Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Plainview, NY
Posts: 116

There seems to be tons of speculation and guesses regarding shipping dates of "THE VISOR". DOES ANYONE know the "emmes"(truth)
P.S> what gives with the handspring site?

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Dave B (Grandpa Geek)"If it ain't broke, don't fix it yet!
BUT IF IT IS PLEEZ FIX"

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Indianapolis, IN, USA
Posts: 36

Unfortunately nobody knows the exact shipping date. All we hear are rumors. The only truth I know is that it is shipping by Oct.31.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location:
Posts: 28

That's not necessarily the truth, jpbelch. That's just Handspring's promise. Never underestimate the ability of a computer company to push back the release or shipping date of a new product.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Midland, TX USA
Posts: 95

I don't get the problem. Evaluation units have been out since 9/14. Attendees at Internet World won units as well. So what exactly is the holdup on shipping?

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Norway
Posts: 26

Someone else has said this before, but:
You haven't even paid one buck for this, and you still complain. They haven't broken one of their promises concerning the release date now in October. Be patient, and the good feeling of having a brand new Visor would be even better.

I will prol not have my Visor before early or late November since I don't live in the US (but I've got contacts buying it for me ).

And like many people has said before me: I'd rather wait for my Visor than getting it right now with a big bug. I'm sure Handspring has good reasons to hold it back some days more.. and you certainly don't lose anything on waiting, do you? Some people would maybe just say I don't want to wait any longer.. I think I'll just buy one of those PALMs instead.

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Ronny Salomonsen, [email protected]
Feline Medias

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Plainview, NY
Posts: 116

I am not really complaining , just want some info. Why can't someone just say "We are having a problem" if there is one and I will fully understand. I have been programming since the was ONE computer in New York City located in the 3rd sub-basement of The Time Life Bldg. I have alot of patience > I just would like to know what I am doing and not following blindly from people who just speculate.

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Dave B (Grandpa Geek)"If it ain't broke, don't fix it yet!
BUT IF IT IS PLEEZ FIX"

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Athens, GA, USA
Posts: 23

Calm the freak down. There is no problem with Handspring. It simply is not itme to release it yet. No projected date has even passed yet. It is not mid-october yet. People keep thinking thereis a problem or saying Handspring is unreliable or something. You all just need to calm down and wait. I don't come to this site for speculations on "Handspring's problems" The thing will come when Handspring ships it. They all sit and laugh at these posts because they know that nothing is wrong and we will all get our products soon enough. Until Nov. 1, we cannot blame or guess at any problem with Handspring.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Midland, TX USA
Posts: 95

I love the concept of what the Visor will be, but I'm tired of people defending Handspring's pre-sale practices when we question shipping dates.

I ordered on 9/14, and just now checked to see if I could change the shipping method to overnight delivery. CSR told me that he couldn't access anything about 9/14 orders; they were somewhere between order taking and shipping; there have been problems at both manufacturing and distribution; and the first orders may ship by the end of the month if they can work out the distribution kinks.

As a joke I requested confirmation they will ship by Thanksgiving, and he said he couldn't even do that for orders taken today.

It is not merely a question of patience. They've had my order, and more importantly, my credit card information for nearly a month. I don't so much mind the delay in delivery (I've waited on Microsoft far longer after an announced product), as I do the lack of knowledge about where my order and credit card information are. You can't defend the failure to track that information.

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

I've done some detective work and found out that the person to contact at Handspring for info about shipment dates is:

Frank Loeffler (address removed)
Director of Internet Marketing

Maybe if he were to get a few emails it might jolt Handspring into realizing they have a major public relations problem on their hands. Positive word of mouth can propel a product to record sales without any paid advertising. Negative word of mouth can bury a product or company before they know what hit them. If anyone gets a response from Mr. Loeffler or anyone at Handspring, please do share it with us.

[This message has been edited by JHromadka (edited 10-27-1999).]

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

Wait a minnit! Folks are grumbling that HS has had their credit card for a month?!!

Gee, I was impressed that they weren't going to charge my card until my Visors shipped. I've had other companies charge my card immediately, then ship my product a month later.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: New York, NY USA
Posts: 25

I agree. Go outside (it's gorgeous here in NYC!), have some fun, listen to some music, have a great meal, read a book, play with your friends/family/pets whatever.

Before you know it, your Visor will be here!

<Putting on my sunglasses to go eat lunch outside with a friend>

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Plainview, NY
Posts: 116

What is so wrong with trying to find out when the visor is shipping by getting some answer from HandSpring? I don't care if they tell me I will get it in three months. At least I will have and an answer. I ordered two one for myself and one as a gift for my grandson. I still use my palm & newton (remember them) daily. By the way I went to Bryant Park and ate my lunch there. It was and still is a beautiful day in the big apple. Tonite I am going to Giant(Jet) Stadium to enjoy the Jets eatup Jacksonville I will meetup with my son and grandson.
See I do have a life outside of computing. Maybe us New Yorkers should do lunch.

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Dave B (Grandpa Geek)"If it ain't broke, don't fix it yet!
BUT IF IT IS PLEEZ FIX"

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: West Michigan
Posts: 26

I just spoke with a CSR (do take this for what it is worth) to add a few items to my order, and was told that my Visor Deluxe would ship next week. For the record, I placed my order 9/14.

On the "down" side, he couldn't add anything to my order, and advised me to do so via the website, which would be down (get this) for 2-3 more *days*. Ouch.

Again, this is a CSR and not Jeff Hawkins talking, but it is info from a company "representative" nonetheless. Do with it what you will.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Midland, TX USA
Posts: 95

Nachtswerg:

The issue is not that they have my credit card info for a month; the issue is they don't know where that information is. It is not too much to ask them to keep track of the orders, not merely recite that it is "somewhere between the order system and distribution system."

More disconcerting is that some callers seem to get responses from the CSR's indicating their information is "on computer" while others can't find your information, or don't have access to it.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: US Military in Germany
Posts: 46

Not only is the credit card problem an issue. In my case, since I have an APO box address, the customer service reps were not even sure IF they could ship my Visor to my address. Some word would indeed be nice. As for checking on and changing your order status online. Great idea, wish we had confirmation numbers to do that with.

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

Okay, I have to agree that the order handling portion of HS is... well... amaturish at best...

I mean, excluding anti-MS feelings, Access will generate a pretty good database with little to no effort. The fact that the website wasn't ready and that the CSR's weren't even ready does not inspire confidence.

Considering that it's a 3rd party handling the calls, I'm assuming that the call center has some sort of generic order taking system. Was HS just too cheap to pay for the additional service?

Now, I'm not going to put this one on JH, though. He's clearly the product-brains. Nor am I tossing this at Donna, since she's the marketing brains. This one is solidly on the shoulders of Ed Colligan.

Something tells me that this one is destined to be a case-study in the next 'E-Commerce 101' text book.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Bel Air, MD
Posts: 41

Has anyone give any thought as too how ironic it is that a company who is tauting the virtues of organizers has a ordering system that is this disorganized .

Really tends to build ones confidence.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: San Diego, CA USA
Posts: 22

Spoke to a CSR this morning and she told me that my 9/15 order was shipping this week and give them 1-2 days to send me my e-mail confirmation. How does this jive with the people who are being told by CSR's that their 9/14 orders are shipping at the end of the month!?!

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Urbana IL
Posts: 144

Nachtswerg:
To the best of my knowledge, it is actually illegal for a company to charge your credit card for an item which has been back-ordered or otherwise is not ready to ship. I think that the reason for this is that you have ~20 days of grace period on credit cards, but your credit company must pay out the cash immediately. En masse, this is an enormous amount of cash which is temporarily taken away from the CC companies, and results in a lot less interest on capital. The shipper is making interest on capital recieved from sales without having yet shipped the product.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Sarasota,FL,USA
Posts: 18

It wouldn't be so bad if they didn't make official statements on the internet that it was going to ship "in two weeks" and that was almost two weeks ago. They also told me on the phone that my Visor order was processed and would ship before Oct. 14th!