UNBELIEVABLE ! - TX fails just like the T3 did.... :-(

I don't know what to say. I have emailed a Palm employee that I know and he didn't even respond.

Was Palm tech support abducted by aliens? We should file a missing persons report.

Legodude,

I think their employees being abducted by aliens is about the only acceptable explanation I can think of right now...


m130

I just emailed palm tech sup myself they where very quick at getting back to me about doing a hard reset ( well fircking derr of cause I've tried that).
I sent off an email with all my details about an hour ago so well see who gets a message back first.

Sungod,
I hope for your sake you do get a better response & soon. I think you are Aus. based is it ? Or is it USA ?

Either way a reply like that on a weekend is better than I've had.

I never had a reply to the last email I sent to Palm tech support - that email was simply confirming for the umpteenth time my address etc for an SRO number to allow me to send it off -at my own expense...

I sent another f'rom scratch' repair request yesterday via the website, putting an appropriate plain speaking note in one of the boxes about their repeated failure to respond properly & provide a warranty honouring repair etc..

I suspect they at the least are being very cynical & trying to get me to pay for service repair - by going through the expensive pay for technical report route...they just want our money now.

After this UK 'Trading Standards' will be where I will be going if they don't sort it quick.

Palm has lost this fan whatever the outcome now.

Palm got an official blog now. Why don't you bring this up in the comments?

So, I just read through this whole thread for the first time. (I figured anything that gets past page one must have something interesting going on.)

My experience with Palm's AsiaPacific repair was different than yours, but very frustrating nonetheless. I did all of my contacting via phone and only used email when that is what they asked for.

Due to a sound problem, I had my first TX unit \"repaired\", but it came back to me with a different sound problem. The second try was to accept a refurbished replacement unit. I believe that was the one that was bad right from the start. The next refurbished unit lasted a couple of months before going bad (digitizer). The final refurbished unit started having both digitizer and power switch problem under the final weeks of warranty, but I chose to fix the power switch myself and made plans to replace the digitizer with a glass one from PDAParts.com when it becomes \"unbearable\". Honestly, I was afraid that they'd send me a refurbished unit that was worse than what I already had! So far, switching between the two box mode and the three box mode or full screen input mode has allowed me to keep using it as is. It certainly isn't \"acceptable\" in my opinion, but I have simply given up on Palm's stock digitizers.

I also came to the conclusion that Palm's AsiaPacific repair system is basically a game of swapping around bad units until the warranty expires and the person is stuck with it. That may sound overly cynical to some, but what else is a guy supposed to conclude from the evidence?

I currently own four Palm OS units (one of which is my old T2 that my wife uses). I had previously owned a Palm IIIxe which has a digitizer that worked flawlessly unit I gave it to my brother last summer. I then owned a HandEra 330 whose digitizer worked flawlessly until I dropped the unit and broke the LCD. However, the digitizer still worked flawlessly. The T2 digitizer worked relatively well in early use; not as good as the IIIxe or HE330, but acceptable. However, over time, it started to go bad, some time in the second year of use. It eventually got so bad that I replace the digitizer with one from PDAParts, and it has worked flawlessly for both me and my wife ever since. I have a Tapwave Zodiac 2 which has a fantastically sensitive and accurate digitizer. I was given a HandEra 330C that also has a fantastically sensitive and accurate digitizer (although it has not seen any heavy use).

Then there is my \"newest\" Palm, the TX. From the early days of use, I could already tell that the TX digitizer is of poor quality. I knew from my experience with the T2 that pushing harder on the digitizer in the hopes that something will be recognized is doing nothing more than shortening the digitizer's life. But what else can you do? The whole point of having Graffiti is so that you can do text entry. I can't imagine using a PDA without text input. It is a necessary function, even a critical function for many of us. It needs to work, and work well. PERIOD!

Seems to me from my own experience and from reading the stories of others that Palm's build quality has been dropping all along. I suppose that as profit margins continue to drop, so does quality. It only makes sense that if you are trying to squeeze out the last penny, you cut a few corners. (And don't even get me started on the lack of microphone and LED in the TX.) But it's a slippery slope. At some point the company will reach a point of no return where they lose too many of their current customers to other brands and their reputation becomes tarnished enough that the downward spiral simply continues no matter what they try to do to reverse it.

Has Palm reached that point? Probably not yet, but I suppose they will keep inching closer and closer to it. Certainly yanking around current customers with horrible support is going to speed up the process.

I'm sorry, but in the end I can offer you no hope, only my sympathies.

I got an email back from palm at 1400 Sunday (wow).
But they obviously didn't bother to look for the email I sent 10min later after I realized I had forgotten to attach a copy of my receipt.
Hopefully I'll see another email soon.

On a sadder note the digitizer is now so far out of whack I can no longer use the buttons along the bottom of my screen.
Dose anyone know if there is a way to reinstall a program like PowerDiGi so I can reuse the trial period?
I just want to make my T|X usable until it's sent off.

P.S. I'm an Ozzy

The Good News:
I got my “Service Order Details”(why can't they call it a bloody R.A. like everyone else) at 18:10 on a bloody Sunday how cool is that.
The Bad News:
I have to send it to bloody Highpoint!
For people how haven't been following I gave O2's repairers a serve earlier in this thread.
Highpoint, I possibly hate even more.
They are Acer's repairer as well, so (as anyone who has ever owned an Acer laptop can tell you) I deal with them a lot.
If anyone could treat their customers with more disdain they would be hired by the devil himself.
Now I've worked in IT Retail for 5 years strate so I understand sometimes parts have to be ordered and suppliers can stuff up.
But these guys return laptops looking like they have been worked on in a McDonalds kitchen.
Instead of ringing us the reseller (who is legally required to organize shipping of the product) they ring the customer and tell them it's ready to be picked up.
Do they tell the customer we have no knowledge of this? NO
Do they tell the customer they aren't shipping it? NO
So I get an angry call a few days later from a customer telling me I'm not doing my job and he knows it because the repairer told him his lappy was ready and I should have it back by now.
[Deep breaths]
Sorry I lost control of myself there for a moment.
Any way they refuse to ring us because (sarcastic tone)“it's not there policy”(/sarcastic tone) bugger what's best for the customer.
[Deep breaths]

Any way I hope you're going to have news like mine soon.

Just an amendment.
\"Any way I hope you're going to have [good] news like mine soon\" excluding the crapy repairer.

I so very agree, my manager down here got the shock of his life getting through the repair routine. Why do the standards so differ?

With two Palm TX units in my position I am tired of the lack of quality control with Palm. I can't believe I am doing it but I am communication with a Class Action legal group. They brought suit against Palm for the Treo and I think one needs to be filed for the TX.

When I pay $300 for a TX it should last longer than 6 months. It should be built to standards acceptable for mobile use. A Palm is not meant to sit on a desktop.

If the mega Corps want to make themselves insulated from consumer service the last resort is a class action.

Searching the Net brings about the same problems:
Power switch
Headphone jack
Digitizer

It is not acceptable for a company like Palm to produce such an inferior product.

Hello, all. I recently lost the right channel in my T3 headphone jack, except when I jiggle just right, for a few seconds. It appears this is a known issue. I have no warranty. I really, really like my palm otherwise, and cannot afford to switch, and just recently spent a fair chunk of change to get Pocket Tunes so I could play subscription music over it. I even just got new headphones and a Power-to-Go sled.

So, point is, could anyone suggest either a decent, reasonable third-party repair option or a little do-it-yourself help? I'd appreciate it muchisimo.

Thanks.

First, if you haven't, verify for sure that it is the TX jack and not a problem with the headphones you are using. Try some other headphones is you haven't to be sure.

You may be able to DIY, but of course there is some risk involved. You have to decide if you are willing to take the risk. You should be able to open up your TX and try to both find the problem and try to fix it. My guess (and it is only a guess) is that the headphone jack's internal contacts have become bent or corroded, or that the jack has broken loose where it is soldered to the board. Unfortunately, I don't recall what the internals look like from when I worked on my power switch, so I can't tell you how difficult it will be to work on each of those options. If it is a solder problem, just reheating each of the solder joints with an iron until they just melt should reconnect them. I don't know what you would need to do to fix a bent or broken contact. That will take some visual evaluation on your own. If it is corrosion, maybe you can put a little WD40 on the headphone plug and push it in and out and maybe spin it for a while to see if you can get it to clean up a bit.

Just throwing out ideas here. You might want to wait to see if someone else has some better ideas.

I got the replacement T|X back from Palm the other day.
All seems to be working fine.
M130 I hope you have good news soon to.