Registered: Jun 2001
Location:
Posts: 2

For the September issue of Electronic Business magazine (www.eb-mag.com), I'm writing a feature story on Handspring. I am impressed by the level of community around the Visor. I would appreciate hearing from Visor users who can comment on their experiences (either positive or negative) with Handspring support. I'd like to hear about what features now unavailable are most desired. I especailly invite people who use the Visor in a corporate environment to post or contact me. My deadline is the end of June.

Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Aberdeen, SD
Posts: 2531

Interesting. I don't think you'll hear many (if any) complaints about Handspring's support. Feature set or price, maybe, but not support. Personally, I've never had a poor experience with them. They've been very quick to patch problems that slip through QC, and they're quick to replace or return (w/in deadlines, of course) problem equipment, even if it's for something cosmetic (their handling of the prism paint wear and character recognition were stellar).

Who had the problem with the edge in a foreign country (the one where HS slashed the repair price within a day or two)?

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-Joshua
Abortion: Darwinism at its finest.

Registered: Dec 2000
Location: Petersburg, AK
Posts: 131

Handspring

I had a minor gripe about customer service. I was having some battery life problems and called support. One of the things they had mentioned was screen protectors reducing battery life. (Huh?) I wasn't using them though. I solved the battery problem with eXtend's solution. Later I bought some replacement styli - the Handspring ones. They tore up my screen terribly. I called and complained and all I got was "you should use screen protectors". That miffed me. But I must say that that is pretty petty. I've had a number of other experiences with their support and it has been quite responsive and helpful. I've also had great experiences with most companies making products for the Visor line like Good, Blue Nomad, and Targus. (Just to name some of those I've had specific dealings with.)

Registered: Jan 2000
Location: Twin Cities, MN
Posts: 1683

I had some major problems with Handspring customer service way when I first bought the unit. Bottom line was that it took me 12-14 weeks to get my first Visor, then countless hours on the phone fixing billing mistakes, and I eventually ended up going through 5 visors before getting one that has lasted.

At the time, I was furious with them. I received a few personal emails from the CEO, which was a nice gesture, though I still felt that Hansdspring, and other similiar companies, could have done a LOT more in terms of better supporting their customers.

Unfortunately, they are not alone in bad customer support experiences.

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Registered: Sep 1999
Location: at work...
Posts: 736

I've had nothing but good experiences with HS support. Other than the fact that it's a toll call, I have
no complaints. All returns/exchanges were handled quickly and professionally. Some of the cust.
service reps may not be as knowledgeable as the average VC member, but the tech support folks
are pretty good.

Registered: Mar 2000
Location: NC, Indiana
Posts: 465

Back in the fall of '00 when my Visor seemed to have a scratching problem I called them up. I asked them what they could do about it and she said that they would send me a replacement Visor today, overnight with material to return my Visor. That is support!

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-Vincent

Registered: May 2000
Location: St. Paul, MN
Posts: 1429

Handspring is known for it's excellent products, and excellent support. My incident was with a visor Platinum, and the screen wouldn't show a middle section, about 2 months after I got it. The next buisness day (I called tech on a friday) I got a new unit. In the box was a prepaid shipping label to send my old one back. Fabulous. I wish they had a 1-800 number for support. They got everyting else right though. Good luck on your article!

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-miradu

Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Utah
Posts: 78

I am a lawyer and use my Visor extensively in my practice. I keep my time with Responsive Time Logger, a Palm application. I use the Handspring 8 meg flash module for the extra memory I need for documents, including the U.S. Constitution, federal rules of procedure, etc. I keep my calendar synced with the office calendar and use Datebk 4. I take my Stowaway keyboard with me to the law library and use my Visor as a laptop replacement. I use various database applications for my fitness routine, cell phone minutes usage, car maintenance, etc.

I use pocket quicken to keep track of my finances.

I also have various short stories and novels loaded on to pass my spare time while waiting my turn in Court. And (just between you and me), I've been known to play a game or two in my spare time.

I am also on my fourth Visor. My first Visor had some obscure chip problem. Handspring overnighted me a new one with a box to return the replacement. I sold my second Visor Deluxe on Ebay for almost the retail amount, and I bought a Visor Prism. The Prism had a slight problem with the power button, and Handspring overnighted me a new one the next day.

I've thought about switching to a new Palm or Sony Clie, but my Visor Prism is the best for me. Good quality, brilliant screen, no hassles.

Joe

Registered: Apr 2001
Location:
Posts: 61

I had to get 3 new VPL's for various (sometimes small) reasons and handspring has been very helpful and prompt every time. They have the best custumor service out of ANY company I have ever dealt with!

Registered: Jun 2000
Location:
Posts: 594

It's nice to see a jounalist trying to get data straight from the horse's mouth.
Recently there were a couple of articles that got some facts pretty glaringly wrong.
For some history, when HS 1st started (w/their unbelievable undercutting of Palm's then-prices), they were so buried w/orders, they couldn't tell which end was up for a few mo. Even CEO JH famously claimed he couldn't get one for a [family member, I think?].
So, right out of the gate, they kind of dug themselves a great big hole; could be that JH (and DD) just "didn't quite believe" they were as well known as many of us knew them in the PDA biz., and "maybe no one would know they were putting out a new product."
Wrong.
But, since that time, they seem to have made cust. satis. job #1 at HS -- I know I can certainly vouch for it.
Just the "overnight a new one to you upon defect" (and you send yours back ONLY when the new one gets to you!) borders on unbelievable C.S. these days.
Then, if you really want to look deeper (and I believe you validly can), you can even look at "little extras" that the HS community seems to get -- maybe not at HS's behest ... but maybe so, too. EyeContact for the EM1 & EM2 comes to mind, and so does the EM2's rapid flash update of the app's SW, which had a couple of minor flaws.
Thinmodem+ comes to mind, too.
Sure, these mfg.'s are playing it smart to serve their cust. base well, too. But I can't help but "feel" (tho I have no solid proof) HS is there in the B.G., showing how it's done, giving the good example, and maybe a bit of gentle prodding.
Given the SB feature, and HS' positive attitude (and continued upgrades, innovations, etc. -- even despite no flash OS for the HSVD, which I think most HS users still own) I haven't even seriously THOUGHT about going to another platform, device, etc. -- I'd just be missing too much, in my est.

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"Great Spirits Have Always Encountered Violent Opposition From Mediocre Minds." -- Albert Einstein

Registered: Jun 2000
Location:
Posts: 594

VC is a great community, too.
Even a while back, when I was a real pain-in-the-ass for a while [was?] (I felt InnoGear was engaging in seriously deceptive practices, and no one was taking them to task for it), apart from a bit of flaming here & there, no attempt was made at censorship, and as usual the subj. was allowed to give a pretty fully exhaustive hearing before the thread was finally closed.

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"Great Spirits Have Always Encountered Violent Opposition From Mediocre Minds." -- Albert Einstein

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Sydney Australia
Posts: 1883

quote:

---

Originally posted by homer
I had some major problems with Handspring customer service way when I first bought the unit. Bottom line was that it took me 12-14 weeks to get my first Visor, then countless hours on the phone fixing billing mistakes, and I eventually ended up going through 5 visors before getting one that has lasted.

At the time, I was furious with them. I received a few personal emails from the CEO, which was a nice gesture, though I still felt that Hansdspring, and other similiar companies, could have done a LOT more in terms of better supporting their customers.

Unfortunately, they are not alone in bad customer support experiences.

---

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Do files get embarrassed when they get unzipped?

Registered: Jun 2000
Location:
Posts: 594

Er, oh yeah (as has been posted in a number of threads -- which a lot of this data has here & there if you search around) ... a lot of us request the mythological-Holy-Grail "TV card" SB. (I'm not sure a lot of us expect to see it, and understand it would be a huge feat of engineering to cram it into an SB, etc. But that should give you the level of "allow yourself to dream" of SBs not yet created, since a pretty good number of "ones we've already thought of" already have been.

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"Great Spirits Have Always Encountered Violent Opposition From Mediocre Minds." -- Albert Einstein

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Sydney Australia
Posts: 1883

quote:

---

Originally posted by bkbk
VC is a great community, too.
Even a while back, when I was a real pain-in-the-ass for a while [was?] (I felt InnoGear was engaging in seriously deceptive practices, and no one was taking them to task for it), apart from a bit of flaming here & there, no attempt was made at censorship, and as usual the subj. was allowed to give a pretty fully exhaustive hearing before the thread was finally closed.

---

Thanx for the compliment!
We try not to censor at all, though some people (including you BKBK ) have really been on the edge and very close to being sanctioned.
I believe in people being good by nature and most people realize what they are doing if you tell them (20 times a day )
The biggest asset of VC, IMHO is it users. A lot of fora end up in flamewars, but the VC users are friendly and helpfull. Thank you all for that!

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Do files get embarrassed when they get unzipped?

Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 239

Handheld use is on the rise where I work, but being a manfacturing plant we have different requirements than a regular "cubicle city" environment. We are using PalmOS devices from Symbol out in the plant, simply because they are more rugged.

My Visor has converted several people in the office-types, though. Most of the IT department have Visors now, and several managers have given their Palm III's to their assistants and gotten Visors of their own. Our most typical use is syncing with Outlook for meeting and e-mail. We don't have a wireless LAN yet (note to self: must get funding for that). We also use Quickoffice and CSpotRun for common documents like instructions on a standard PC setup or configuration. I use thinkDB for hardware inventory, network settings, user accounts/passwords, etc.

The thing that would be the most help is wireless connectivity, such as BlueTooth or more importantly, 802.11b for the LAN. I know, I know, I can get the Xircom card, but then the Springboard slot is taken up, and I can't use it for anything else, like extra memory or a barcode scanner.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Germany
Posts: 116

Overseas support

Maybe you are also interested in the experiences from someone in Germany?!
Okay - customer support is a rage - wow - here in Germany customer support is a thing that 99% of the companies have heard of but never lived it. Glad to say that Handspring belongs to the 1%!
I had probs with my VDX and the BAckup Module. So they send me a new VDX - within two days and after experiencing some memory problems with the exchange unit I called them again and they immediately send me a brand new RF shielded unit which works perfect. So, they were very quick and friendly.

What really is missing here in Germany and Europe are the Modules and cases. Right now we are able to buy only some modules (5), 2 different cases, and I just read that the Handspring Phone is available during the next week so it will be 6 modules - this is really a point that Handspring does not treat very well - they should bring the modules to Europe - WE ARE WAITING.

Hope this helps.

Take care
Chris

Registered: Jun 2001
Location:
Posts: 2

Journalist says thank you and has more questions

Thanks to the Visor Central community for all the posts and expressions of interest in my article.

I want to write a fair and balanced article about Handspring and the broader issues in the PDA industry.

One angle for my story is what needs to happen at the corporate or enterprise level before PDAs are accepted at work. There are mountains of security, privacy, and support issues to work out. I'd like to hear from users whose companies support PDAs and how some of these issues have been addressed.

Registered: Dec 2000
Location: June 10, 2001 San Clemente Pier , CA
Posts: 211

You will not hear any complaints about HS customer service from me.
Not only did they put up with my many inane questions during the fall of 99', but they allowed me to pay $80 for a new replacement at the end of 2 years. AND sent me the new replacement while letting me send in the old one at my leisure.
BY CONTRAST:
In the middle of this experience, I purchased a PalmIIIc for my husband. The color/price combo was hard to beat for a newbie. The graffiti recognition was horrible and worse if you tried to turn up the brightness. Upon calling Palm, they told me that maybe I had installed the software incorrectly or need more practice at graffiti. This after 2 years of using a visor. Pleeeeeeze! I also asked them if they had any other Palm IIIc users complaining of the same issue. "Oh no, you're the only one." Yeah, right! After fiddling with and believing them for 2 days, I found a Palm newsgroup (they have those?) and it was inundated with postings of my SAME problem. Many saying the only fix is not to buy one.
After confronting Palm with this new evidence of a rampant coverup, they said "Tuff. This is how the unit works, we will release a fix when we can."
***LUCKY FOR ME, I HAD PURCHASED THE 3 YEAR EXTENDED WARRANTY THRU STAPLES, AND THEY GENEROUSLY ALLOWED ME TO RETURN THE PALM IIIC AND UPGRADE TO THE PRISM.

Gave my husband my old/NEW Vdx, and he was able to write graffiti overnight, imagine that! He's happy.

And, of course, I now have been forced into buying the Prism and am sooooooo thrilled with my setup-stowaway,xircom 56kmodem, backup mod, & MEMPLUG W/64MB.

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"I cannot live without books." Thomas Jefferson

Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 216

I agree with all of the positive things said here about HS and its support.

With regard to using a Visor in a corporate setting, I am a physician and I have responsibilities at two hospitals and a blood center. I rotate through these three institutions each day (the farthest is 1.5 miles from the other two). I have an office at two of the institutions, a computer at one, and no secretarial support. I use my Visor Platinum to:
1) keep me on track with regard to meetings and appointments (a complex task given responsibilities at three institutions).
2) keep my contact list so I have the necessary phone numbers available regardless of which institution I am at.
3) to perform word processing (using Documents-to-Go) when I am at the institutions where I do not have access to a computer. This involves writing reports, letters, and manuscripts.
4) to provide continuing medical education lectures via a Presenter-to-Go module (I don't have to carry around a laptop or a slide carousel, just the projector).
5) to check my e-mail via a ThinModem Plus when I am out of town.
6) read books or play games in the very little downtime that I have during the day.
7) carry technical documents that I frequently need to consult (certain sections of the Code of Federal Regulations as well as professional standards)

With regard to what features I wish HS had included/will include:
1) flash ROM for upgrading operating system
2) a memory expansion slot separate from the SpringBoard slot (similar to the new Palm devices)

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Registered: Dec 2000
Location: June 10, 2001 San Clemente Pier , CA
Posts: 211

I just wanted to add some things about PDA's in general, with the visor just being the most durable and usable because of the springboard.

I would have been happy to have my first Vdx just replace my dayrunner for size, easy text moving(vs. erase/rewrite) and the biggie; FIND function which I never had on any dayrunner.

But my visor has become SOOOO much more. In my field, I need to configure software, install hardware and give demonstrations.
*I now carry my operating and installation manuals on my visor, no more heavy books. Don't forget the magic FIND function here again.
*I can type notes anywhere, my own writing being nearly illegible and that's just to me. I can email those notes from a hotel at night. I can even browse the web.
*I have every number, from kid's SocSec to obscure security door passwords, available at any time.
*With my Prism/memplug and Splashphoto, I can carry as many photos as I want in brilliant color and show them in slide show fashion.
*I have eliminated my checkbook register and the nightly ritual of data transfer with PocketQuicken (2.0 is killer)
*I have access to databases: earthlink access #'s, grocery lists, travel lists... w/HS2 and thinkDB2
*On vacation, I have a currency converter, world times,a translator, and maps.
*Avantgo allows me to check movie times so that even when we're at the beach, we can implusively decide to go to the movies and get the time/location down. VERY COOL feature among moms.

-with the exception of powerpoint presentations and software demonstrations, my visor has allowed me to often travel without the brick(laptop.) And who wants to carry that all day everywhere, even to lunch so it doesn't get stolen.

sorry for the long post, just so excited. i'm sure other professionals have found many more uses for their visors.

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