every problem is predictably handled exactly as you describe – indeed there is no longer any point in calling them anymore.

i had so much trouble with my bluetooth – connecting it to my t68i and my laptop – that i ended up telling them how to configure their own device.

thank god for tmobile support.

currently i have a digitizer issue (not fixed by the patch), and their solution is exactly what you say – must be someone else’s app so i must wipe everything off and start over. of course i have almost nothing on it except totally mainstream approved software.

Fast forward to 2 years ago: My wife’s Palm-branded m100 faceplate breaks. I emailed Palm support and they told me to send them the m100 for repair.

Another unrelated support story that is not Palm related but funny: I replaced my case fan in my HP CPU and I forget if the air was supposed to blow into the case or out of the case. I called HP support and asked this question.

The tech support guy said, “Hold on.”

I then heard him strain as he (apparently) reached behind his computer and then I heard a loud BBBLLLLLDDDDDDDP, while he stuck his pen in the fan on the computer on his desk, just before he told me “It seems like the air is blowing out.”

Peace.

DF

The quality of service and support (or lack thereof) being equal, I’m happier with my Clie. I realize this is can easily be a religious conflict for people, so I hasten to add YMMV

I honestly hope that my experience was not the only factor that drove you to Sony, because in my experience their customer service is just as bad – or much worse! Heck – I don’t believe they even offer the option of paying $40 for a refurb!! Hopefuly you went with Sony because you liked a particular piece of hardware better.

BTW, the refurb that I received is great in every area – except for one major problem…I have to mash it in the cradle with both hands to get a connection for hot-syncing. :confused: It charges with no problem – but hot-syncing is a chore. I am going to live with it, for now.

Judie :0)

Originally posted by slortar
Followed you and Julie from way back in the Newton days, but never posted on the boards. Just thought I’d drop a note of support – your experience with Palm steered me away from a Tungsten T and towards a Sony TG50.

Can someone please provide details of Sony’s warranty? I find it difficult to believe that it’s better and tend to think that it’s probably quite a bit worse.

Scott

Followed you and Julie from way back in the Newton days, but never posted on the boards. Just thought I’d drop a note of support – your experience with Palm steered me away from a Tungsten T and towards a Sony TG50.

If it ever comes up with Palm again, you can tell them at least one potential customer was driven away by their poor support!

Fast-forward ONE MONTH. My partner’s Edge, purchased at the exact same time – suffered the same fate as mine. She can’t live without her PDA, so, after going through the same email exchange as I had (tried x, y, z, including hard reset – response: Have you tried a hard reset?), she gave in and called ‘em. No help; the reps didn’t know their arse from their elbows. The unit, even when we could get it to turn on, would not charge, or hold a charge, after only 13 months of use. All they could tell us to do was the same things we’d already tried, or offer a refurbed unit for about $100 – like we wanted another Edge after two fried ones!

You would think, when presented with a customer who had two devices that were the same age with similar usage profiles die at just over a year’s use with similar problems, a company would realize that they’d sold a defective product and offer something to keep that customer happy. Not Handspring. Everything we tried that worked to any extent whatsoever, we learned about through web research (such as the charging circuitry having to be reset sometimes).

My partner also bought an SJ-30. Even if Handspring were still selling PDAs other than the ugly bricks they call Treos, we’ll never buy another product from them.

Scott

Like I said, I was told that if their repair techs could not find a problem once they recieved my unit, that it would be shipped back to me without being fixed – which is why I decided to take my chances with a refurb. Why do you think I got so hot about the whole thing? Whether it was misinformation or not, it is what I was told and I was not happy about it.

I wish I had a transcript of the conversation. It started out with me being calm, describing my problem and waiting to hear what my options were. I made the girl repeat a couple of things several times because I was so blown away by some of her replies.

The only thing that made this whole experience better was that when I called back the other night to request the refurb, I got the most professional, nicest, most helpful rep ever: Bill.

Judie :0)

Originally posted by Judie
If I had opted for the repair, my unit would not have been replaced with a refurb or a new unit. It would have been the same original unit. It was pointed out to me that if they could not find the problem, it would be sent back to me unrepaired. No thanks…

Is that what the CS rep told you? That can’t possibly be true, can it? If it’s under warranty and they verified that it was a problem, it would seem to me that they would have to either fix it or replace it. Sending it back as-is wouldn’t seem to be an option. This strikes me as misinformation from the CS rep.

Scott

I rerly do unless it’s with heavy use items..

If I had opted for the repair, my unit would not have been replaced with a refurb or a new unit. It would have been the same original unit. It was pointed out to me that if they could not find the problem, it would be sent back to me unrepaired. No thanks…

Judie

Scott

Just to clarify, if you had opted to go through the normal channels to have your handheld repaired/replaced for free (but with the longer wait time), would they have still replaced it with a refurb or a brand new unit?

Scott

So here are a couple comments about your comments:

MrBreeze – YES, I was very miffed with Palm when I wrote about my customer service experience the other night. Like I wrote in my diary entry, I was used to bragging on Palm’s excellent customer service, because I had had to use it with other top-of-the-line Palms in the past. The call I wrote about lasted over 30 minutes, during which time I was treated like an idiot – which is definitely the wrong way to deal with me. Having to pay for the experience made me even more upset. In fact, I am not sure if 847 is a toll free number, so I may have paid for the call in more ways than one.

As I had in the past, I expected to be able to call Palm, and if both the CS rep and I agreed there was a problem, I expected to give my credit card information as a guarantee and accept a refurb. – just as I had in the past. I count on being able to do this with Palm, because I can’t to be without my main PDA for 2 weeks.

Now, in case you are not familiar with Palm’s old style customer service, that was the way they used to do business. In fact, that was what kept me buying from them over and over again – even when companies like Handera and Sony were coming out with “sexier” new Palm OS based PDAs. I knew that the one thing I could count on when I bought a Palm (from PALM) was that they would take care of me during the one year warranty period.

Since I rarely use a PDA (as my main one) for more than a year, this warranty period would be more than sufficient for me. But sometime during the last couple of years, Palm changed their rules, and I was suffering from the shock that others have probably experienced since then. That’s why I wrote about it, and I still stand by what I wrote.

Whether you agree with me or not – it’s okay.

I agree those that mentiond that tiered warranty service would be the way for Palm to handle their various lines.

In any case: I have called Palm, paid my $40, and am waiting on the refurb. Please keep your fingers crossed for me that the new unit will be a better unit…

Judie :0)

Originally posted by Julie
I can totally agree with you about having different warranty periods for different priced products. But if you tell someone that their device has a warranty for 1yr and you don’t stand by it, I think that is the wrong way to go.

Julie, you seem to be missing my point and that of ScottR. The point isn’t that Palm doesn’t stand by their warranty, the point is that Palm offers a service that most companies don’t — advance replacement and Judie jumps on them for charging for it. Judie herself admitted that the repair is covered under warranty, but that she just didn’t want to wait 10 days to get her unit back;

Originally posted by Judie
Sure, I could send my TT in and wait for 10 days for them to fix whatever the problem is for free (since my unit *is* after all, under warranty…

ScottR’s point is that while paying for support isn’t anything anybody wants to do, with the profit margin so slim sometimes you have to cut some corners or charge for services that otherwise would be free. Palm still does not charge for issues related to warranty repairs, doesn’t charge for tech services in the first three months, and doesn’t charge for email support within the first year. Scott R wasn’t suggesting that their are different warranty periods, but simply that Palm would do well to offer, say, a full year of call-in support for free to Tungsten buyers.

Seriously this time, I’m done ranting.

I don’t think the “subjective” viewpoint holds any water here. If I took my car into the dealer because it could barely make it to 60Mph, I don’t think I’d get the argument that “fast” is subjective and it’s ok as long as it still runs.

I recall my wife’s first 505. Not only was the light dimmer than the usual 505, it was a putrid yellow dimmness that was unusually irritating. We got the “subjective” argument from the returns clerk which was terminated by requesting the store manager. The manager looked at the screen thoughtfully, then compared it with my 505 which I had at the time. He immediately approved a replacement and we were off to another store (it was their last one) and the replacement flawless. Matter of fact, she still has it even after I went through 5 of them before giving up and getting the 515 instead.

I think what is being missed is that when you purchase an expensive piece of equipment (which the T|T is), you expect it to at least meet minimum performance specifications, and to do it reliabily for the life of the product. And if anything does fail to keep working within thouse minimum specification, then the company has an obligation to stand behind it.

This may not be the expectation of a PDA that you pick up in the checkout line, but for a device that many stores keep locked in the special “high ticket item” storage room, it should be expected.

I can totally agree with you about having different warranty periods for different priced products. But if you tell someone that their device has a warranty for 1yr and you don’t stand by it, I think that is the wrong way to go.

Palm should be smart enough to offer different levels of support for different product lines. The Tungsten T at its release was their Mercedes. The B&W Zire is their Hyundai. My IBM Thinkpad 600X came with a 2-year warranty. When I had a problem with it, they asked me a few questions on the phone, confirmed that it was a real problem, and I got an all-expense-paid box sent to me within about a day. I packaged it up and sent it to them and about 2 days later got it back. They don’t offer that same level of support for their low-end laptops. So, it would be smart for them to offer one-year no cost phone support for the T|T while charging for it for Zires after the 90-day period.

Scott

Scott

I’m done ranting now.

The point is, that before this policy was put into effect, Palm would replace defective units under warranty ASAP. You did not have to play the “Reset the PDA 15 times while standing on your head” game. They took your info, and you would have a new or refurb in your hot little hands within 2 days max. Now you have to give them a credit card number before you can even talk to them and THEN you have to play their troubleshoot game and wait several days before they will believe their test failed. I used to be VERY impressed with their turn around. I would brag about it when someone would ask whether to buy a Sony or Palm PDA. Their customer service has slipped, and that is not an aspect of your company that you want people complaining about. If you read all of the other comments, I don’t think we’re the only ones with these feelings of frustration.

I can understand Palm requiring people to pay for tech support and device replacements AFTER the warranty period has expired, but not DURING.

What I am saying is that Judie’s crying foul at having a bad customer service experience without giving the full story — Palm isn’t MAKING her pay $40 for a repair that should be under warranty, she’s CHOOSING to pay $40 for the “advance exchange”. I can’t sympathize with that.

Palm’s policy on charging for tech support is this; free calls for the first three months, free tech support by email after that. $25 per “incident” for non-warranty technical issue CALLS after three months. While the $25 fee seems steep to me, and unwise as a business decision, it’s a clearly stated policy that Judie CHOSE to participate in. And it doesn’t seem to me that Palm would charge her the $25 fee if her problem is covered under warranty. If they do charge her, that’s wrong.

And what’s the hassle that she’s getting? She’s being told to do a hard-reset just to make sure that it isn’t a PEBCAK? Other than that it doesn’t seem like there’s any roadblocks. It seems to me that Judie’s just a little miffed, and blowing the whole thing out of proportion. Sure, customer support sometimes sucks, and sometimes they’re rude, but Palm’s not charging Judie anything for the warranty repair which is what she was originally complaining about.

You want bad customer service, try Creative. They don’t even have a technical support number, and emails take significantly longer than 48 hours to get answered. Or try Aiwa, who I recently called and found that their phone maze for some reason kept switching me to “customer care” instead of “techinical support” — I was told that it was my phone that was the problem, and that they couldn’t transfer me from customer care to tech support. I would have to call back from another phone, which meant that I would have to be at a payphone talking to tech support while the TV that was malfunctioning was in my living room. That’s bad customer support!

PS I don’t mean for this to be a personal attack – I love the site and have been coming here for years. Keep up the good work.

Originally posted by MrBreeze
[B]WAIT a second — your lead on this story says;

Which I read as saying that you HAVE to pay $40 to get your Palm refurbished.
In no way did you indicate that you had a CHOICE to EITHER get a refurb unit immediately or instead have your unit repaired or replaced in a normal way like everyone else does.

You just lost my sympathy — I’ve had to deal with Palm tech support on a bad unit before, and while it did take a week to get my new unit, I found the whole process to be perfectly normal for customer service. I didn’t have to pay for the support, but now I don’t even know if the $25 fee is to be believed either.
[/B]

So, you are saying that it’s acceptable for a company to have great customer service at one point in their history, and to then slide downhill? I thought the whole idea of business was to IMPROVE not get worse!

As long as the device is within the 1 yr warranty period, which Judie’s is, I think they should exchange the device for a new one with NO hassle. This is how they used to handle these problems. A person shouldn’t have to jump through hoops to get a replacement device like they do now. It’s frustrating and makes Palm look bad if you ask me.

“If I call back and say that my problem has not been resolved, then I can send my unit in for a refurb, at the cost of $39.99 (but at least I won’t have to pay the $25 for the original service call). “

Which I read as saying that you HAVE to pay $40 to get your Palm refurbished.
In no way did you indicate that you had a CHOICE to EITHER get a refurb unit immediately or instead have your unit repaired or replaced in a normal way like everyone else does.

You just lost my sympathy — I’ve had to deal with Palm tech support on a bad unit before, and while it did take a week to get my new unit, I found the whole process to be perfectly normal for customer service. I didn’t have to pay for the support, but now I don’t even know if the $25 fee is to be believed either.

As for the hard-resets, I’ve had to do a number of those as well while on the phone with t/s, and every time they tell me to do it I groan because I know it won’t do anything. It’s a little bit like when I was in college I always heard the women in my dorm complain that when they would go see the nurse about a cold/flu/whatever the first question out of the nurse’s mouth was always “could you be pregnant?”

One thing to understand about t/s and hard-resets though is this; it’s one of the only things that t/s can do from a distance that might actually fix something, and even if it’s unlikely to fix something, it’s worth trying since otherwise you’re going to have to send in your PDA and lose all your data anyway. So why not do a hard reset? Sure, we all know that it’s not going to fix the problem, but why not give it a go and make your tech rep happy. And the next time you visit the school nurse and he or she asks you if you could be pregnant, say “no. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, give me my flu shot!