Registered: Sep 1999
Location:
Posts: 81

"Therefore, even if (and I stress if) they do take the time to do any research on this wonderful new product, what they will likely encounter are articles on shipping problems, a disfunctiona website and a lack of communication from the company."

No, what they'll encounter will be lots of rave reviews, one pretty blatantly confused bad review, (maybe) one short article about some starting-up problems, and (maybe) Dubinsky's statement that these things are selling even faster than they hoped.

If they look really hard, they may stumble onto this site, and -- if they have any kind of sense -- they'll discount many (most?) of the negative postings as whining, hysteria, and/or self-important over-reaction. I'm kind of surprised Ms. Dubinsky took the time to make *any* statement, and I suspect what she really wanted to say was "Get off the damn phones unless you're making an order, you losers! You think you can do a better job, then license PalmOS and take a swing at it. Otherwise, shut the heck up."

In a couple of months, this site may be useful again. Right now, it's kind of pathetic, so I'm checking out for a while.

(Which means y'all have a marvelous chance to get in the last word. Enjoy it!)

Registered: Oct 1999
Location:
Posts: 121

Handspring is more overwhelmed by technology than customers. Since they're a tech company, and Donna and Jeff are supposed to be tech biz whizzes, it's embarassing the hell out of them and they're trying to spin it as a good thing.

Let's look more closely at the spin:

Funny how they had no phone problems *taking* the orders and credit card numbers from us the first few days. It simply appears they forgot to use real database for orders and forgot that e-mail exists to prevent telephone status inquiries.

Also, simple calls to cancel, change order info, numbers, etc are flubbed up. This isn't a volume problem. Pen and paper just doesn't cut it for modern order processing.

One you get through to them on the phone, a shipped product should have the UPS tracking number. Not with Handpring/Logistix. This is unacceptable for tech companies and has nothing to do with volume of calls or website visits.

Handspring execs blabbing to Techweb about how they were going to ship early was what drove the inquiries through the roof.

But still, they set up an e-mail newsletter that could have been sent out to customers weeks ago. The first confirmation that I even signed up came today. No news within. And Donna D's online letter came way too late, and is misleading to boot.

If they can't even get e-mail out the door then...yikes.

People aren't afraid to return misshipped product because of volume, they're afraid to return it because of the same reason they got it in the first place...screw-ups. Who will guarantee it shows up correctly as a credited return?

People like myself aren't upset that their 9/14 order hasn't *even shipped* yet, they're upset because some "Mr. October" got both of his already. Hmmm...I thought they were "overwhelmed and backlogged?"

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Austin TX, USA
Posts: 79

Jackal, just so you know for sure, Handspring is well aware of VisorCentral and its growing community of Visor enthusiasts. I have emailed Hawkins himself 3 times and received 3 responses. I might add that the responses were received within 36 hours each time. Of course, I was emailing the last time to inform him that I had cancelled my order and bought a Palm IIIx. Funny thing is, I've just been charged for the Visor anyway. Oh well....I'll keep it and give the IIIx to my girlfriend. Anyway, point is - they know we're here, they have known we're here, and they're well aware of our anticipation and irritation.

-Achilles

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Schaumburg, IL
Posts: 151

Achilles:

Don't misunderstand me, my rant is not that they fail to recognize the community or that they're unaware that we exist. I'm sure the Hawkins and others troll this site regularly looking to know what's on the customers' minds. My point instead is that it took Dubinsky several weeks to come out and acknowledge that they were experiencing problems. It's as if the problems that they experienced prior to Oct 15th didn't exist and this is only news to her now. I'm sorry but she should have been out front much sooner explaining to her customers what was going on. I mean, they went to such great efforts to provide an open environment for Developers so that plenty of information and assistance would be available. How much effort have they expended in providing the same level of assurances to their customers?

That said, I do applaud the fact that they're acknowledging challenges and hopefully this too shall pass.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Rio Rancho, NM, USA
Posts: 129

Hey, we did get something extra! I got a nifty window sticker with the Handspring logo on it. It now resides on the rear window of my red Explorer

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Mililani, HI, USA
Posts: 256

Nachtswerg,

Who is "we"? YOU'RE the one with the Visor...all but twenty-something of the rest of us are still awaiting for the...sticker.

Chris

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Hillsboro, OR, USA
Posts: 64

I hear people complaining that Handspring didn't come out and say they had screwed up and that they didn't anticipate the orders and blah blah blah...

I hear this all the time where I work where people want to know why we don't let them know that we're having problems. We even have people that want us to call them when we have a problem that affect their service. With over 4000 customers, I can't very well do that. But it amazes me that people want us to spend time letting them know about a problem instead of just fixing it.

It reminds me of a Japanese business code (and it's been years sine I've taken Japanese culture) that you should worry about fixing a problem instead of wasting time figuring out who is to blame.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Rio Rancho, NM, USA
Posts: 129

Rags, remember I got 2 visors, one for me and one for my SO. So, 'We' is the correct term.

Of course, I was referring to those who've received their visors... Just how do you expect something extra if you haven't received anything at all, yet?