Palm Changes Webpage While I'm on the Phone! - Treo Forum

rener · 01-25-2007, 10:26 AM

My last post on this subject, but I'm just so shocked by how a simple thing became so crazy.

I began talking to PalmStore Sales Support at 1-(877) 226-2320 about five weeks ago, and so this time I had the Palm website up where they offer a free Mobile Music Pack. The header read United States & Canada (I saved it as PDF just to be safe).

The supervisor, Esther, gave me the run around about the site, and then all of a sudden the page was redirected to “Unavailable”.

Well, now it’s back up again, and the header has changed to United States (only) and they’ve added a disclaimer to the same effect.

So, rather than honor the verbal agreement of 4 previous Sales Support personnel, and the assurance of Supervisor Jose who gave me a 72 hour promise, and a case number of 1015133, Palm would rather change their website and Supervisor Esther would rather tell me that Jose didn’t make any notes, there are no case numbers, there is no Jose, and there are no records of me ever having called them before.

I don’t know what Palm is thinking. How simple would it have been to just say something like “We made a mistake, both on the web and with previous calls, and while the offer is not valid for you, and we will be updating our web site, as a show of our commitment to our customers and to make up for any frustration this may have caused, we’ll special deliver you what our representatives previously agreed to.”

Instead, they slammed the door in my face.

I literally don’t know what to do other than take all my future business elsewhere. And that’s a pity as this was my 5th Palm device, and I’ve been a very loyal and supportive customer.

r6girl · 01-25-2007, 02:06 PM

i'd certainly be irritated if i experienced what you did as well. but it may be possible that palm simply can't send you the music pack because the arrangement they have with Yahoo does not extend beyond the U.S., and doing so could put them in some serious legal trouble. they should have at least apologized to you and not given you the run-around, though in my experience, most customer service people at any company are generally clueless, so i don't have high expectations that they'll get anything right. sorry to hear about your troubles, and hope something like this doesn't happen to you again...

bigcatny · 01-25-2007, 02:36 PM

I have to agree that r6girl brings up some good points. I also feel your pain but perhaps there's another way to look at this.

Did you really buy this phone so that you could get a $15 memory card, some free temporary music and a music player update or did you buy it because the phone is something that you want and will be useful for you. I did receive the package and have only used the ptunes upgrade apart from that, the rest is untouched. That said, I've almost never use the ptunes, preferring instead to use my ipod.

So think about the time and effort and frustration you've already wasted on what is mostly promotional stuff. If you really want the yahoo stuff, I"ll gladly let you have my disc.

rener · 01-25-2007, 02:45 PM

The Music Pack is not the point. It is not acceptable for sales support personnel, in any organization, to treat customers in that way.

More and more we've been conditioned to accept less and less.

I won't accept deliberately poor customer service from any company, and I don't think anyone else should either, whether it be for a $1 toss-away, or a $nK piece of technology.

Right is right, and this was wrong, and even if I'm left frustrated, perhaps bringing some attention to this will help Palm improve their level of service, or at least forewarn others before dealing with Palm support.

And if anyone else is willing to help, its made its way over to Digg: Digg - Palm doesn't honor website special offers

Maris · 01-25-2007, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rener

The header read United States & Canada (I saved it as PDF just to be safe).

If you have a pdf of the original offer in force when you purchased your Treo, I would include a copy of that in another email to them with the case reference. I don't see how they could get away with not providing the music pack, even if the offer was a mistake. It was advertised and you relied upon it in good faith. You may need to get to the right person in authority to make it right.

rener · 01-26-2007, 09:22 AM

Thanks, they gave me the email address of customerservice@palm.com but that came back as undeliverable. Does anyone have a proper email contact for upper level Palm Sales Support?

Here's a screen shot of the old version of the site:

bigcatny · 01-26-2007, 11:42 AM

On the one hand I agree that good customer service should be rewarded and I'm willing to pay more money for that. I also agree that if your that aggravated then you should take your business elsewhere so long as you can find another product that fits your needs. However, I don't think that great customer service is any sort of right, it's just good business. I don't need to tell you that there is no shortage of bad businesses out there.

I find in cases where the situation is a bit monopolistic, it's a waste of my time and energy to beat on a door that clearly either doesn't care or is incapable or caring. Of course that's my choice.

Good luck with your quest, I'm hoping you find satisfaction since it will benefit all of us. In the end, if you think this is worth your time and energy then all the more power to you.

rener · 01-26-2007, 01:07 PM

Just a little while ago I received a voice-mail from Jose and and email confirmation saying they're shipping my music pack. Hopefully it will arrive soon and Palm will restore my faith in their customer service!

I'll keep everyone posted!

forgot · 01-26-2007, 08:35 PM

Wow....so now Jose does exist!! Someone must be paying attention!

Maris · 01-27-2007, 07:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rener

Just a little while ago I received a voice-mail from Jose and and email confirmation saying they're shipping my music pack. Hopefully it will arrive soon and Palm will restore my faith in their customer service!

I'll keep everyone posted!

I'm glad this worked out for you! The Internet can be a powerful tool when clearing up "misunderstandings."

01-25-2007, 10:26 AM	#1 (permalink)
rener A Few Questions.... Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 17 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Palm Changes Webpage While I'm on the Phone! My last post on this subject, but I'm just so shocked by how a simple thing became so crazy. I began talking to PalmStore Sales Support at 1-(877) 226-2320 about five weeks ago, and so this time I had the Palm website up where they offer a free Mobile Music Pack. The header read United States & Canada (I saved it as PDF just to be safe). The supervisor, Esther, gave me the run around about the site, and then all of a sudden the page was redirected to “Unavailable”. Well, now it’s back up again, and the header has changed to United States (only) and they’ve added a disclaimer to the same effect. So, rather than honor the verbal agreement of 4 previous Sales Support personnel, and the assurance of Supervisor Jose who gave me a 72 hour promise, and a case number of 1015133, Palm would rather change their website and Supervisor Esther would rather tell me that Jose didn’t make any notes, there are no case numbers, there is no Jose, and there are no records of me ever having called them before. I don’t know what Palm is thinking. How simple would it have been to just say something like “We made a mistake, both on the web and with previous calls, and while the offer is not valid for you, and we will be updating our web site, as a show of our commitment to our customers and to make up for any frustration this may have caused, we’ll special deliver you what our representatives previously agreed to.” Instead, they slammed the door in my face. I literally don’t know what to do other than take all my future business elsewhere. And that’s a pity as this was my 5th Palm device, and I’ve been a very loyal and supportive customer.

01-26-2007, 08:35 PM	#9 (permalink)
forgot Huh? I'm sorry, what?! Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: The Woodlands, TX (north of Houston) My Treo: Treo 680 My Carrier: Cingular/AT&T My OS: Vista Posts: 3,551 Thanks: 258 Thanked 243 Times in 205 Posts	Wow....so now Jose does exist!! Someone must be paying attention! __________________ Don't drink the water, fish have sex in it.

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01-25-2007, 02:06 PM	#2 (permalink)
r6girl A Few Questions.... Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: California My Treo: Treo 680 Posts: 13 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	i'd certainly be irritated if i experienced what you did as well. but it may be possible that palm simply can't send you the music pack because the arrangement they have with Yahoo does not extend beyond the U.S., and doing so could put them in some serious legal trouble. they should have at least apologized to you and not given you the run-around, though in my experience, most customer service people at any company are generally clueless, so i don't have high expectations that they'll get anything right. sorry to hear about your troubles, and hope something like this doesn't happen to you again...

01-25-2007, 02:36 PM	#3 (permalink)
bigcatny Regular Contributer Join Date: Dec 2006 My Treo: Treo 680 Posts: 118 Thanks: 0 Thanked 5 Times in 5 Posts	I have to agree that r6girl brings up some good points. I also feel your pain but perhaps there's another way to look at this. Did you really buy this phone so that you could get a $15 memory card, some free temporary music and a music player update or did you buy it because the phone is something that you want and will be useful for you. I did receive the package and have only used the ptunes upgrade apart from that, the rest is untouched. That said, I've almost never use the ptunes, preferring instead to use my ipod. So think about the time and effort and frustration you've already wasted on what is mostly promotional stuff. If you really want the yahoo stuff, I"ll gladly let you have my disc.

01-25-2007, 02:45 PM	#4 (permalink)
rener A Few Questions.... Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 17 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	The Music Pack is not the point. It is not acceptable for sales support personnel, in any organization, to treat customers in that way. More and more we've been conditioned to accept less and less. I won't accept deliberately poor customer service from any company, and I don't think anyone else should either, whether it be for a $1 toss-away, or a $nK piece of technology. Right is right, and this was wrong, and even if I'm left frustrated, perhaps bringing some attention to this will help Palm improve their level of service, or at least forewarn others before dealing with Palm support. And if anyone else is willing to help, its made its way over to Digg: Digg - Palm doesn't honor website special offers

01-26-2007, 09:22 AM	#6 (permalink)
rener A Few Questions.... Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 17 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Thanks, they gave me the email address of customerservice@palm.com but that came back as undeliverable. Does anyone have a proper email contact for upper level Palm Sales Support? Here's a screen shot of the old version of the site:

01-26-2007, 11:42 AM	#7 (permalink)
bigcatny Regular Contributer Join Date: Dec 2006 My Treo: Treo 680 Posts: 118 Thanks: 0 Thanked 5 Times in 5 Posts	On the one hand I agree that good customer service should be rewarded and I'm willing to pay more money for that. I also agree that if your that aggravated then you should take your business elsewhere so long as you can find another product that fits your needs. However, I don't think that great customer service is any sort of right, it's just good business. I don't need to tell you that there is no shortage of bad businesses out there. I find in cases where the situation is a bit monopolistic, it's a waste of my time and energy to beat on a door that clearly either doesn't care or is incapable or caring. Of course that's my choice. Good luck with your quest, I'm hoping you find satisfaction since it will benefit all of us. In the end, if you think this is worth your time and energy then all the more power to you.

01-26-2007, 01:07 PM	#8 (permalink)
rener A Few Questions.... Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 17 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Just a little while ago I received a voice-mail from Jose and and email confirmation saying they're shipping my music pack. Hopefully it will arrive soon and Palm will restore my faith in their customer service! I'll keep everyone posted!