Resume :Zire 71- Bad Product, Worse Customer Service
(1) I bought my 16-year-old daughter a Palm Zire 71 for Christmas.
She loved it.
(2) A month later, it quit responding to stylus taps. (A common
problem, apparently, according to critiques on this and various other
web sites.)
(3) Called PalmOne Customer Service; spoke to some guy who could
barely speak English. He said he'd send us an e-mail with information
on how to return the Palm for a replacement. No e-mail arrived.
(4) Repeated step (3) three or four days later. Same result.
(5) Sent an e-mail to PalmOne Customer Service asking for information
on how to return the Palm. Got an e-mail back, informing me that I
had to call and ask them to send an e-mail with the information.
(6) Called Customer Service and demanded that they read me the return
information over the phone, which they did, again in broken English.
(After several failed attempts to hang up and reconnect with someone
who could speak clear English, I finally figured out that the geniuses
at PalmOne have outsourced their Customer Service telephone support to
a country -- probably India -- where English is not the primary
language.)
(7) Sent the Palm in, and got a signed return receipt from the Postal
Service.
(8) Heard absolutely nothing for two weeks.
(9) E-mailed Customer Service and asked about the status of the
repair. They told me I had to call the Customer Service department.
(10) Called Customer Service and asked for the status of the repair.
They said they never got my Palm. I told them that I had a SIGNED
RECEIPT that verified that they had received it. They asked for the
shipping number and told me they'd get back to me within two days.
Heard nothing.
(11) Repeated Step 11 after three or four days. Same result.
(12) Wrote an e-mail to Customer Service giving them the shipping
number and asking them about the status. They told me I had to call
the Customer Service department for that information.
(13) Wrote a letter to the President of PalmOne, attaching my receipt
and begging for help. No response.
(14) Repeated Step 10.
(15) Repeated Step 12.
(16) About a week later, a replacement Palm magically appeared on my
doorstep.
A happy ending, right? Well guess again: A few days ago, the NEW
Palm stopped responding to the stylus, and I'm dreading the thought of
going through this labor-intensive nightmare a second time.
Any ideas or suggestions? Anything would be greatly appreciated. I'd
even be willing to buy a Zire 71 PDA clone from a different company,
if there is such a thing. Thanks.
What exactly do you mean by clone? You might want to look at the Sony
Clie's. Of course the actual physical devices are different, but they all
run Palm OS, which is what the Palm's use. The TJ37, for example, has mp3
player, camera, and Wi-Fi starting at around $250 online. The TJ27 doesn't
play mp3's or Wi-Fi, but is very affordable starting at around $170.