Registered: Jul 2002
Location:
Posts: 1

Death of Customer Service

It seems that over christmas, Handspring have decided to deal with the myriad of customer service requests reaching them due to an unpolished product the obvious way.

They have closed their customer service telephone number.

I've been a fan of the treo - but this takes the piss. They now only provide customer service by phone if you pay for it.

I have sent my problem in via e-mail - but am not expecting a rapid response.

I'll let you know if I'm proved wrong...

In the meantime, If the e-mail query is not answered quickly, i have found another page on the website with numbers for people who seem to want to help. I suggest everyone uses these numbers instead...



Copied from http://www.handspring.com/company/key_contacts.jhtml

[Direct Contact info removed. Please visit the webpage above if you would like to see these numbers/email address. TreoCentral does not allow the posting of email address/phone numbers]

Registered: May 2000
Location: St. Paul, MN
Posts: 1429

I am not sure in what you mean. Handspring for the last year now has charged $20 for all calls that do not result from defective hardware, and start doing so i think after 90 days of ownership or less.

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-miradu

Registered: Feb 2000
Location:
Posts: 1571

Miradu is correct.

Please get your facts straight before making such wild accusations. As far as I know, Handspring has be charging for calls after 90 days of ownership for about a year now. The calls are free if a reppair or replacement is necessary.

quote:

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Originally posted by miradu
I am not sure in what you mean. Handspring for the last year now has charged $20 for all calls that do not result from defective hardware, and start doing so i think after 90 days of ownership or less.

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My life is in my Treo... Where is yours?

Registered: Jun 2002
Location: Osnabrueck, Germany
Posts: 4

depends on where you live. For us here in Germany it used to be a number in Frankfurt that you'd have to call (and which I did numerous times) Now you have to buy a service package at almost EUR 20 to solve one problem.

Also, it used to be that you're able to get a replacement free of shipping in advance to sending in your broken device (which I did numerous times as well ) and now you have to send in you device to a company in belgium first before getting a replacement.

The cange took place on January First of 2003 and applies to everybody. There is no 'after 90 days' or 'free call if defective' policy in Germany (possibly all of Europe) anymore.

Unfortunately, those 'service policies' apply for stores and resellers as well. Handspring advices anyone to check with the respective dealer first. Problem is, though, that alot of them are dropping the treo right now. The two stores that are listed at Handspring's web page that are supposed to sell treos (Saturn and MediaMarkt) are both in the process of selling out their remaining stock because Handspring has dropped the support for them (which I believe is not true, Handspring just increased support fees dramatically)

I'm glad that I have a working device now and hope that it holds for another year and a half. If it breaks I don't suppose that MediaMarkt will help me much in getting a new treo180. Also I doubt that Handspring will maintain a good customer base in Germany/Europe let alone increase it with this kind of 'customer service'.

just my two EUR cent

andreas

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Treopolis - information about Handspring's Treo
presented in German!

treopolis

Registered: Sep 2002
Location:
Posts: 6

No Customer service

Handspring don't appear to sell Visors and Treos on their websites in the UK, France and Germany any more. Presumably they no longer need customer service if they don't sell anything. They should have kept the phones open for a bit after they stopped selling though to tie out loose ends. At least they offer email.

They do still have technical support though in Europe though it looks like you have to pay now: http://www.handspring.co.uk/support/contactus.asp