Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Titusville, NJ, USA
Posts: 9

Well, I am on my third Visor Prism in only one week. The first two were from Best Buy, the first of which was a defective (graffiti did not work at all) and sold to me as a new one -- opened. I had been looking at the other handhelds that they had while the Best Buy associate took forever to find a box, and when I turned around he was going through the contents of one. When I asked him why, he said "just making sure everything is there," so I assumed that he had just opened the box before selling it to me (something I myself do in retail). But when I got home and turned it on, I noticed that it -- well, that it turned on! A friend of mine bought a Prism earlier and apparently they are packaged completely powerless. I went to Memo and someone had scribbled some odd characters that I did not even know the device was capable of producing, and upon trying the Graffiti area, I ended up with the same gibberish. So, I called the store immediately and asked if they had a NEW and UNOPENED Visor Prism in stock. The associate very quickly said "yes, we do have some, I'll put one aside for you." A thirty minute car ride later, I walked up to the Returns & Exchanges counter and, sure enough, there was a Prism with my name on it. Opened, and the box looked like it had been through a blender. Obviously, I was furious and demanded to speak with a manager. I was not impressed by the manager at all, who reminded me for the tenth time that they offer an incredible extended warranty, and finally found an unopened box in the upper storage area that none of the associates seemed to know existed. So, I took the new one home and it worked just fine -- for two days. Dark pixels began appearing on the screen a few nights ago, and they were becoming incredibly annoying. Not something that I paid $469 for.

So, fed up with Best Buy, I called Staples and asked them the same question I had asked Best Buy. "Do you have an UNOPENED Visor Prism in stock?" After waiting on hold for approximately ten minutes, the associate came back on the line and said "yes, we have one unopened Prism left." Guess what! When I went in to purchase this last Prism this afternoon, it was opened! Being in a rush to get back to work, and really on a mission to have a perfectly working Prism, I went against my better judgment and left with it. Well, this one has no screen problems (except the bottom portion seems to be slightly darker than the middle and top), but the Down and Up arrows are very loose, and the former only works when pressed from an odd angle. After playing with it for a few minutes, I replaced the stylus and noticed that there is a small crack near the stylus slot. Most likely why it was opened and sold again -- BECAUSE NOBODY SEEMS TO SEND DEFECTIVE PRODUCTS BACK ANYMORE!

So, before returning this one and figuring out a way to get one that actually works, is it just me or did Handspring begin producing shotty products? My Visor Deluxe has taken a lickin' and kept on tickin', but my best friend has been through three of those as well. Is it just retail? I'm going to return this one and order my next directly from Handspring. This is really getting silly, and has been a great deal of stress. Why are there so many defective Prisms?

__________________
Ben
-www.light-poet.com
[email protected]
-Light-Poet Photography

Registered: Apr 2001
Location: NYC
Posts: 27

Re: Opened Prism boxes

>Why are there so many defective Prisms?

Don't you think that it's NOT that there are so many defective Prisms, it's just that this "opened box" phenomenon is due to the ultra-liberal return policies in effect at so many retail stores these days? I mean, come on, any store that allows you to return a PDA just because you "changed your mind" can't just go and return these to the manufacturer, IMHO. It seems like a store like this HAS to put these back into stock. For that reason I refuse to buy from a store like this - all my PDAs are gotten directly from either Palm or HS. At least, I *think* I'm assured of getting one that was never returned by someone else!!

-Harris