Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 3

I'm personally livid with Handspring. They are completely incompetant and downright deceitful.

My tale of woe starts with ordering a Visor Deluxe on October 6th. After waiting and waiting and waiting, and trying to get it in time for an upcoming vacation, I cancelled the order.

That's when the trouble started. Not only did they fail to cancel the order, they shipped it and charged me $281 on a $260 quote. That constistutes fraud.

I called immediately on noticing the charge and complained. I was given a false tracking number and had to wait to refuse shipment when the real tracking number arrived.

I've called repeatedly and been on hold for up to 35 minutes at a time waiting to get through. I can't get an answer from any of the incompetent idiots they have on their toll number. I can't get a supervisors name or an email address to which to address my complaints. I've been promised a call back, big lie.

Needless to say, I'll never do business with Handspring again and would strongly discourage anyone else from dealing with these incompetant boobs.

I fully expect to get no refund for this ever, or if I do, I expect the charge to be reversed for the quoted price and not the overcharge they've stuck me with.

I'm truly hoping my complaint to the Federal Trade Commission is investigated and proven so that they get hit with a nasty fine.

Now, back to my nice, useful properly shipped Palm 3x.


More than 3 weeks later, I still have yet to

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 434

"Incompetent" isn't spelled with an "a".

I would suggest that you call again after you receive your credit card bill. If they do nothing after a few days, then you can call your credit card company to dispute the charges. As for the extra 20 bucks, I wonder if they sent you a serial cradle too. Be on the lookout. By the way, if you do call again, the waits are much shorter late in the evening.

They have the lousiest system I've come across so far, but again, I do not think it's fraud.

Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 3

Sorry, but the charge dispute won't be available for 30days after I refused shipment. By then, I'm already charged intrest on the bill and won't recieve a refund for that.

Regardless of whether or not there was a cradle included, I didn't order one and their online system shows that.

It is illegal to ship someone unrequested merchandise and charge them for it. The Federal Trade Commision has jurisdiction in this case. Regardless of intention their actions constitute fraud.

Registered: Dec 1999
Location: San Jose,CA,95130
Posts: 7

If you live in California they charge you tax. The quote does not include the tax. They add that on at the time of shipping. Which it states plainly on their website. Sorry you're so upset. But, I'm expecting mine anyday. So Please! Don't blow my high.

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Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 7

korn, sorry for your experience dude, but if it wasn't done on purpose then it's not fraud. I highly doubt any of this was done to you on purpose. Any starting business that gets overwhelmed with orders and idiots on here who call everyday to check on their orders (even though it hasn't even been four weeks)is gonna run into problems that only time will sort out. Check your facts before you accuse a company of fraud.

Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 2

While I understand you are venting you might want to post some tips on how to avoid problems with Handspring--other than buying a Palm Pilot that is. Teach us how to be saavy from your experience.

As I'm sure the other readers told you, it does in fact matter what Handspring's intent is because you can't have fraud without intent.

What you seem/allege to be having a problem with falls under the purview of the Fair Credit Billing Act (15 USC 1666, 1982) which proscribes computation errors and makes them actionable in a civil forum (not criminal). Same act requires you to do a number of things and then you may a institute suit which allows for attorney fees. If you are that angry you might want to look into it.

In my experience, these kinds of things in life just make you wiser and litigation and threats generally don't make anyone whole.

The best avenue for you to become whole is to fall back on your credit card company. They should be able to resolve everything for you. You simply tell them that you contest the charge and explain why. They will send you a justification application and you simply articulate why you have an issue with the charge. In the meantime they will automatically freeze the charge and you ordinarily don't pay any interest or fees while the matter is contested. I say ordinarily because I have never heard of anyone being charged interest on a challenged charge--ever. If what you are saying is correct, you won't be charged anything but you will ultimately have to fork over the Visor to the credit card company.

But as the millionaire once said, "When the going gets tough, the tough make money." Sell your Visor on eBay where the hungry will pay top dollar for it and you'll walk away smiling. No anger, no lawsuit, extra money.

Sorry to be so optimistic, I'm still waiting for my Visor so that may be why.

Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 21

Korn
I was charged for an extra unit in error by Handspring and they promptly removed the charge in 24 hours. I not being trusting that the charge would be credited I called my CC company and they sent me dispute forms pronto. No 30 day wait, no interest.

I didnt need to fill them out since Handspring removed the charge before the forms arrived.

Oh, on the fraud, well sorry to tell you that it does indeed need to be done with intent, and it is quite clear thet Handspring is just having trouble being organized. They are not being frauds.

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: West Chester, Ohio, USA
Posts: 7

I am an October 18th customer and still do not have a unit. I understand the frustration. The management at Handspring has done little to help the people who are their customers. I have not yet cancelled my order, but I wish I could express just how unhappy with the way things are handled.

This Friday will be 8 weeks since my order was placed. People who ordered their units long after me have them in their hands. Last week I was promised that I would have my unit within 5 days. Today, I got Email stating that there was a problem with my order. I have called on two occasions to confirm that all of my information was correct. When I called today and waited on hold for 20 minutes to find out what the problem was, I was told that there was no problem, but that it may be yet another two weeks before I would see it. I can get no attention or resolution to this problem. No one should be treated like this. Last week I was told that I would get expedited service. More crap!!!

If management at Handspring would contact any of us, express their concern and attempt to solve the problem, things would be all right. I do understand the problem that they have. Instead everyone provides information that has no value. Management should not sleep at night given the way they have chosen to deal with their customers. A pox on Handspring management! Send my unit and I will reverse the curse in 4, no 6, no 8, no 10 weeks!.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location:
Posts: 121

kornfed,

Here's the latest news on this subject giving weight to your argument:

E-tail Failures Could Trigger Federal Legal Action - 12/29/99
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/news/.../991229-1.shtml

Registered: Sep 1999
Location:
Posts: 95

Reganc:
You are, of course, aware, that the article in question actually ISN'T referring to Handspring in any way.

They're reffering to the various e-tailers who due to holiday demand knew they would not be able to fill orders, but never made any effort to inform their customers. Handspring may not have been fast enough to inform you early on that they were having problems with over-demand, but the recent delivery times indicate that they are no longer having these problems, and they added a message to their ordering system that they could not guarantee that orders after a certain date (Nov-12 i think) would arrive in time for X-mas, though MANY did.

You've been on this FTC kick since mid November. They weren't in violation THEN, they're not in violation NOW. Give it up and get a life.

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 434

Well, I finally got mine (at just under 10 weeks), and it's awesome. I'd recommend it to my geek friends, but not to anyone else for now... not until I'm sure they've gotten the order system working perfectly or I see it in stores.

Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 8

How long do you think I will have to wait between when my credit card was charged and my Visor doesn't arrive before I will have cause for action?

No, I'm with this fraud idea. I can't believe that Handspring could in good conscience allow order taking to continue knowing that such problems with fulfillment exist. They are intentionally allowing their flawed ordering system to screw over their customers - this message board is evidence of that.

The fact that people are now receiving their orders within two weeks does not mean that their system is working smoothly. I know of at least one person - me - that has been waiting for his order since October 13th. I've been charged and can't obtain any verification from them that it has shipped. I honestly don't think it has been shipped.

I'm coming to the conclusion that the only reason people would fight for Handspring is because they have already received their orders and are afraid that if the company goes under (which would please me to no end, considering the trouble they've caused me) they will no longer have support for all of the proprietary crap that is loaded into the Visor (Springboard, USB, etc.).

As it stands with me, the Visor is an inferior product with proprietary hardware, lack of OS upgradability, and an extremely lousy support record. The only reason I'm still forcing this purchase through is because I can buy two Visors for the price of one Palm.

Suggestions for handling Handspring deliveries? Ok, rather than claiming fraud or threatening suit, howabout this advice: Order the Visor. If it arrives in two weeks like they say it will, lucky you. If not, CANCEL before they screw you over, too.

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Visit Asymptomatic:
http://www.asymptomatic.net

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Chelmsford, MA USA
Posts: 62

Canned Worms,

Handspring has published the fact that some orders are screwed up due to incorrect address information. Your credit card can be charged, but if they tried to send it to an address that turned out to be wrong or incomplete then they got it back. They're trying to reach everyone where errors have appeared, but it seems you get more action if you call them to find out if your order has gone into the "problem bin."

Your best bet is to notify Handspring by emailing the CEO, or other Executive, and stop going through this hired company that is totally incompetent.

The folks at Handspring are trying very hard to rectify orders and shipping them out overnight at their own expense if you ordered standard ground shipping. In some cases folks have gotten free items for their trouble - in some cases I think it is undeserved as folks posted they did not follow the instructions and screamed more.

So before you start filing a law suit you might want to just contact Handspring and ask them to research your order. You may find immediate results.

Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 3

Bastards finally refunded the money. It only took them more than a month and several phone calls. I'm closing the topic and hoping that the rest of the poor bastards who got treated like I did, wake up and buy a PALM.

Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 10

canned_worm, I would say is speak with HQ in MT View CA, not CSR. CSR cannot change any entry in order, its write once and cannot change.

If you placed your order in Sept, I would say is speak to HQ not CSR. The CSR has lot of problems with Phantom orders ie., shows at CSR centre and for not apparent reason does not shows up at shipping centre (could we say kick MS Access out and put a decent database like mysql for free on linux)

Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 8

I am so sure that my shipping and billing addresses are correct that if I have to tell a CSR one more time I will surely go mad. This is certainly not the problem in my case.

If the moderators of these message boards would stop erasing the direct Handspring email addresses from the boards, I would gladly write/call Handspring directly.

Is the number for the "direct line to order fulfillment" on the web page that appears after your order is taken?

If someone gives this info to me, I would happily post it on my own web site so that other disgruntled customers can get satisfaction as well.

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Visit Asymptomatic:
http://www.asymptomatic.net

Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 10

canned_worms, You can get the HQ number from
CSR. Believe me CSR could keep saying the answer even after 100 years. GIGO cannot change it. Also they have problem of Phantom
order, seen at CSR, unseen at shipping site.

Best bet speak with HQ 1-650-230-5000 I guess that is the number for MT View CA.