Just two weeks after a color discrepancy was uncovered and stating they wouldn’t offer refunds to owners of the m130 handheld, Palm Inc. has posted a letter to its Web site giving users the option to receive a full refund for the product.
Palm is offering customers of the m130 a choice of a full refund for the handheld or a free download of SimCity, a US$29.95 value.
On August 20, Palm confirmed that its entry-level m130 handheld could not display as many color combinations as the company advertised. In promotional material, Palm said the device could display more than 65,000 colors, when in reality the device could only display 58,621.
“Theoretically, it should deliver 65,000 colors,” Marlene Somsak, a company spokeswoman said at the time the discrepancy was discovered, noting that the hardware and software used in the device is designed to display the promised color support. “It was in how we implemented components and the technologies that didn’t optimize for the full 65,000 color combinations.”
Palm said they would contact their m130 customers and offer an apology, but no refund would be offered. The company also corrected all marketing and promotional material to reflect the proper color display.
Just two days after Palm admitted the discrepancy, the law firm of Sheller, Ludwig & Badey filed suit against the company on behalf of consumers. The suit names Palm specifically as the defendant, regardless of where consumers purchased the m130.