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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 6 of 6. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by gardenergirl on September 13, 2007, at 8:56:22
My PDA has a problem with the screen which makes it impossible for me to access certain features I use a lot. Two months ago I initiated a repair, as I had purchased the extended warranty.
As of today, I still don't have a fully functional Palm.
Calling the repair line is something that you have to actually schedule into your day because the calls take FOREVER. It's maddening. I think I've made at least a dozen calls to them in the last two months.
I did get a reconditioned replacement sent to me a couple of weeks ago, and I was to send mine back with the return label they included. Unfortunately, the replacement doesn't work at all. I called about that, and they assured me they would send out another. I was to ship the defective replacement and my original Palm back once I receive the new replacement.
So I've been waiting. And waiting. No Palm. No emails. Nada. I called yesterday to verify it had shipped since I'm going out of town for a week on Saturday. They said they are waiting to receive my original!!!!
At this point, once I hung up the phone, I just started to cry. Not angry. Defeated. And I actually was pretty assertive, firm, and clear about my needs on the calls. Ha! Fat lot of good that did me.
Sigh.
Now I get to spend my vacation without my "lifeline", my PDA. Even if I had it delivered to my family's address, I won't be able to set it up til I get home. Grrrrr.
Sigh. Just needed to vent.
gg
Posted by ClearSkies on September 13, 2007, at 9:12:10
In reply to Defeated, posted by gardenergirl on September 13, 2007, at 8:56:22
And don't you wish that someone at the other end of the "helpless" line at Palm cared? Or even gave you their last name? "Hi, I'm Blank, and I'll be your Helpless case worker today," they could say. "I'll deny any promises I'll make regarding service or product delivery and will place your call on hold until your bladder bursts. Have a great day."
Can you tell I'll got Issues about service? Too many years spent in the service of others, I think, has shaped my idea of what exactly service is, or should be. Which is why I'll drive past 4 other grocery stores to get to the one where they don't quiz me on the type of produce in my cart. "What's this?" "A fennel bulb." "What do you do with it?" "Beat stupid grocery clerks senseless with them, they are really durable."
You have my greatest sympathy, GG. And if we could fix it ourselves, we most certainly would.
CS
Posted by gardenergirl on September 13, 2007, at 9:28:12
In reply to Re: Defeated » gardenergirl, posted by ClearSkies on September 13, 2007, at 9:12:10
ROFL
I'll never look at fennel the same way again. ;)
To make it worse, this was a call center, not actually Palm, and they had very little leeway to help the customer beyond their "scripts".
gg
Posted by Honore on September 13, 2007, at 18:57:26
In reply to Re: Defeated » ClearSkies, posted by gardenergirl on September 13, 2007, at 9:28:12
I have two ideas.
One, call the help center at midnight or 1 am. I've found that it's much easier to get through then, for some reason (since they're in India, I haven't figured out the reason).
Two, get rid of the palm, and, more importantly, the Palm Company. What a disaster! Seriously, there's got to be a better palm and palm company. Maybe you can have them (or, if you know, can yourself) download whatever's on your palm to a disk or card, and then reload. If that's applicable. But this company seems to be utterly inept and annoying. Worse than that, really.
They might be responsible for tons of mayhem-- customers going postal, without explanation unless you know what Palm company they have.
Did you by the way, have any tracking, or delivery confirmation, or anything on the package?
Honore
Posted by gardenergirl on September 14, 2007, at 9:15:52
In reply to Re: Defeated » gardenergirl, posted by Honore on September 13, 2007, at 18:57:26
Hi Honore,
> I have two ideas.
>
> One, call the help center at midnight or 1 am. I've found that it's much easier to get through then, for some reason (since they're in India, I haven't figured out the reason).Actually, I almost never have to hold before getting through. It's the actual business of the call that takes so gosh darn long. I don't know if they have super slow computers or really inefficient software or what. It's maddening. I few times I had to go because I had to be somewhere and couldn't stay on the line with them. So naturally when I would call back, I had to start from scratch again.
>
> Two, get rid of the palm, and, more importantly, the Palm Company. What a disaster! Seriously, there's got to be a better palm and palm company.I could get one from another company, but it would run on Pocket PC instead of the Palm operating system that I'm familiar with. Pocket PC is Microsoft, and so I'm leery of it given how many bugs and planned obsolescences Windows has had.
> Maybe you can have them (or, if you know, can yourself) download whatever's on your palm to a disk or card, and then reload.
I've done that a few times, and I'll have to bring the back-up and the installation software with me to SF so that I can set up the replacement--assuming it shows up there. The problem I'm having is with the screen. When I tap in a spot, it registers about a quarter inch lower, which means I can't access the menu at the bottom of the screen. A few apps can only be launched from there, unfortunately.
> But this company seems to be utterly inept and annoying. Worse than that, really.
Well, Palm, Inc. has its problems with products, but this is the company that handles the technical support. And then another company actually does the repairs. Perhaps if Palm kept that in-house it wouldn't be so bad?
> They might be responsible for tons of mayhem-- customers going postal, without explanation unless you know what Palm company they have.
I can just see folks running around, shouting and waving their little hand-held devices around. :)
>
> Did you by the way, have any tracking, or delivery confirmation, or anything on the package?They never sent it. They were waiting for me to send back my original in trade for the first replacement before the initiated a second replacement. I would have had no problem doing that if that's what the rep had told me. But he said to wait til I get the second one and then send both the ones I have now back. On the phone they kept repeating this. I kept saying, "But that doesn't solve my problem, and that's not what I was told." So they said, "He'll get reprimanded." "Oh great. That still doesn't solve my problem now, does it?"
I didn't buy the extended warranty on my last version. So when the screen started going bad (I play this game, Bookworm, that is addictive, so I burn out the pixels quickly), I discovered it would cost about 75 % of a new one just to have them look at it before doing any repairs. So it was better to actually just purchase a new one. I swear, that's probably what I should have done this time, though this version is more expensive. But the hassle is not worth it. And I'm sure that's what they intend, unfortunately.
My planner was much less of a problem, but the Palm is just so much cooler with what it can do. And smaller. :)
Thanks for your suggestions and empathy.
gg
Posted by Jay_Bravest_Face on September 14, 2007, at 13:00:35
In reply to Defeated, posted by gardenergirl on September 13, 2007, at 8:56:22
Sorry to hear GG...that really sucks. :( I think we are growing a bit 'attached' to technology (computers..laptop..cellphones, Blackberry, PDA's..etc..) If any one of these units needs to go in for repair, and I don't have a back-up, I get tense and worried. Email and cellphones are almost like 'lifelines' of communication. "Be brave..."..hahaa. :)
Jay
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