BlackBerry refutes reports claiming Z10s being returned by buyers

BlackBerry has reacted strongly to claims by an investment house that the company’s brand new Z10 handset is being turned back in by buyers after being dissatisfied with its performance.

Issued earlier this week, the report by Detwiler Fenton & Company in Boston, USA, says that the BlackBerry Z10 phone is being returned by buyers at an above-average rate. However, the Waterloo, Ontario-based company has refuted these claims and has suggested that the report is an attempt to manipulate the company’s share price. Going one step further, BlackBerry has even said that it would ask the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate Detwiler Fenton’s report.

BlackBerry claims that Detwiler Fenton refused to hand over the report to BlackBerry’s investors or the methodology behind it to the Canadian company, even after they were said to be "absolutely false."

BlackBerry is up in arms about a report saying Z10s are being returned to stores by buyers

"Sales of the BlackBerry Z10 are meeting expectations and the data we have collected from our retail and carrier partners demonstrates that customers are satisfied with their devices," BlackBerry President and CEO Thorsten Heins said, before adding, "Return rate statistics show that we are at or below our forecasts and right in line with the industry. To suggest otherwise is either a gross misreading of the data or a wilful manipulation. Such a conclusion is absolutely without basis and BlackBerry will not leave it unchallenged."

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BlackBerry Chief Legal Officer Steve Zipperstein called the report "materially false and misleading." He added," We call upon the appropriate authorities in Canada and the United States to conduct an immediate investigation. Everyone is entitled to their opinion about the merits of the many competing products in the smartphone industry, but when false statements of material fact are deliberately purveyed for the purpose of influencing the markets a red line has been crossed."

Zipperstein said that his company would present a formal request to US and Canadian regulators in the next few weeks.

Anne Buckley, general counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Detwiler Fenton, said there was no reason for the firm to doubt its findings. “We are confident in our research methodology and we welcome any regulatory inquiry. Detwiler Fenton is not the only research provider publishing similar reports regarding customer reactions, sales and returns of the BlackBerry Z10,” Buckley said in a statement.