Comments on: Visor STILL missing in action!

I ordered a deluxe the first week of october and got mine in mid-November. I think their product was fine, but one of the major reasons I wanted to lose my old Palm Pro was to do hotsync via infrared with my PowerBook G3. Since the Visor has OS 3.1 burned in and is not capable of moving to 3.3 (with massive IR support), I signed up with IS Complete (the makers of IRLink) that was/is doing work to make the Visor IR actually operational. I was frustrated with handspring, but I wanted to give them a shot. I think people should give them a shot, but know that the modules aren't out yet and they got some things to work out. I spent quite a qhile trying to get my Visor going the way I wanted only to lose it all because I was beta-testing IR-syncing. When modules are out for the Visor, I think it will be very slick. I will look at their next generation of products, but now I have sent mine back and got a Vx (which is superior in all ways except the modules). Give Handspring time, it was frustrating, but it should clear up over time...

I ordered my Visor Deluxe hours after they were
announced and received it in promptly in the
time frame they specified. 6 weeks, as I recall.
I even had to return the extra serial cradle I ordered
as I decided to add a USB card instead. I got
a prompt refund on my credit card as well.

I'm sure the problems are related due to unanticipated
demand. I hope they do get it straightened out.

You think this is bad, try dealing with the people at
UBID. Almost 3 months and still trying to get a
measly 40 bucks back for a misrepresented product.

I ordered my Visor a few weeks ago and got it without incident. I'm perfectly happy with it so far!

I placed my order by phone on 10/14 and received it 11/15 or approx. 4 weeks like promised.

I think it's awesome, I just want to see some of the Springboards for sale!

jonesclp@excite.com

I had to wait four weeks for mine but otherwise I have been VERY happy with the product.

I'm sorry you have had a bad experience.

I ordered an ice visor by phone the evening they
opened up ordering. About October 13th, I read that
the Ice color was "cheap" looking, so I ordered a
black one on-line. I received the ice-colored visor
around Oct 20th--well within their advertised window.
I received the black one around November 15th--also
well within their advertised window.

I've had no problems with either one...and the ice
visor wasn't really that cheap looking, but I do like
the black one better.

Just as the author above I ordered mine in September too. On 9/17 to be exact. I did finally get it on 11/16.

And while it took a little over eight weeks, three of them were really frustrating.

I say only three because, I fully expected the device to arrive as advertised, about 8 weeks from the date ordered. But when I had a friend order his Deluxe a few days after telling him about it (Oct 11), and he got it in less than three weeks I was furious. Not at my friend, but that HandSpring wasn't taking into account that I ordered mine first. I figured that since I was vigilant and ordered first I should get one before him.

On the 31st - I called Handspring, on a Sunday evening -the only time to call (the toll number) to stand a chance at getting though. They told me that my color selection "blue" was on backorder, and they would put it into a priority queue (which would take two weeks) and get it to me ASAP. Why should it take two weeks to get pushed higher in the queue?

I called back on the 7th (the toll number) -no, I know it wasn’t two weeks later -but I was getting itchy. And I had read more newsgroup threads about mis-shipments. This time they said that it was not true that the "blue” units were on backorder and that they would try to have one to me before the end of the week. That would be the 12th on my calendar.

Well, I gave them the week and then weekend, and on the 15th in the evening I called (the toll number) and they said it was on its way. They would email me the tracking number in a few min. Cool. It was on its way.

I got home, no tracking number in the email.

On the 16th in the morning I called again they gave me the tracking number. I went to the Fedex web site and Surprise, Surprise! Fed-Ex said that they had been trying to deliver it since the 10th. It's just that they had not left me a note saying so. I can't tell you how angry I would have been if Fed-Ex would have sent it back undeliverable. I picked it up at the local Fed-Ex local and left a message for a manager to call me. I haven't heard from them yet.

It’s a great unit, no problems so far.

I ordered another one last night and they say it should take about 4-6 weeks. I was impressed this time with the fact that the person that took my order repeated it to me three times during the course of the conversation. And they got it right all three times. They also said that I would be able to track it on the web with information that they would be sending me within minutes. Well, they sent me the information but I still haven’t found a way to track it yet.

I won't hold my breath. But if it makes it in time, it will make a very nice Xmas present.

I sympathize with all of you who have not gotten your Visor yet. Hang in there, so far I really like mine. And while I'm not happy about the service I have received so far -I'm hoping it will improve. I think they have good ideas. I just hope that they can get through this, and not lose too much mindshare. Be persistent. Hang on that 888 number or try the toll number in the evenings or on weekends.

can't say that I am thrilled with Handspring's customer service, but they have a great product. I ordered my Visor on 9/18 and I just received it on 11/24. I believe that they are in the process of getting their act together. Once they stabilize production, improve communication, and enter retail they will be in good shape. I realize that is a tall order, but given their experience, I think that is where they are headed.

I ordered my Deluxe Visor (graphite) on Oct 23. The sales rep on the phone was very accomodating and provided exceptional customer service. He indicated that it would be 4 weeks to delivery. Much to my surprise (given all the grumbling I've been reading!) my Visor arrived on Nov 16. Given my calculations - a few days ahead of time!

The unit is great. Feels much more solid than my old Palm. Buttons are crisp. The touch screen is a little spongey. And to top it all off - I saved about $200 and supported an innovative, startup company!

Count me as one happy customer!

I ordered My VDx Blue on Sept 14. Received it Nov. 12.
A little long in my opinion, but well worth the wait.
One week later I received the second cradle and
upgraded stylus 5 pak.

Then you are one of the few naive ones out there my man. To lose faith so easy in the game is rediculous, and lacks insight. Handspring is very much in the game, and Palm is going to have some serious competition, if Visor was going down, why do I see them going for 20-35% above retail on eBay? Why do most market analysts predict Handspring to have such a great year? Don't lose faith, Handspring will be a dominating force to reckon with in the palm world.

On hold for 30 minutes. No problem -- I have a speaker phone. Placed my order. It arrived about 4 weeks later.

It takes time to get one right now. If you're impatient, look elsewhere.

I know two people who ordered Visors with varying success.

In September my manager at work thought he had lost his Palm III. I told him about the introduction of the Visor and he proceeded to order one without any expectation of it arriving any sooner than late October. Shortly thereafter, he was reunited with his beloved Palm, but decided to keep the Visor on order. October came and went and still no Visor. It still hadn't shown up as of last week so he called last week and cancelled his order.

OTOH, a cousin who recently went to work for a software startup and needed a new toy, and ordered a Visor which she had in her hands after only a 3-4 week wait. However the parallel cradle which she needs to sync with her laptop was backordered.

I may eventually retire my Palm III and go for a Visor. I'm in no rush, so I'll just wait until Handspring gets their act straightened out.

It took 4-5 weeks for me to get mine. I tried the phone number in mid October 2 weeks after I ordered. All their info was correct.

I realize that I may be weird, but I didn't expect to get it right away. I'm a patient person. Was it worth the wait? I think so.

What a horrible problem for a company to have! I wish where I worked, we couldn't meet demand.

They admitted their problem and have blamed no one.

How refrshing.

I ordered on their website and I got mine even earlier than four weeks. From what I have read, people have had trouble ordering on the phone, but when they order by their WEBSITE, they get theirs with virtually no pain. It also halps to pay the extra couple bucks for rush delivery...

As one who followed the development and initial roll out of the first Palm Pilot (I've owned three) and am now the happy owner of a Palm V. If you go back and read the various user group messages that existed way back in 1996, you'd see this is much the same situation. Yes, maybe Handspring should have learned a better lesson, and maybe they, like Palm Computing did way back then, underestimate the overwhelming demand for their product. But there are few who complain about Palm anymore. I would expect Handspring to be at least as successful with this product in the short term.

CVS

Ordered my visor on Oct. 28. We're heading into week 8. Called customer service two days ago. They told me that they were sorry, but all they could confirm was that yes, my order is on record, but they had no other information. They told me to call back later "when the database was updated." Told them that this was the same response I got two weeks ago. "You're not going to believe this," the rep said, "but they still haven't been updated yet."

I was told, however, that they were "happy to be able to find my order" and "we're confident that you're calling us this evening." (???) I was then put on hold for ten minutes (why, I don't know) before the same rep told me "yes, I checked again, and we do have your order on file. It will arrive within the 4-6 week timeframe." Did I mention that we're close to 8 weeks? "Yes, I do realize that. However, we have no further information at this time. Thank you for being patient, and we will contact you if the 6 weeks pass without your order being shipped. However, I am happy."

One of the more bizzare customer service calls I've ever been a part of, to say the least.

I ordered mine in early October and received it in mid November, as promised. However, I did call a couple of times to check up on the order -- It seems that because of the checking up, they took that as extra orders, and a few weeks later I received another two Visor Deluxe's. Which maxed out my credit card. So, as per their instructions, I sent them back.
Now I had to spend two+ weeks trying to get a refund. Numerous calls, untold misrepresentations later, a minor shouting jibe from me, the refunds were forwarded.
Basically I'm really happy with the product, but the infrastructure is not there. C'mon guys, get with it!

Yes, I too had expected my visor deluxe (standard graphite) to show up end of January/mid February. Ordered PDA December 9th via internet--rec'd Visor in mail 24th December, just in time for Christmas!

Hang in there guys! It's well worth it!

P.

Well... I got my Visor in 5 weeks as promised,
but the USB cradle doesn't work and customer
service is unreachable. You can only contact
them by phone and they don't answer then phone!
I've been disconnected four times today, after
waiting close to an hour on hold each time.

grrr...

I too had the problems with customer support but some of the stress was minimized by speaker phone. Great product and it took three weeks and half weeks to get to me. I would recommend the Visor Deluxe for first time PDA users. Cheaper with the same functionality of the PalmPilots. Just have patience and if you don't, cough up the extra bucks for 3Com.

Looks like they are improving their shipping time. I ordered an ice Visor Deluxe with usb cradle and additional serial ice cradle on 12/29. I received it yesterday on 1/11.
I showed it to my buddy who has a 1M PalmPilot and he liked the display much better than his.

I picked up my Visor at the MacWorld Expo. They arranged with ClubMac (who had a semi-trailer full of Mac hardware) to sell the Visors at the show only. They were selling over a thousand every day!

I almost didn't pick one up when I realized I'd have to pay sales tax, but then I realized how long I might have to wait for an online order and picked one up the next day. They are so cool! I love it!

I too picked up a beautiful, new, vastly economical, perfectly expandable, Visor and ditched my Palm V on the spot. ClubMac imposed a limit of three per person. They were selling them as fast as they could whip them out. It was chaotic heaven.

Shipping problems may be a thing of the past. GPS receiver and MP3 player modules soon to be mine.

I ordered my unit on 1-5 online with the second serial cradle and was told to expect it within 4-6 weeks. To my surprise the entire order was received on 1-16 without the overnight delivery. it looks like they are getting their stuff together.

I ordered mine, they told me to wait for four weeks, and I received it four days later, I ordered the cheap shipping too.

mailto:matt@mattbennett.com

Ordered one in December and it took 12 days to receive.
Ordered two more in January and it took 8 days to receive. They are great.

My wife ordered a green Visor for me three or four days before Christmas. I expected to get it about the end of January. Much to my surprise it came via ground delivery on Jan. 8.

The only problems I've had with it were trying to get my PC to recognize it as a USB device.

As a fellow business owner, I thought I could be mighty patient waiting for the Visor I ordered on 1/2. Even though I keep coming back to this forum and seeing people who ordered their Visor's after me and recieved their Visor within days, I kept telling myself to stick to the fact that Handspring told me it could be 4-6 weeks. Then I get this email that says something along the line that there is a problem with my order and I need to call tech support. Man, I felt like I had fallen into the Newsgroup Twilight Zone. Everything I have read happened to me! It all started with the 1 1/2 hour wait which was answered by a lady with such a heavy accent that I was seriously struggling to understand her. I tell her about the email I recieved and she immediately puts me on hold -- for another 20 minutes. When she gets back on the phone, she tells me that their "database is down" and that she can't help me. In fact, would I mind calling back before 9am EST tomorrow. I asked her if she was kidding as I live in Colorado and this has me calling before 7am on a Saturday? She confirms that is what she is asking. When I tell her this sounds like a canned problem as I have read this exact same scenario dozens of times, she tells me to ask for a "rush order" when I talk to the rep tomorrow -- just like in all the newsgroups! I was hoping this sort of thing was past for Handspring, but I am suddenly VERY suspicious about what is going on over there. I could be patient when a struggling company gives me a straight answer, but the more I think about this, the more frustrated I am becoming -- especially when the last 5 posts in this forum all ordered their visors a week or two AFTER me and already have theirs! Grrrr!!! It seems to me that the Handspring people needed to bring Palm's shipping and billing systems over rather than the former founders...

I ordered my Visor on 1/18. Expecting to receive it in four weeks, I was pleasantly surprised when I got it that following Monday. Great product. The USB and Serial setup was quick and painless. I love it!!!

I was concerned about ordering my Handspring Visor Deluxe after reading about some of the ordering problems, but I ordered mine on Tuesday January 18, 2000 and it arrived at my front door on Monday January 21. And it has been consuming all of my free time in the week since its arrival--I am enjoying learning all about it. I can also say that the deluxe stylus set and the 8MB backup module are worthwhile.

Since you have the MIA story about VISOR still up, I thought I would tell you that they said 7 days and it was received 8 days later. No complaints.

Now we wait for the springboards!

I ordered my Visor deluxe on 24 Jan.'00, I finally received yesterday 3 Feb.'00 (I opted for ground shipping).
I was very pleased with the unit at first, however leaving it alone for awhile, then going back to it later, I noticed a set of narrow lines in display
(not on it). one line runs vertical, and the other runs horizontal, they intersect at the upper left
hand corner of the screen.
I called Tech. support, and customer support today
(4 Feb. '00) both were very helpful with my problem.
However the problem is not correctable, and Handspring is sending me a replacement Visor, and will receive it
in 7 to 10 days !
Overall I am pleased with their customer support,and as far as product quality, that will be determined when I receive the replacement unit.

Thumbs up to Handspring.
I received my replacement Visor deluxe exactly one week after ordering the replacement.
I "beamed" all the information from the original to the replacement with no problems, and the replacement Visor works fine.
I am happy with Handspring, and the Visor Deluxe.
I would buy from them again.

I am still trying to decide which company to stick with. I do want a Visor Deluxe, but weary of the OS 3.1 not being able to upgrade. I rarely by things sight unseen. Perhaps when they get to retail stores I'll be convinced.

Want1

that is why i stuck with 3com i got my order on time

I don't understand how anyone could possibly be happy with Handspring Customer Support.

I spent up to fifteen minutes waiting for them to answer the phones, on several occasiosn. They didn't. This is TOLL CALL, on hold - costs $$$.

I tried all their web feedback forms. They didn't work. I tried all the email addresses. No response.

I called their corporate number and eventually got patched through to CS. They hadn't shipped my order because of a garbled credit card number. No plans to tell me they weren't going to ship it, nothing like that.

The person I dealt with was very pleasant and FedExed my order to me - it arrived the next day - but I attempted to contact them about this experience to give them some feedback. No answer.

The Visor itself is a great unit, but I'm having one minor glitch with it (search function doesn't work). I don't hold out any hope of getting that resolved.

ben

I ordered a Graphite Visor Deluxe in early December to
replace my aging Palm 3. I was told it could take six
weeks but got it in two, on Dec. 27. So far so good.
Fit and finish, excellent. Contruction quality, equal
to the Palm 3. Stylus, cheesy, but I have a Pentopia
Chameleon so I'll use that. Installing the USB cradle
required a call, a 45-minute hold time, and a walk-thru
of my registry editor by their tech support to get
Win98 to see the cradle. Got it done, worked fine for
a week. Now that I had the Visor I did the research I
should have done first, and discovered it would not let
me upgrade it to OS 3.3. Strike One, but still happy
enough with it, mostly due to the 8MB. Then the USB
cradle stopped working again. This time I edited the
registry without benefit of their tech support, but I
saved the 45 minutes on hold. Once again, the USB
cradle worked fine. For another week. In the
meanwhile, I found my wonderful Pentopia Chameleon
stylus scratches the Visor's screen. Funny, it never
did a thing to the Palm 3. Strike 2.5. A week later,
guess what? USB cradle died again. By now I'm an old
hand at opening the registry editor, deleting the key
again, restarting Win98 again, and... no cradle found.
At that point nothing I did would make my USB cradle
work. My original plan when I called that day was to
get a replacement cradle, but by the time I waited
(over an hour, this time) I was so incensed at the
whole affair that I got an RMA to return the whole
thing. That was on January 21, and now it's March 4th
and I'm still waiting for the credit to appear on my
Visa. I have called no less than five times, have been
promised a call back "today, guaranteed" as well as
email confirmation twice, but have never gotten an
email or a call from anyone. I'm perfectly happy with
my new Palm 3x with TRG 8MB upgrade, and couldnt care
less about all those vaporware springboard modules the
3Com unit wont accept. And my Chameleon stylus is back
in action.

My judgment: Visor is a good product, but the company
hasnt yet figured out what it wants to be when it grows
up. I wont be back, even if their color product has
flash RAM.

It took me ten weeks to receive my Visor. I was appalled at the customer service...or lack of. After calling 7 times and speaking with about ten reps I wrote a scathing e-mail to their CS department.

The gist of the e-mail pointed out that their obvious neglect for customer existence would eventually get back to them when two things happen: The customer dares not to re-order another item from HS or the customer realizes that unnecessary time without a new technology product equals a HUGE opportunity cost. For example, I returned my IIIx to get the Visor Deluxe but by the end of December (after two months w/o an organizer) I could have a V ($270-300) in my hand, in about 18 hours.
I will enjoy seeing them fail. I want nothing more in my life.

P.S. I am still getting order confirmation e-mails from HS. The nightmare never ends!!!!

I'm posting this in the hopes that I can stop at least one person from buying a Visor and wasting any time with the black hole that is their customer "service" department.

My experience with them was simply horrible.

First, it took 8 weeks for me to receive my order, when they promised me 4. Of course, they forgot to send me a serial cradle. So I ordered one again.

Then things got interesting. The unit was acting very erratically, until one day, it would display only garbage on the screen. Time to return my Visor. I was promised a new one within 3 weeks.

4 weeks pass. No visor. I call them, and they tell me that I'll have one the following Monday.

Next Tuesday arrives, and -- you guessed it! -- no Visor. I jump on the phone, wait on hold, and call them again and I hear the same promise -- new Visor on next Monday.

Deja Vu Strikes! Yet another week passes, and no Visor still! I dig up the FedEx tracking codes, find out that they did receive the Visor, and call them again. This time I ask them to call me when they are sure they are going to ship it. They promise me a phone call "next Monday."

Of course, as you might expect by now, no phone call, and no Visor. I give up and wait a few weeks. Then I call them again and I hear the same story all over. I also sent a description of the affair to their customer service department via email. They don't reply.

In the meantime, I find new hope for my Palm VII, which was out of action with a cracked screen. A great website, http://www.gethightech.com" CLASS=NEWS>http://www.gethightech.com , which was posted on a Palm-related website, sells screens for Palms. Unfortunately, because my Palm VII was a prototype, I couldn't convince 3Com to replace it when it broke last summer, and as such, I thought it was broken permanently. Fortunately, this turned out not to be true. I ordered a screen from the site, received excellent customer service, and installed the screen into my Palm VII. It worked the first time!

Now having a perfectly functional PalmOS unit, I called Handspring up to have them refund anything they've ever charged me.

My current status as of March 15? "It will take 3 weeks -- at least! -- to get a credit. Are you sure we can't just send you a replacement Visor? We'll have it overnight!"

Hahahaha -- where have I heard that line before? :)

Moral of the story: I wasted many hours dealing with Handspring's pathetic customer service for a product which, unfortunately, is pretty good.

If you don't want to end up like me, you will not purchase a Visor in the first place. Take it from me -- stick with 3Com/Palm or TRG.

Best wishes,
Matt

I got mine a few days sooner than they said to look for it.

When a company first opens for business- with such an odviously popular product - then expect perfect service. get real.

My story is interesting only because I live overseas and have a P.O. Box and APO as a "home address". Hence, I can't order directly from Hangspring! Rechecking their web-page weeks later,
I read that the Visors are now available at 3 retail chains, Staples, CompUSA, and Best Buy! First I called Staples to see if a purchase could be picked up at a local store by a relative.
"Of course", said the salesperson "what is the name of the product"? I tell her Handspring Visor PDA. She informs me that there are no items in her database that come close to matching,
she's more than willing to sell me one of the many Palm Pilot models! The next day I emailed the customer service department at Handspring to find out what was going on. And I got a response
in two business days, which I thought was pretty good. The email message read" Handspring products are now available at 3 retails store locations, Staples, CompUSA, and Best Buy! Will anyone out
there who really knows what's going on please response! No luck with the other two "retail outlets" either!

I ordered mine probably the same time you did. I just
expected that they would be completely overwhelmed and
knew I wasn't going to see it for a couple months. I
was right but it did finally come and it was well worth
the wait, IMO. The visor only took a couple months.
The modem took till last month to get here. Some day
I'm actually going to try it out and make sure it
works. :-) I'm going to try ordering one of the 8 meg
memory springboards soon. We'll see how long it will
take for they to arive.

I got mine at Staples. Walked in, walked out. Even got an ice colored serial cradle. No problems. Now, if I love the visor then I am all set....

Bought my Visor at staples, last sunday, i have installed 4.5 megs of programs on it, had a couple of fatal exception errors, from apps i installed, gettin a lot of use out of reset pen in stylus. lol. I luv it going to by a serial cable so i can sync at work, no real problems, i luv it.
Ice is Nice

I ordered a Handspring Modem a couple of weeks ago, and double checked with the order-taker when it would ship as I was headed out on a business trip. Naturally, the modem shipped (and thus arrived) 3 days later than they said it would.

No problem - there are ample alternatives I can choose from to replace my cancelled order.

I bought the Visor deluxe based on upgradeability at the expansion slot....Now I found out that the OS 3.1
platform is "burned in". Kinda like my 386 with the soldered cpu....hmmm

I had never used this kind of Pocket PCs, but three days ago I went to a Nortel Presentation in Mexico City and won a Handspring Visor Deluxe at the end of the event. At first glance, I thouht it was a cheap imitation of the Palm Pilot, but when I came home and browse the Handspring site to see its price, and reading your comments, I decided to use my Visor the best I can. In this moment I would like to know the way to programming for this device.
Jose Ignacio Vazquez, Guadalajara, Mexico