a strong commitment to its consumers, and is proactively responding to mitigate any risk to its customers. Motorola has confirmed that any refurbished units sold outside the time period in question were properly refurbished.

The information that may be accessible to the purchasers of the impacted refurbished tablets may include any information that the original user elected to store on the tablet. It is possible that users might have stored photographs and documents. They may have also stored user names and passwords for email and social media accounts, as well as other password-protected sites and applications.

Motorola is offering customers who purchased and then returned a Motorola XOOM Wi-Fi tablet to Amazon.com, Best Buy, BJ’s Wholesale, eBay, Office Max, Radio Shack, Sam’s Club, or Staples and a few other independent retailers between March and October 2011 a complimentary two-year membership of Experian’s ProtectMyID^™ Alert to mitigate any risks. Original owners are advised to contact Experian at1-866-926-9803 to sign up for the credit monitoring service. These original owners are also advised to take precautionary measures to protect their identity, such as changing their email and social media passwords. Original owners who performed a factory data reset prior to returning the device are not impacted.

In conjunction with today’s announcement, Motorola is also actively pursuing the return of the impacted refurbished units to ensure that the memory of each device is cleared. Customers who purchased a refurbished Motorola XOOM Wi-Fi tablet from Woot.com between October and December 2011 are encouraged to visit motorola.com/xoomreturn or to call Motorola Mobility Customer Support at 1-800-734-5870, select Option 1, in order to determine if their tablet is affected.

Motorola sincerely regrets and apologizes for any inconvenience this situation has caused the affected customers. Motorola is committed to rigorous data protection practices in order to protect its customers, and will continue to take the necessary steps to achieve this objective.