Saturday, November 25, 2006

Karl needs to vent - Palm needs to listen

I love my Palm Tungsten E. When it works. Mine seems to have a defect. My Palm seems to be susceptible to static. When I have it on my person and there's a lot of static buildup from my clothes, I often find that it won't turn on anymore with the power button. But wait - that's not the defect. The cure for not turning on is a soft reset. On my Palm, a soft reset results in complete personal data loss. Calendar entries? Gone. Contact? Ditto. Memos, Same. That's not supposed to happen. That's a defect. I checked. I can read. (really)

It's a minor annoyance, but it sure would be nice to get it fixed. But I'm not paying for it - even though the warranty has expired. Why? Because it's a defect. How do I know? I base this conclusion on the fact that Palm's own online documents mention the defect (of course - they don't call it a defect). Their inclusion of the problem in their site is evidence that it's a well known problem. OK, ignore that. Do a web search on the issue and you'll get plenty of returns from people just like me with the same problem. And they're not happy. Because they feel the same way I do. They don't feel they should pay to get a defect fixed either.

Palm doesn't share our position. They would rather we call for support (which costs) which will likely result in having to send the thing in to get fixed (which costs some more). I say no. I'm not paying. It's a defect. Defects should result in a recall. Recalls don't cost the customer money. Customers who don't have to pay to resolve known defects are happy customers. Happy customers become repeat customers. They also tend to attract more potential customers.

Are you listening - Palm? I love my Palm. Whether I buy another one is entirely up to you.

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