SEATTLE — When Faron Butler wanted to hear his daughter's voice, he
went to the voice mails she left him before she died of cancer at the
age of 14.
"If I had a bad day or week, I'd listen to her voice. I'd listen to
it a couple of times a week," Butler said
Friday from his home in Elma,
Wash., holding back tears. "She'd be there, saying, `Daddy, I love you
and I miss you.'"
But the voice mails are gone, erased in February when Butler
joined a free trial of a messaging service offered by his cellphone
carrier, T-Mobile, and he doesn't believe company officials when they
say the company can't retrieve them.
"T-Mobile deeply regrets the sorrow the Butler family is
experiencing. If we could retrieve this voicemail for the family we
absolutely would, but unfortunately that is not possible," said T-Mobile
spokeswoman Cara Walker in a statement. "We sincerely apologize that
the Butlers were not adequately made aware of this possibility and are
working internally to assure this information is clearly communicated to
customers in the future."
T-Mobile said it's working to compensate but has not been able to have a direct discussion with them.
Butler and his attorney, Chris Crew, said they are preparing legal
action asking a court to force T-Mobile to retrieve the voice mails. The
family also is seeking damages for emotional distress.
"I think it's technically unbelievable to make that statement," said
Crew, who argues that in situations where law enforcement is involved,
such digital information can be retrieved. He says T-Mobile is trying to
avoid the expense of retrieving the messages.
Butler's daughter, Rhema, was diagnosed with cancer when she was 12,
and died two years later, in June 2011. About a week before she passed
away, she called her father. That's one of the voice mails that's gone.
He had held on to them for about eight months.
