Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Plantersville, TX, USA
Posts: 109

I know that most of us are dying to get our orders... and most of us are peeved at the customer service...rumors...discrepencies...

But isn't a small part of you excited for Handspring that they are way way past their expectations?

It would be nice if one of the bigwigs threw a post on here just to say hi and thanks... wouldn't take much would it?

Zen

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 34

Wonder how much of their being "overwhelmed" is due to antsy customers calling in to check on the status of their orders? Technically, none of the unfulfilled orders are even late yet.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location:
Posts: 81

Ditto what discHead said. And people should keep in mind that human nature being what it is, we're far more likely to hear about -- and remark on -- glitches than about uneventful deliveries.

When I get mine, the only thing y'all will probably hear from me is deafening silence.

Assuming Dubinsky's on the up-and-up about how crazy things are, it's grand news as far as I'm concerned, and they have my best wishes for good luck getting on top of the demand.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Orlando, FL
Posts: 29

I agree, good for Handspring!

The whinning on this board is reaching deafening levels. I'm amazed by the people who "pre" ordered their Visors and complain about "when will it ship" and then as soon as it ships "where's my order" when it doesn't show up on their doorstep the next day. Let's not forget those helpful folks who call a couple times a day and complain about the wait time.

It seems that they have gotten to me. I ordered mine on Oct. 6 and didn't expect to get it until they shipped at the end of October. Sure I want mine now, but I'm not going to go mental and put down Handspring every chance I get. It will all get worked out in the end. After all they do have a 30-day Guarantee. I have every confidence if something goes wrong they will be responsive.

Anyway cheers to Handspring and congratulations.

P.S. And I thought I was a negative person.

------------------
Power corrupts, absolute power is really kinda neat.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location:
Posts: 121

Handspring is more overwhelmed by technology than customers. Since they're a tech company ANd Donna and Jeff are supposed to be tech biz whizzes it's embarassing the hell out of them and they're trying to spin it as a good thing.

Let's look more closely at the spin:

Funny how they had no phone problems *taking* the orders and credit card numbers from us the first few days. It simply appears they forgot to use real database for orders.

The whole reason you contract a call center is to scale up quickly whenever needed. They couldn't do that. Simple calls to cancel, change order info, etc are flubbed up. This isn't a volume problem. Pen and paper just doesn't cut it for modern order processing.

One you get through to them on the phone, a shipped product should have the UPS tracking number. Not with Handpring. This is unacceptable for a modern tech company and has nothing to do with volume of calls or website visits.

We all know how their website can't take any orders and never really could. This is due to the faulty underlying database not hordes of new customers. Otherwise, like we all know from other swamped websites, you wouldn't even be seeing their web pages.

Handspring execs blabbing to Techweb about how they were going to ship early was what drove the inquiries through the roof.

But still, they set up an e-mail newsletter that could have been sent out to customers weeks ago. The first confirmation that I even signed up came today. No news within. And Donna D's online letter came way too late, and is misleading to boot.

If they can't even get e-mail out the door then...yikes.

People aren't afraid to return misshipped product because of volume, they're afraid to return it because of the same reason they got it in the first place...screw-ups. Who will guarantee it shows up correctly as a credited return?

People aren't upset that their 9/14 order hasn't arrived yet, they're upset because some "Mr October" got his already. Hmmm...I thought they were "overwhelmed and backlogged?" Yeah, right. Whatever Donna.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location:
Posts: 106

Reganc, while having a lot 'bite' in his tone is essentially correct. Think for a moment what aspects of this enterprise have been 'botched':

Email confimations: Botched
Newsletter: Botched
ANY Feedback: Botched
Getting thru to CSR: Botched
Info from CSR's: Bothced
Online ordering: Botched
Credit card charges: Botched
FIFO delivery: Botched

They have us over the barrel. And they know it...so here we wait. I tell you, if I were Palm, I would take out full page newspaper adds on both coasts. I would simply lay out all the facts (no slander). Simply restate what I've said above, and then ask the question..."Do want this companies product managing your life"?

Registered: Oct 1999
Location:
Posts: 121

Just got off the phone with a good-hearted female Handspring supervisor who returned my call from earlier in the day. My hours on hold were for a good reason. My 9/14 order was never shipped!

"OK, let's confirm your information and we'll get it out to you with the next batch," she said. Luckily we discovered my apartment number was missing off my order too.

She said that basically the contractors fell through and that the non-scalable website order database that crashed was tied into their original e-mail notification plans.

She admitted that a lot of the errors were just that, and they they are overwhelmed with trying to correct those now.



[This message has been edited by reganc (edited 10-25-1999).]

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Burlington, VT, USA
Posts: 127

Actually, RJT, Palm wouldn't take out ads like that -- Handspring is their licensee, someone they work with. What you propose would be like Microsoft taking out an ad criticizing Compaq's delivery problems.

Handspring botched my first-day order, and I'm looking at another 10 days now before I see my Visor Deluxe. Am I happy about that? No way. But being out in the real world, I know s*** happens. I've worked for companies that have, with the best intention, botched things up.

None of that changes the fact that the Visor is a hella cool product, the best Palm OS PDA out there right now for my needs, and the fact that I can't wait to see what kinds of cool Springboards I'll be able to blow money on in coming months.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location:
Posts: 106

Dennya.. Licensing schmicensing...you're in charge of the new 3COM spinoff. Do you wnat to sell more of YOUR widgets or THEIR widgets.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: NY, NY, USA
Posts: 155

Dennya, I agree. It's a pain in the ass, but I just spent about twenty or so minutes on the phone (after waiting 1.5 hrs, btw) with Jeff in customer service.

He told me that despite me having ordered my Deluxe on the 14th, it's possible that my order wasn't shipped until very recently. Apparently, they found all my data in the system up until yesterday, then today it's nowhere to be found. He told me that that's a good sign that it's on the loading dock.

Does that help me with the fact that I was hoping to have a deluxe tomorrow (or at the latest, Monday)? Nope. But at least he was clear about the info they have at their disposal, he was apologetic, and he was honest.

Best intentions aren't always enough, but considering the product and the fact that it's definitely the best thing out there overall, IMHO, the bottom line is that I feel a lot better about the situation than I did two hours ago.

Now if the tech support situation becomes this messy, well, looks like I'll be doing the ol' foot-in-mouth thing ;-)

Registered: Oct 1999
Location:
Posts: 187

Well you can't say that Handspring isn't quick to respond to complaints about long hold times, because they just shortened the time until you talk to a live body...they took away the toll free number for order status questions! That is sure to cut the queues down because I can't afford to be on hold for 4 hours if I pay the bill! How clever! Bravo to the Marketing Division!
On the good side, the do have an email submission form for questions. Let's see how well they handle those inquiries! I've already zipped off my submission...and nothing so far.