more problems with PalmOne

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Dave Crocker <dcrocker () bbiw net>
Date: June 29, 2005 3:33:34 PM EDT
To: ip () v2 listbox com
Cc: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: more problems with PalmOne


Dave,

Last year, you posted a note from me, about problems with the  
Handspring Treo
180 that had broken twice and with PalmOne's not honoring the warranty.

        Subject:  Purchasing through EBay invalidates warranty,  
according to PalmOne
    Date: Fri, 24 Sep 2004 16:10:58 -0700

The IP list might find the rest of the story entertaining:

Quick summary:  my first and second Treo 180's built-in speaker  
died.  Normal
interactions and escalations with PalmOne had hit a wall.

1.  Through the kind interventions of a PalmOne staffer who happened  
to see my
posting on a forum, I got a more senior support escalation and it  
produced a new
180 for me.

2. Given the frustrations with PalmOne, I had also been seeking  
recourse from
the original retailer.  To my surprise, they wound up sending me a  
new 180, too.

Now, you might think that this meant I was exploiting the system,  
since I now
had two Treo's, but the device's reliability track record suggested  
to me that
I'd need a fallback.

I was right.

Almost immediately, one of them started having hard crashes -- complete
freeze-ups that required cold resets.

And eventually, of course, the same problem that afflicted the first  
two Treo's
hit my other new one. The built-in speaker simply stopped working.   
From what I
have heard, this is a common occurrence for the Treo, at least up  
through the
600.

To recap:

   After 13 months, my first Treo 180's speaker died.

   After 11 months, the second Treo's speaker died.

   After 8 months, the third Treo's speaker died.

It does not take a degree in statistics to see the trend.

For reference, my obvious abuse of the device was due to carrying it  
in my pants
pocket or my satchel....

Anyhow, given the wonderful treatment I had gotten from PalmOne after  
the second
device's problem, you might not be surprised to hear that they have  
indeed
refused to do a warranty replacement for the third one.  They  
declared that the
replacement of the second Treo had been a special, one-time deal.

The Treo is a wonderful design, but its execution and support are  
impressively
bad.

I am a firm believer that when a company works hard to lose my  
business, they
should get what they want.

So I've switched to the Blackberry 7100.


  d/
  ---
  Dave Crocker
  Brandenburg InternetWorking
  +1.408.246.8253
  dcrocker  a t ...
  WE'VE MOVED to:  www.bbiw.net




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