Registered: Oct 1999
Location:
Posts: 54

I've called Handspring's new customer service number five times this morning - and after getting through and holding for anywhere from 3 to 10 minutes - I have been disconnected FIVE TIMES!

When are these people going to learn not to advertise a service until it works properly? I'm about at my limit of forgiveness.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: CANADA
Posts: 46

Been there, doin that!! I totally agree. I can't even get through to cancel my order if I wanted to. They've got some serious problems, and we are paying for them!

DC

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Corvallis,OR
Posts: 38

Been there, done that but have not done the DEW yet.

I am really starting to wonder if I want to stick to my gun and own the Visor. Like Chia said we do not know what to do if there is problem. Just can't get through.

Some people here have said that Handspring is not to blame for all this. For one they are a starting company and also due the hundreds of us impatient Visor crazy customers.

After much thought on the messy situation here. I think Handspring must be held accountable for everything. First of all they are the one who is SELLING the product. The CSR and shipping center no doubts have contractual agreement with Handspring, Handspring is still reliable for all the mistakes.

It fails to amaze me when news article protrayed Handspring as a "Up and Coming" company with Jeff and Donna names to lend credibility to the product. Yes it has arouse lots of interests and attention but alas how disorganised, unresponsive and inefficient company Handspring has been so far. I think it is a Up and Coming but soon to be gone young company to be more precise.

One might say this is growing pains. But I think this is just another excuses for Handspring. This is why. When this product was conceived. Handspring instead of having resellers handle the promotions and sales of the Visor, they tried to be the DELL of PDAs. It took DELL years to attain this reputable customer care service. In Dell, there is a strong leadership in pushing this customer care service through and is willing to invest in it and this person is Michael Dell. Is there anyone in Handspring a believer in customer service. I think not. So far the effort have been half hearted. Nowaday one just do not buy a product because it is good. It is the intangibles that drives customers to buy the product or shop in a store. Besides Handspring is not like some new start up internet company that is run by some high school kids. It is a company that is run by people who have years of experience in this PDA industry.

As in Handspring and many Dell wannabes who are claiming that they have this excellent customer service but sadly so far it is just NATO(No Action TAlk Only). If Handspring had planned to sell online, they should have known that the website will crash if it is not robust and well tested and that phone lines will be swarmed in the first few weeks at least. They are not the first company to sell online. Ask the online stock brokers? They can tell you stories of website crashing. Why did they not anticipate this and put more resources in the first place? I keep asking myself this question.

It is hard to predict how the market will response to their product you might say. Well all I can say to this is that there is really a lack of planning in their part and maybe no faith in Visor. If they had planned well and had faith in how Visor will be received. Handspring at least should spend/invest a bit more to test the website thoroughly, hire more CSR to handle the ANTICIPATED orders on month to month basis.

If they can't anticipate the responses, Handspring should at least be over prepared themselves than under prepared to ride this coming but unpredictable storm.

I think this is a classic case of penny wise pound foolish.

Is it me or is it Handspring? I just do not understand.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location:
Posts: 9

Eloquently written! I cancelled my order three days ago. Since then, I haven't been able to get through to confirm my cancellation. And I've made half a dozen calls - many of which I forgot about and walked into hour long meetings only to come back to my desk and find that my call was still on hold.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location:
Posts: 121

Reality check:

Dell was find millions by the FTC for consumer fraud, and that was just a few years ago. They promised what today would be called Norton SystemWorks, but couldn't get the software to work right together on a Dell CD, so they just sent the systems out without it. The software was exclusive to Dell and the primary bait for sales that year. I was one of the lucky few who *forced* them to accept my system for a full refund after six months of lies. Handspring hasn't even come close to that.

Now Dell is being charged by some with promising businesses products they can't actually deliver. Sound familiar?

Who cares about customer service when the initial sale is a bait and switch? At least Handspring isn't running a scam. They screwed up and are feeling worse than us right now. They're still delivering product faster than promised, and even faster for those not caught up in the first week comedy of errors.

When's the last time a customer got a personal e-mail reply from Michael Dell when he was in the middle of a company crisis?

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Corvallis,OR
Posts: 38

I am not a supporter of DELL, Compaq or IBM. I built my own computer. My company uses DELL. So far the customer service is very good. DELL, like many companies has gotten too big for its own good.

One of the reasons why DELL is so successful is the customer service so is Gateway. I have a friend who got a new laptop as replacement when he has problems with the one he brought(new) and tech supp couldn't fix it the seconnd time from Gateway.

I am one of those people who do not replace his PDA every two or three years. I use it till it runs the course of its life. I still have a HP palmtop. So customer service is very important to me. Beside I am still not sure if Visor is as good as it is claimed to be. People are already complaining about streak line(s)in the LCD.

Why do I buy Visor then? My palmtop is 6 years old with only 1 MB, battery is draining very fast. I like to give new company like Handspring a chance. Price is the least of a concern to me. I am now thinking of TRG.

I am talking about DELL in its early days. Do you know that Michael Dell made house in its inception days?

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Thousand Oaks, CA, USA
Posts: 49

Ah, good!.....a place for me to whine. Here is my tale of woe:

Over the past three days I have spent the combined time of 8 hours 20 minutes on Handspring's "hold system" (had to find a good way to spend my time while I had the flu). Three times I was cut-off after TWO HOURS on hold!

The only reason I was calling was to return a call initiated by Handspring's (so-called) Customer Service stating that there was a problem with my order (placed 9/14).

When I finally got through, and corrected what they admitted was THEIR ERROR, I was informed that I will now have to wait upwards of an additional month to receive my Visor Deluxe. No offer to ship it free; no explanation as to why their error would slip me so far back in the que.

I used to be one of the few that was understanding of Handspring's start-up problems. I am not that way any more.

Donna's message posted 10/22 on the Handspring website, plus the revealing of a new (toll) phone number to call for problems or information, have come late and leave me cold. No matter how "overwhelmed" they have been, their response (or, more to the point, lack thereof) has been even more underwhelming.

Hard for me to be an advocate of our software company supporting their Springboard slot if I cannot be sure our shared customers will be treated well/fairly by them.

<angry sigh!>

KGrate

[This message has been edited by KGrate (edited 10-22-1999).]