Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Vancouver, BC. Canada
Posts: 57

Jesus Murphy, man. I was wondering why no Canucks had got theirs yet. I wonder what the holdup was - something at customs? Or did they just put us on the backburner because they figure we won't need our PDAs until the ice fishing and igloo building season kicks in...

I better get mine Monday...

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Posts: 14

Yeesh.
Followed up on others' experiences posted here -- phoned Handspring and found that, sure enough, they could find no record of my order (placed October 25). Had to re-order everything, and the new order is being passed to a "supervisor" to sort out -- with a promise that the order will be back-dated to October 25th. They asked me to phone back in 3 days to confirm again. I'm boggled by this ineptitude. For starters, why on earth do they not use order numbers? It would be a hell of a lot easier to search for orders in their DB if they had a unique identifier to search on! And why the devil didn't HS set up WWW site to accomodate Canadians same as Americans?

The only good news in this is that I was on hold for no more than 45 seconds, to my utter amazement. I suppose none of it matters much if HS hasn't bothered to start shipping to Canada anyway :-(

Bottom line -- check your order, don't just assume that it's going to show up.


[This message has been edited by Trew (edited 11-13-1999).]

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Vancouver, BC. Canada
Posts: 26

I got it! Friday, intercepted the FedEx truck. Blue deluxe, very nice. Have a few minor complaints, but overall very happy, after over 8 weeks waiting.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Vancouver, BC. Canada
Posts: 57

Great to hear a Canadian (and one here in Vancouver, to boot) got one! I had been under the impression that there had been some problems shipping to Canada, but it looks like they might have them licked.

Tell us, how much did it end up costing? Were there any fees at the border?

Registered: Oct 1999
Location:
Posts: 30

Pilotdoc,

You're our (Canadian) #1 source of info right now! Congratulations on your interception!
-How were you taxed?
-Any duties?
-How much was shipping?
-When did you order?

Sorry for all the questions, I'm just so darn anxious.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location:
Posts: 31

Jeez pilotdoc,

If you're gonna post anything meaningful, post the total cost in CAN$. Taxes, custom fees....etc. Great to hear that you got yours...!!

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Vancouver, BC. Canada
Posts: 57

Well, my credit card was dinged this weekend for what looks to be about $380, so I'll take that as a positive sign that Canadian orders are starting to roll out. I'm cautiously optimistic for a delivery this week, hopefully Monday or Tuesday. I'll post if/when mine comes, with full details.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location:
Posts: 31

Thanks Rubberdemon. Hope you get it this coming Monday!!! Will be waiting eagerly for your post.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Vancouver, BC. Canada
Posts: 26

Hi again, sorry to leave you all wondering about the details! I ordered 9/16, by phone. Shipment was FedEx. Total cost was $249 + $6.95 S+H, USD. In Canadian dollars: $347 or thereabouts posted to my credit card. NO OTHER CHARGES!! I'm very happy about that! Hopefully, all of your visors will arrive soon.

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: calgary, alberta, canada
Posts: 4

Hi,

I received a FedExnotice on my door on Friday (I wasn't home to receive the package) and I went Saturday morning to their office to pick up my Visor. I ordered on October 18th and received Nov 12th. Not bad. I was charged an additional $18.?? at the FedEx office, they said it was for GST.
Very pleased with unit, but then again it's my first PDA so just about anything would have pleased me.

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: calgary, alberta, canada
Posts: 4

Sorry,

In reference to the above post, I live in Calgary, Alberta in case you're wondering.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location:
Posts: 30

Well my Visa was finally dinged on Friday, (Nov. 12) for $413 Cdn. That works out to be $11USD shipping charge and GST. Quite acceptable.
Today, Monday Nov.15 I tried to obtain a tracking number from a CSR but he did'nt have one. I then phoned Fedex and they were helpful but did'nt show a shipment for me in transit anywhere today. (They showed one for Ontario, I live near Toronto).
I'll try tracking again tomorrow. I leave on holidays soon so I don't want to just miss it!

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 23

Michael,

It is the GST or brokerage fee that I'm worried about. The $413 is what I was expecting (serial cradle and shipping) for a VDx. I've heard about GST and $30 UPS charges, which makes the whole purchase much less attractive.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location:
Posts: 30

Well I attributed the $413 on my Visa to be from Handspring a bit prematurely unfortunately. After further probing it turns out its another unrelated charge.

So the wait continues for me.
The latest word I received from a CSR is that as per their website, since my order was before October 20, I'm in the 6-8 week shipping period.

Fortunately the few Canadian orders that have been received were not charged brokerage fees or duties.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Vancouver, BC. Canada
Posts: 57

Sheepishly I must also admit to a premature Visa sighting. Jeez, it was something else (curling fees - how Canadian). I'm giving them til Wednesday then I'm calling the Handspring head office or Emailing Donna - this is getting ridiculous.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location:
Posts: 30

When did you order Rubberdemon?

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Vancouver, BC. Canada
Posts: 57

I ordered on the 17th or so of September. I've called a couple of times, and all my info was correct, so I don't know what's keeping my blue Dx... sigh.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Vancouver, BC. Canada
Posts: 26

Hi. For those Canadians who ordered early and still haven't received their visors, this might help. I ordered Sep 16. When I still hadn't received my order by 7+ weeks, I called to verify my order, Nov 8th, (for like the 10th time, and they still didn't have corrections properly). After the CSR was unable to help, and knew basically nothing about the status of my order, I insisted that someone, somewhere, must know more about my order than the CSR, and could I please speak to whoever knew more.

I was told the supervisor was unavailable, had stepped out for a while. So I called back, this was after midnite, Pacific Time. The supervisor apologized and promised to send an email to California with all the shipping and order details. He would request that they email him back a response and copy the email to me. That was on a Monday. By Friday, I had not received an email response, so I called again. This time, I was going to ask for their corporate phone number.

Instead, I was told that the package had shipped out already and was given a FedEx tracking number. Then the CSR said, "now you're going check the FedEx site?" Of course, I did. That day I got the visor.

I hope this helps. My advice is to go beyond the CSRs, but only if your order is *really* late, as in over the quoted 6 weeks as on Handspring's web site. If a you talk to a supervisor, ask them what they can do. There must be someone, somewhere who knows about your order and can do something about it. Just keep climbing the authority ladder until you get to that person. Ask for email copies if they tell you they will send an email to someone else, get names of who you deal with, etc. Also, it seems to be easier if you call at night. When I called, it was between 3-4am and the supervisor offered to go the extra mile, partly because it wasn't so busy.

I don't know if all my complaining was what finally got my visor here, but I share this story hoping that it helps somehow.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location:
Posts: 71

Aigh...

I've been trying not to be a part of the poblem...but I broke down and phoned two weeks ago to ensure my order was filled out correctly. You see, as I was in the process of finding a new home, I gave my work address for shipping and my (now previous) home address for billing to avoid losing the order.

Anyway, two weeks ago I phoned and although everything was at least recorded properly, the addresses were reversed. So my card wouldn't have been billed, or the new tenant of my place would have received my Visors.

No big deal, I said. That's why I called, afterall. So I got them to reverse the addresses.

WELL...today (again waiting until the paranoia was too intense) I phoned again. Sure enough, the rep had absolutely no record of the address change. None. They were still wrong. Luckily it hadn't been shipped yet!

So I asked him to just can the whole address information, and gave him my new home address for billing AND shipping. He said it would take five days to be entered!! I told him that by five days, judging by what some other Canadians are saying, my Visor might well ship to the wrong address.

So, "seeing as your original information change was lost" he said, he would rush the change through today.

I'm not at just over six weeks and, although I've been more than patient, I'm going to snap eventually. I'm for sure going to call back in two days to see if the address is finally correct.

Good grief...why five days to enter an information change?

-Doug

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Oakville, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 10

Yep...I'm a Canadian, Oakville (near Toronto), Ontario - ordered 9/15 by phone - 2 VD's blue, graphite - just came yesterday (11/15) 2 months to the day! And that after I called several times and they promised to "expedite" the orders... However - I'm really glad I've got them - super little machines with terrific screens and lots of potential with the modules! Hang in there, Canada . it's a happening!

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