Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Birmingham, AL
Posts: 103

Interesting. Haven't heard much from her during all of this. I wonder what kind of 'rewards' we deserve for sticking this out and not going postal on anybody? hmmmm.... Interesting.

BC

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Clinton, UT 84015
Posts: 71

Funny. I hate to say it, but we deserve no rewards for sticking with it. We get what we expected. A product, which we pay for. No more, no less.

I just want my visor. I thought the wait might be three weeks. I am at three weeks, and still haven't received mine. But, I am certainly not going postal over a product.

Thomas

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Denver, CO
Posts: 15

I have been reading the posts the last few days and I am appalled at how impatient and how rude some folks can be. This is a brand new company and I would imagine that they did their best to forecast demand and prepare for it.

Or maybe they decided "Hey, let's start a new company, spend lots of money, promise a great product and then see how many people we can piss off by not delivering in 20 minutes or less"

Lets give these guys some slack. I doubt that there are more than 2-3 of you to whom this is a life and death proposition. Their execution maybe hasn't been 100%, but they seem to be trying. Now, if in 9 months to a year, they still are having the same issues, then I would agree that their customer service is lousy. But not now.

I'm for instant gratification as much as anyone, and would rather be messing with my Vdx than posting this message, but I have decided to just wait and not bug them. In the whole scheme of my life, it will not end up being a big issue. Don't think I will be on my death bed saying, "Damn those Handspring people for making me wait 4-6 weeks"

Just mho.

Drew

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Hong Kong
Posts: 200

Hands up - who would like to work as CSR phone operator?

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Endicott, NY USA
Posts: 60

Geez... it's not a matter of "I want my Visor, and I want it NOW!" Nobody is saying that (or if they are, they're not directing any vitriol towards Handspring because of it). What everybody here is anxious about is...

A.) We call Handspring and place our order. The website clearly states that WE WILL receive confirmation e-mails.

B.) Not only do we NOT receive e-mails, letting us know that our orders didn't just dissappear into some black hole, but many orders were outright screwed up, for lack of a VERY BASIC order tracking system, and a complete lack of organization.

C.) While I can completely appreciate the fact that they are a startup firm, the basic tenet of e-business is communication with the customer above all else. Go to ANY two-bit commerce site on the web, and I guarantee you that they have one or more of the following features: UPS Order Tracking, e-mail confirmation of order receipt, and e-mail confirmation of order shipment. These are NECESSITIES. Otherwise, you end up with the mess that Handspring currently has on its hands.

I'm giving Handspring the benefit of the doubt here, and I sincerely hope they turn this around, but if I didn't have such faith in the company, I probably would've walked a long time ago too.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Urbana IL
Posts: 144

I thought the tone of the statement was very nice and I'm glad she made it.

With regard to "nothing to fret about..etc" I'd like to say that I currently have six authorizations pending on my credit card, totaling almost $600. I ordered ONE Visor Deluxe. This annoys me.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 34

Wizard22 wrote: "We call Handspring and place our order. The website clearly states that WE WILL receive confirmation e-mails."

I don't know what it said a month ago, but currently it says: "When ordering on the web, a confirmation email is sent immediately. If you order over the phone, we will not send confirmation emails as may have been stated, but you can call our toll-free number at any time to check on your order. We apologize for any confusion."

For what it's worth, I placed an order on the Web and I did receive a confirmation e-mail. (Of course, I currently have no way to check on it via the Web site.) :-/

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Hong Kong
Posts: 200

...it said from day #1:

...add your email and be the first to know when Visor is shipping...

I did add my email but never received a reply from HS. As far as I followed the messages here, nobody has ever received any email from Handspring.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location:
Posts: 13

drewb: I'm not upset with not having my Visor--In fact, I think anyone complaining about 'I don't have my visor' should get a life. This company has proven that they can keep their release dates--this is still October, right? I'm satisfied with that.

What I'm not satisfied with is a TECHNOLOGY company such as this didn't have a database setup for tracking orders? That's RIDICULOUS.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location:
Posts: 13

HipHop: You're right. I never have received my announcement email. I guess it's a good thing that I kept on-top of the developments of the Visor and already ordered one. Otherwise I'd have been waiting for that email and never known it was out. I guess they don't want the sales from people who would come back and buy them.

Sad...

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Modesto, CA USA
Posts: 599

Hip Hop you are correct...I don't believe anyone received an email notification regarding their original phone in order.

However, I'm willing to give Handspring alot of slack here. It is a startup company that is "overwhelmed" by the response etc.

I would like to see one more thing from Handspring management....when it's all said an done in the next few weeks I'd like to see a statement from Handspring sent to all "registered" purchasers and inform of us just exactly how many units were shipped over what period of time and all that other trivial stuff. It would enlighten us to just exactly what "problems" they had to overcome?

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 34

HipHop-- I think you are referring to the sign-up for the mailing list. That I don't think I've received yet. But, again, I did receive e-mail confirmation of my Web order.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Denver, CO
Posts: 15

mikedoug - I agree with your concern about the database tracking problem that Handspring has, but, as an Oracle developer, I can probably come up with a dozen reasons (excuses?) why their database may have failed them. The fact that they are a brand new company, yet seem to have multiple databases tells me that their database solution failed them for whatever reason and they are scrambling to put together different options that will allow them to sell product. Again, this is a new company that is trying to fire on all cylinders correctly the first time. In retrospect, perhaps their QA testing of the database was not thorough enough. Mistakes have been made and will continue to be made. But I have confidence that they will recover and things will run more smoothly.

One last thing, remember how difficult it is in this economy and especially in the region that Handspring is located in to hire qualified employees, especially IT folks.

I'll try and get off my high horse now.

Drew

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Birmingham, AL
Posts: 103

Regarding the emails, we were told that those who called by phone (almost a month before the website was avaliable for ordering), would receive an email confirming our order when our product/products shipped. I think that's what HipHop is talking about. Yes, there was (and still is - as of last night) a mailing list on the HS site, but I don't think anyone has gotten anything directly from HS.

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

To DrewB,

Are you talking about the West coast, where the Handspring HQ is located, or the East coast, where the CS HQ is located? If the former, wouldn't there be no shortage of IT staffers?

[This message has been edited by ragamuffinn (edited 10-21-1999).]

Registered: Sep 1999
Location:
Posts: 27

quote:

---

One last thing, remember how difficult it is in this economy and especially in the region that Handspring is located in to hire qualified employees, especially IT folks.

---

I seriously doubt they'd be hiring "IT folks" to man the call center or customer service lines. They can get anyone to do that (which is probably the problem). These people are not supporting the device, just taking the orders ... I go to fast food every day and a minimum wage teenager takes my order without error 99 out of 100 times ... surely Handspring can do the same without high priced IT labor.

Overall, I think Handspring got more than they bargained for with this device ... they'll grow into their popularity soon ... I hope.

------------------
Wes Salmon
PDA Buzz Guy
www.pdabuzz.com

Registered: Oct 1999
Location:
Posts: 54

It's nice to see so many forgiving people...chipset, drewb, trioth, et al.

But should any of you ever have entrepreneurial aspirations...reconsider.

Our small little group here may rant and rave about not having our visors, but then just as quickly point out that we're the truely faithful and know it will be worth it. But the reality outside of this forum is that the average consumer has neither the time or patience enough to wait, and likely doesn't know the difference between Donna Dubinsky and Florence Henderson. 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 disfunctional website and a lack of communication from the company.

Yes, D&H Inc. can count on us Visor faithful, all 625 of us (as of this morning), but how many companies do you think survive (much less prosper) due to the magnanimity of their public?

p.s. Chipset - if you think Handspring's product is simply a piece of plastic encasing some microchips and wires...

the product we pay for is: the 365+ days of invested time and energy to develop; the marketing plan; the engineer in Taiwan; the computer guy who screwed up the website; the CSR who misspelled your last name; Bubba in the warehouse driving the forklift; the UPS driver; and a hundred other people I left out. Oh - and of course - the promise that we're going to have the coolest bright blue organizer on the block! THAT is Handspring's product. No more, no less.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Buffalo NY
Posts: 40

I thought the tone of Donna Dubinsky's message was good also; I just think it should have come sooner. The worst frenzies are caused by a lack of information.

Also, i have not received any automated e-mails or newsletters from Handspring yet. How much you wanna bet that the addresses are tied up in the web problems? I did, however, receive a confirmation from my web order on 10/6.

As for the customer service lines, I live in WNY where one of the call centers is located. I work IT in a local call center and was formerly a call center manager. I can tell you that this region has been scraped dry for people to man call centers. The one's we let go go to other centers and it churns the lowest performers continuously.
Now, I've not had a bad CSR when I've called Handspring, but that's my own experience. YMMV.

I can comment on their queue times and waits however. They are severely understaffed, and this was evident that after a 2 hour hold (4:52pm - 6:52pm EST) yesterday I was summarily cut off. I immediately called back and got through in 5 minutes, but in a different center with different hold music. Sounds like they had another site come on after a certain time period. I was ticked at the 2 hour wait, but was polite to the very efficient CSR who answered my second call withing 5 minutes. I've been a CSR. It ain't pretty.

My suggestion is that an early announcement of possible delays and problems could have avoided alot of their call center problems, and they should have a timer on their phone queues. Rather than the endlessly repeating "you call is important to us" which studies show people find annoying, they'd be better off tweaking it to say something like:

"Thank you for calling Handspring. Due to an overwhelming response to the new Handspring Visor, we are experiencing unusually high call volumes. Please be assured we are answering your calls in the order that they are received, and your approximate wait to speak with a CSR is now _______ minutes. Thanks for calling Handspring; your interest is greatly appreciated."

That's not too much to ask is it? Of course, it depends on their telecom hardware...

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Orlando, FL
Posts: 29

"But the reality outside of this forum is that the average consumer has neither the time or patience enough to wait"

The average person probably isn't quite so fanatic about the product as most people here (myself included) and are expecting their product to ship sometime in October. If November rolls around and they haven't recieved anything they will probably check the website to see what's going on with orders. I think some perspective should be in order here.

------------------
Power corrupts, absolute power is really kinda neat.

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

I just have one thing to say to Donna, "What the hell took you so long to get your head out of the hole it was in and address the concerns your customers have been voicing for weeks now?!"

I work for a CEO and I can tell you that it is not rare for him to drop everything to deal with a customer's concern. If he's not available, that's what he has technical assistants for--to make the customer happy or at least keep them informed. We're your business Donna and you had better hope your product lives up to all the hype because you guys have been scoring a D+ or C- up until now with your customer service. And with the competition starting to heat up in the Palm world, those who stiff their customers don't last very long.

I also cannot believe that Handspring's Senior Management could under-forecast the demand for their device. I guess it is possible to be naive even after you've turned the tech world on its ear with a revolutionary product and beaten out everyone else in a cutthroat industry (i.e. creating the Palm).

[This message has been edited by Jackal (edited 10-21-1999).]