Registered: Sep 1999
Location: LA, Boston, MO. its different every 6 months
Posts: 56

So, because of the $142 Value America Palm IIIx deal, I decided to cancel my Orange Visor on October the 14th, last Thursday. I wait on the phone for an hour and 30 minutes waiting for a CSR, then finally get one to pick up. I tell them I would like to cancel my order and ensure my credit card is not charged, and they said it was no problem. They asked, if I didn't mind, why did I decide to cancel the order. I told them I had found a better deal that would adequately meet my needs. He said that was cool, found my order, and said it was cancelled.

So, with around $300 left on my debit card account (in the process of being closed), I ordered the IIIx from VA and another item online. I was all happy because I had saved some money.

Today I check my debit account: overdrawn. PISS. Handspring charged my credit card on Monday $271.45! This was a full eleven dollars over the amount I had been quoted, and cause my account to be overdrawn! Since then, I have been charged $27 in overdrawn charges!

So, I decide to call Handspring to complain, and possibly get my account credited. I call and wait on the phone for ~45 minutes. Then, CLICK, and I am disconnected. PISS. I am currently on the phone AGAIN, and waiting "for the next available representative" since my call is so important to them.

From this experience, I vow to NEVER purchase another Handspring product. When I receive mine in the mail, it is going straight back. This kind of customer service is a joke. They may have a great product, but I will never know from first hand experience, since I'll never be using one of their products.

Has anyone else had this kind of terrible experience? I will be spending the rest of my afternoon clearing this up, and probably into the night at the rate Handspring answers calls. This really looks bad for this company, and in the future, I will trust the original Palm. These Handspring jokers need to get their act together.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Columbus, Ohio USA
Posts: 255

I don't know if you would want to actually send the item back. They might just take it and any "proof" of your getting it will be moot.

There needs to be something done about the phone service. Do they get charged for everyone who is on hold? if so, their bill is going to be horrendous and any money Handspring thought they were going to make is going to disappear from phone charges alone.

Hopefully next time they get things right before getting antsy and selling a product they can't manage.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: New York, NY
Posts: 33

Read Donna Dubinsky's letter on the Handspring web site. They received more than twice the number of orders they expected and in response are doubling the size of their CSR staff. Sounds like a pretty good response if you ask me. A month after the product launch a massive increase in many areas, including production.

I don't have an MBA so don't profess expertise in bussiness, but how do you forecast sales of a product from a brand new company? How do you predict the media/press coverage? The answer is, you can't.

If Handspring did nothing now and sat on their butts for months, then there would be reason to be really pissed. Instead they finally realize they've created a product that people have really become excited about. Their mistake was being too modest and maybe underestimating their stellar reputations earned while at Palm. It appears that they now hear the roar of the crowd.

[This message has been edited by happyboy (edited 10-20-1999).]

Registered: Sep 1999
Location:
Posts: 13

I've said it twice before; and I'll say it one last time here. The lack of an initial database to track orders FROM DAY ONE was a serious fault in their business plan. This is a TECHNOLOGY company, and they took orders on paper? Ack!!!

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Hong Kong
Posts: 200

Mike,

your are right. They should have talked i.e. to UPS and work something out TOGETHER.

I still think they should have poached the logisctic manager from DELL (or a similar online seller).

But I guess now it's a terrible mess out there and nobody from HS knows what is going on.

At least you guys don't have to worry about Y2K problems, since most of you won't have the Visor by then.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: LA, Boston, MO. its different every 6 months
Posts: 56

to be honest, i dont give a rip how well sales are going or how over requested their products are. when someone tells me my order has been cancelled, and then i get billed, this is poor customer service. thats great that you can name a reason, but its still bad. i would say that nearly all bad customer service has a reason, but the fact remains that the customer does not care about this reason.

put yourself in my position. your account is now overdrawn, and you have had to file a dispute with your credit card about the validity of the charges from handspring.

i talked to the highest supervisory guy there that i could. he could do nothing. the best he could do was tell me that i should just refuse the package. the problem with that is that i live in a dorm, and ALL packages get signed for, nothing i can do about that. in the meantime, i am accumulating delinquent charges on my account. nice huh?

i was told my order had been cancelled
-> i ordered the palm IIIx
-> my credit card was charged for both the IIIx and the visor.
-> my account became overdrawn

this situation could have been avoided in two ways:
1) actually cancel my order when i ask you to
2) if it is to late to ship date to cancel my order, then TELL ME that its too late. not a problem. it would have been dealt with. would go for a good price on ebay.

i dont believe either one of these solutions is too much to ask, no matter how swamped you are. i can understand not being able to cancel my order, but not the part about, "oh, yes sir, weve cancelled your order."


so i called the corporate headquarters. the nice lady i talked to said that they had no control over shipping or billing at all. i said that i talked to the highest person available on the phone, and they could do nothing. i told her that surely SOMEONE could do something. she is forwarding my name, phone numer, and email address (hopefully the @mit.edu will carry some weight) to the head of customer service. maybe ill hear back. maybe not.

my solution? i called the credit card company and disputed the charge. once handspring gets my visor back in the shipping department, hopefully they will credit my account back. but how can i expect them not to lose the package i sent back? theyve not shown themselves able to keep track of much of anything else.

look, i was one of the first people to order (9/14). i was totally excited about the product, and still think it is great. but i will never purchase the product. why? to big of a risk in my eyes. how can i expect any sort of decent customer relations should something go wrong with my visor unit. if theyve outsourced everything as it is now, why would they not outsource everything else? i just dont trust them. maybe it is all just temporary problems. in the meantime, theyre losing a lot of customers, and a lot of word of mouth advertising. i personnaly persuaded 3 people on my floor to buy one. they did. now i am encouraging them to cancel it.

course, theyll probably get it in the mail anyways.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: St. Louis, MO, USA
Posts: 3

drgandy
"she is forwarding my name, phone numer, and email address (hopefully the @mit.edu will carry some weight)"

I'm sure that if they had only known that you were from MIT you would have been one of the very first to have a unit. ;>
Oh brother...