Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 8

...for their poor management and poor execution. I work for the biggest direct PC maker in the world, you know what I'm talking about. We have thousands and thousands of PCs being shipped out everyday, but never had any problems. why??? the management are very dedicated, and we work our butts off not only weekdays, but also weekends. I think HS management team have been playing too much golf lately, otherwise why I'm seeing the WORST online business execution ever.

Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 16

Or if not a management person, at least fire the head of shippping.

I just can't believe they sent out a bunch of shipments without the second address line. I swear, it's almost as though they have a bunch of twelve year-olds running the show there. New company or not, that kind of mistake just should not occur.

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

Hey, I worked for a computer company as well and I remember a day they kicked off a brand new line of desktop PCs and made a huge marketing announcement. Guess what, the day they made the announcement there was not one single desktop in the warehouse.

Worse yet, the company contracted to build the PCs realized they couldn't keep up with the demand. As a result...the same exact thing that Handspring is going through happened. Not only did this company have to contend with external customers, but they had their own employees making purchases and screaming because they were not getting them (and got even more upset when told that external customer orders would be filled first).

It took at least 6 months to clear up that whole mess.

The folks I blame for that mess was the manufacturer of the hardware and marketing.

Handspring made a very poor decision to hire the company they did for customer service and order taking. They should get rid of them or hold them more accountable for the problems they have caused.

As for inventory, this could be a combination of lack of product produced and their choice of customer service. I've seen posts where folks have ordered 1 Visor and ended up with 3. That means 2 individuals out there do not get their Visor. You start multiplying these order mishaps (due to the contracted company taking orders most likely) and you find where a lot of the inventory has gone.

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: dynamic!
Posts: 189

Responses:

<cut and paste, original poster>

quote:

---

I work for the biggest direct PC maker in the world, you know what I'm talking about. We have thousands and thousands of PCs being shipped out everyday, but never had any problems. why??? the management are very dedicated, and we work our butts off not only weekdays, but also weekends. I think HS management team have been playing too much golf lately, otherwise why I'm seeing the WORST online business execution ever.

---

</cut and paste, original poster>

Unfortunately I do not know where you work. Handspring is running 24/7. Golf? What does golf have to do with anything? Are you suggesting "all work/no play" or the myth that all company heads are living extravagantly (as I would )
and not modestly (as I might )? You're looking for a robot to run the company? Is that it? 'Mecha-Dubinsky'! Arrrgh! Haha..

If you're referring to middle management, don't forget about labor laws etc..

Let me tell you something...If I were the CEO of the company in this situation, I wouldn't mind a little time off from work either. There is a difference between 'working for your money', and 'having your money work for you.'
We'd all opt for the latter, but let's not jump to any conclusions about anyone's lifestyles until we've walked their 'proverbial' mile.

I've worked in e-commerce for the past 4 years. Perhaps you're right about the execution. Admittedly I haven't seen anything quite like this, but at the same time my previous employers were somewhat established with their systems, not to mention computer geeks from the 70's.

To previous poster

What's this contractor business anyway, and if this is the case, what difference would it make who's doing the work? Would a contractor be inferior? They must've been hired for a reason. It's my understanding that in an effort to get the products out faster, Handspring hired some temps to do some data entry. If I am also correct, apparenly the majority of people you contact at Handspring were hired as 'damage control'.

[This message has been edited by mrknowitall (edited 12-09-1999).]

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: dynamic!
Posts: 189

There I go shooting my mouth off again... heh heh.. Yet again I've managed to duplicate my message. I (am a registered user yet) cannot delete it (as written), so I've edited this space with more witty banter...

Hmm... OK.. what's on my mind right now?

Who do you guys like in the Super Bowl?

The TITANS are impressive.

GO BILLS!

[This message has been edited by mrknowitall (edited 12-09-1999).]

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

"To previous poster

What's this contractor business anyway, and if this is the case, what difference would it make who's doing the work? Would a contractor be inferior? They must've been hired for a reason. It's my understanding that in an
effort to get the products out faster, Handspring hired some temps to do some data entry. If I am also correct, apparenly the majority of people you contact at Handspring were hired as 'damage control"

I'm guessing this is in response to my post.

The contracting scenario I outlined was to make a point in defense of Handspring. Sure, anyone can blame them, but if they outsourced their order taking and customer service to another organization then that is the group that appears to be at fault for some of the problems Handspring is experiencing. So Handspring would be at fault for hiring individuals not cut out for the task.

Usually you hire another party to do a specified job because 1. they are in the business of this particular job. 2. can save the hiring company money and time where they don't have to hire the personnel. 3. (which relates to #2) bring a level of expertise to the task at hand to save some time with the training process. So in essence, when you hire someone to answer your phone you assume they know how to answer it. When you hire someone to take orders you assume they know how to take the order down carefully and properly. When you hire someone for customer service you assume they will be knowledgeable and not cast the company in a poor light. I have never called a company to check status on an order and have a rep tell me "I don't have access to that information." OK, I have heard "our computers are down," which could be code for "I don't know."

"Would a contractor be inferior?" In this case probably, but I do not knock the profession as I'm a contractor myself. I've worked for many organizations that had a call center handling either orders, techincal assistance, and/or customer service. All had inhouse personnel that were trained by the company and were held accountable to a high standard of accuracy. If there was a rep who had a large number of errors, they were sent for additional training and perhaps had a supervisor or lead rep sit with them to bring them up to speed.

As for folks contacted at Handspring hired for 'damage control' sounds like they are doing more damage than control. As I said elswhere in this forum, you do not give information stating something will ship tomorrow unless you can confirm it for sure.

Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 8

<MrKnowItAll...Yeah Right >

Let me tell you something...If I were the CEO of the company in this situation...

</MrKnowItAll...Yeah Right >

Please do me a favor. If you are really a CEO of a company, please tell me the name of it, would you? Because I'll never buy anything from this company, it's going no where but ...

[This message has been edited by dake (edited 12-09-1999).]

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: dynamic!
Posts: 189

Thanks for the advice

I'll keep working on my swing.


Thank you for purchasing Handspring's Visor.

[This message has been edited by mrknowitall (edited 12-11-1999).]