Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Charlotte, NC
Posts: 15

Having been born and raised in Upstate (Western) New York, does anyone know what is the tie-in that Customer Service (716 area code) has with a CA-based company ?

This may explain the inconsistent lack of knowledge as they may be an outside Telemarketing firm.

--curious former Yankee

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: New York, NY
Posts: 33

Customer service/sales for Handspring is outsourced to a company in Toronto, Canada. The outsource company has an office in Buffalo. The tech support and customer service numbers are routed through Buffalo.

Outsourcing is done by many Fortune 500 companies and is usually invisible to most people. If sufficient product had been available when Handspring launched the Visor, nobody would have even noticed or cared about where the sales/customer service staff were located. But because of the product backlog the people answering the phones (who did not cause the problem) are in the spotlight and taking the heat.

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

Actually, there's been no evidence of a product backlog at this time.

The reason for the "bad impression" is because HS made the decision to take orders for the product before they were planning on actually releasing the device. However, their CSRs were not properly educated and their order system was not yet fully implemented and online. Furthermore, they've failed to maintain regular communication which could have easily been done with a more fully disclosed and open web site.

Finally, they've also had to deal with a bunch of nuts who keep calling every day to find out from the very people who wouldn't be--but should be--in the know about when the devices will ship and a bunch of other crazy questions driven by rumors and misunderstandings. I'll bet that their under-communication has cost HS big $$ in the resulting multiple calls from customers looking for the lacking information. (Your average call to a CSR costs between $5-7).

However, I don't have a crystal ball and can't see the resulting momentum that this pre-release ordering has allowed. Despite the problems, HS probably will make more money out of this than if they had waited until October to start taking orders (when they were ready to begin shipping them).

Registered: Sep 1999
Location:
Posts: 72

Jackal, It's kinda funny... Every call to customer service costs Handspring oohh 5 - 10 dollars...

To Handsprings credit, they have posted a lot of information in the press release area. Download the zip and you'll read a lot of stuff not commonly known.

5 - 10 is a drop in the bucket. However, if Handspring wants to keep a profit on their low price Visor's they'll have to cut down the number of calls to CS.

I wonder how much money all the people here have cost Handspring in CS calls....



[This message has been edited by gene (edited 10-01-1999).]

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: New York, NY
Posts: 33

The people answering the phones were trained by Handspring staff, so were just as informed about the product as Handspring itself. Believe it or not there was product in the warehouse in California ready to ship on launch day.

The order processing problems and resulting backlog have been caused by the company that was contracted to put up the Handspring website.

Also, Handspring is not charging credit cards until the day orders ship, so they have earned $0 thus far. You can bet that Handspring did not plan on having the launch end up the way it has.

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

Gene:

You laugh about $5-10 per call but when you start to add it up the cost mounts. Call centers drive for one call resolution because of the profit margin. I managed the systems/telecom team for a retailer's call center a few years ago and they worked on a 1-3% margin. Just to do the simple math, every time a customer called in for an average conversation (mind you these were not tech questions so the calls were relatively short: 2-4 minutes) it cost the retailer about $3.00 (That's includes all the overhead, not just the cost of the call) Now that $3.00 in cost represents $100 in sales on a 3% margin.

I have no idea what Handspring's margin is--probably a good bit higher--but still, you get a couple of phone calls and there goes your profit for that $200 device.

For them this should be especially disturbing when folks are calling back several times to ask questions that could have been more visibly answered on the website--for FREE--rather than tucking them away in the Press Area (which BTW I've looked at and agree that it's full of GOOD info as is the HDK).

So, I agree HappyBoy, HS probably never wanted this to happen the way it did.

BTW HappyBoy, how come you know so much about HandSpring's operations? Did you find a talkative CSR or are you an insider some how?

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

I believe that Happyboy hinted earlier that he is a staff member of Handspring....I'll look for the post..

UPDATE: I'm wrong, I didn't see a post to that effect.

-Achilles

[This message has been edited by Achilles (edited 10-01-1999).]

Registered: Sep 1999
Location:
Posts: 72

Achilles,

I understand the cost of calls directed to CS and their effect on profit margins. I have worked on process improvement projects to minimize issues like these. With better communication to the customers, Handspring could eliminate about 80% of the CS calls they're receiving.

Yes... It does add up...

Registered: Sep 1999
Location:
Posts: 72

Achilles,

Are you a longhorn?

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

I am a longhorn indeed......Hook 'em, baby!
Now everyone tune in to watch Texas whip the K-State Kitties!

-Achilles

Registered: Sep 1999
Location:
Posts: 72

Or see your team lose like mine...

yup.. we were the 5th ranked team in the nation...

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

Yeah....quite a disappointment for both of us. Oh well, maybe next week

-Achilles