[Alex Ethridge]

This story could be four- or five printed pages; but, I'll try to keep it as short as possible and get sufficient details in.

In January 2007, I sent my Palm TX for repair. It had a drifting touch-screen sensitivity. They didn't repair it but sent me a "refurbished" unit. In May (this month), it quit working altogether and I sent it for repair again. After three weeks, I checked its status and found they expected to have it another week before even updating the status.

I called on May 18 and 19 complaining vociferousy about the slow service and complaining that due to the intended use of the product, this service time was totally unacceptable. I complained strongly enough that I think I might have been the topic of conversation those afternoons.

On May 20, Palm called to tell me my unit was water damaged and therefore could not be repaired. Frankly, I think I have been too careful to have been the one who water damaged the unit. If there was any evidence of water inside the unit, I think it may have been from the previous owner and the failure in May was from a totally unrelated reason.

I got my unit (or a unit) back today and here are the facts that make me believe someone at the Palm repair center may be a thief. The last item in the list is the real kicker:

• The Palm logo on the returned unit was significantly rubbed off; mine had a perfect logo.
• The replacement had no screen protector; mine had one.
• The returned Palm had light scratches on the screen; mine didn't.
• Mine had a serial number and MAC address; the returned Palm had these identifications totally removed.
• The returned Palm had three deep scratches around the bottons and one on the back at the bottom; mine had none of this.
• The first thing I noticed when taking the returned item out of the package was that it was significantly lighter than what I was used to. I weighed it and it came up 1.1 ounces lighter than it should. I opened the case and found the battery had been stripped from the unit.

You can draw your own conclusion; I've drawn mine.

Legal Disclaimer: All of the above is couched in the firm and well-supported beliefs of the author.

[Frank4d]

Originally Posted by Alex Ethridge

In April 2006, I sent my Palm TX for repair.

Did you send it in over a year ago? Or is that a typo?

[Alex Ethridge]

April 2006 was a mistake. I think I bought this Palm on October 2, 2006

[Alex Ethridge]

I found the records. It was purchased on 10/02/2006. It was repaired first in January 2007 and again this month (May 2007).

[Squashman]

This is what the BBB is for? File a complaint with them.

[accat13]

Hmmm after reading this I can a guarantee you one thing I will never buy a Palm product.....I wonder how many other people will come to the same conclusion .

[Alex Ethridge]

Got a call from Palm today. They are replacing the unit with a "hand tested" unit. They went on to explain what "hand tested" means. It means they will actually test every function and feature to satisfy themselves that everything is there and it works before it ships. (Seems to me that should be the case with ALL the units.)

And, I think the reason they explained that all to me because they think I'm the one who is responsible for the missing parts and this is their way of telling me they know it is all there and I better not say it isn't after it arrives.

I'm satisfied they have a thief in the repair center and I don't think they want to believe that.

Anyway, I'm waiting to see what arrives in a few days. I'll post an update then.

[DoubleHelix]

Originally Posted by accat13

Hmmm after reading this I can a guarantee you one thing I will never buy a Palm product.....I wonder how many other people will come to the same conclusion .

I've read posts here complaining about almost all hardware manufacturers. If you avoided an entire company because of one person's bad experience, you wouldn't own anything.

I would be frustrated and upset about this situation as well had it happened to me, but this type of thing can happen anywhere. I would continue to escalate the problem.

[Alex Ethridge]

Well, I will say that both my Palm repairs took about a month (three days just short of). Considering the nature of the intended use of such a product, I consider a month for repair of a product aimed at facilitating contacts and scheduling for busy people to be totally unacceptable.

However, Palm sees nothing unusual or amiss about this.

Because of its intended use, anything less than advance replacement for anyone who can secure it with a credit card is unacceptable.

[Frank4d]

Repairs that take a month or more tend to reflect on the business. They are not adequately staffed to deal with product failures, or the number of failures (as a percentage of units sold) is so huge they cannot keep up (reflecting on a quality issue).

Whatever. If they sent you a replacement that is scratched, dented, missing serial numbers, etc. that is clearly less quality than you sent them... they didn't even tell you they were not sending back the same unit... and are unwilling to make it right, you should contact the BBB, FTC, and Attorney General for your state.

[ferrija1]

Originally Posted by accat13

Hmmm after reading this I can a guarantee you one thing I will never buy a Palm product.....I wonder how many other people will come to the same conclusion .

There are horror stories with all companies, and this doesn't have anything to do with how good Palm products are.

[Couriant]

AE: That is definitely Palm's problem because you can't identify that the device was yours. Now if they said to you that if they cannot fix your problem then they will send a tested device then I would somewhat understand. But if that didn't happen, then the BBB, AG, and the FTC is the way to go.

Also check for blogs on this to see if anyone else has the same problem with Palm.

[accat13]

Originally Posted by ferrija1

There are horror stories with all companies, and this doesn't have anything to do with how good Palm products are.

I'm not denying they make a good product or bad. I just hate to hear of customers getting the run around...You can have a so so product with great customer support and it can go a long way....There is no excuse for poor customer support...

[JohnWill]

Remember: It takes years to build a good reputation, and minutes to destroy it.

[ferrija1]

Originally Posted by JohnWill

Remember: It takes years to build a good reputation, and minutes to destroy it.