My Experience Purchasing A #TouchPad (Or Two)

[fed5]

(I sent this to the two HP employees mentioned in this post as well... My Experience Purchasing A TouchPad (Or Two) « Marcus H. Feder)

Because I’m such a huge ****** of all things Palm since day one,I was ecstatic when the TouchPad was finally announced at CES this past February.

After watching updates on my Pre about the release of the new device (because I had a doctor’s appointment–if I didn’t,I thought about flying out for the announcements from Hp),and waiting (rather patiently) for the announcement as to when the thing would finally be released (FIVE MONTHS LATER),finally the day arrived for me to pre-order my very own 32 MB TouchPad.

Now,when I say I waited patiently for ANY announcement,my wife and friends would probably disagree. I suppose I talked (and tweeted) about it on most days. When I wasn’t,I surely was thinking about it all the time and looking for any news I could get my hands on about the TouchPad (and other webOS products). So,when it was finally announced that pre-orders would be taking place in the following 3 weeks.

I had been trying to figure out where I would purchase it for pre-order and after reading EVERYTHING,I decided that purchasing it directly from Hp should probably be my best bet. Especially since I started to receive emails and even a telephone call from one of their small business reps named Thomas Leake. He seemed like a genuinely knowledgeable Hp employee,and by purchasing from him,I would hope to build a bit of a rapport and quite possibly receive my TouchPad a few (or a couple) of days prior to its July 1st launch date. Placed my order and asked about all the accessories. Heninformednme that they wouldn’t be available until the 15th,so I decided not to order those from him.

Leading to the release date,I would check the Hp website for any sign of shipment. Well,no such luck. Until Friday,July 1st when the website sent me an email to notify me that day’s pending shipment.

Okay,well…I wasn’t really thinking I’d get it before the release date,more like hoping to get it a few (or a couple) of days in advance of the official release date,but at the very least ON the official release date. Why wouldn’t I? They were Hp;the manufacturers! Not some retailer who also had to wait for their own shipments from Hp.

So,needless to say,I decided to call Hp and ask them if it was really shipping that day and if it hadn’t already shipped to please cancel my order. At that time,it was confirmed that the item did not,in fact,ship out yet,but they could not cancel the order since the tracking number had already been assigned. *After I threatened to refuse shipment,and cancel the charges on my card,I asked to speak to a supervisor and was denied the opportunity. In addition,after telling the man on the telephone that I just wanted to purchase it locally so that I had it on its official release day,he told me that none of the stores had them yet either. I would take my chances.

The first place I went into,Costco,did not have them on their shelves,but when I went to the pick-up counter,I saw the female employee talking to another employee about the TouchPad while holding one up. I said,“THAT’S what I want!”I went to the cashier,purchased it (FOR $20.00 LESS THAN HP ALREADY SOLD ME ONE FOR),and told the female employee all about it and recommended it to her to purchase for her granddaughter’s graduation.

As you can imagine,I was starting to boil. I had my brand-new TouchPad in my hand,purchased from a local retailer on the day of the official release,and for $20 less than I could purchase it from Hp for. In addition,that evening,I heard about the promotion of the TP bundle from The Home Shopping Network and started to regret not purchasing it from them (even though I would’ve had to wait another day or so).

I was starting to think about what I would do with my other new TP expected to arrive FIVE DAYS AFTER THE OFFICIAL LAUNCH (because of the 4th of July holiday weekend) and figured,not to worry about it,Hp would understand and gladly accept the item back.

Now here’s,where I start to really boil. Through many of the online webOS boards,and Twitter,I found out that most of the people who purchased the 16MB TouchPad model were automatically upgraded to a 32MB model for free because Hp lacked inventory of the 16MB model. Customers actually paid $100 less to Hp for the same model I purchased from Hp! Again,surely Hp would take care of me…

When the TouchPad I ordered directly from Hp finally arrived on Tuesday,July 5th,I decided to call Hp and asked them what I should do.

Now in the months leading up to this release,I was hoping that eventually I could upgrade my entire company’s sales staff (5 others) with new TouchPads to use at the office and ultimately replace all desktop systems,so I wasn’t too worried about having to keep a second TouchPad if need be. Especially since I was sure that I’d be able to get it for $80 (with Costco discount) less than the one I had already purchased.

When I called customer service to discuss my return (or discount),Marco Naranjo answered and seemed polite and knowledgeable enough for what I was about to present. I told him that I wanted to return the TP I just received from Hp and wanted him to issue a return back onto my credit card. I told him I had purchased one on the day of release (at a discount) and also told him that I heard that there were many people who purchased the same model as I did received it for $100 less than I paid for it through Hp. If he would give me the same deal,I would consider keeping the unit to save the headache of a return.

He refused,but after asking a ‘supervisor’,he would be able to give me a $50 discount. Now,why would I pay $549.00 for something someone else paid $499.00 for? You don’t need to be a business person to realize that didn’t make any sense. He got back on the phone and said that he could give me a $55.00 credit. Are you kidding me? Then,once again,he came back and told me he was authorized to give me $75.00 off the machine. I asked him if that made any sense to him.

I told him I was a big Palm fanatic and had been a loyal customer since the beginning (one of my recent tweets:Me:Leather organizer-1985 >Casio >Palm5000-1996 >PacBell cel >PalmIII >PalmV >PalmVx >Treo90-2002 >Treo180 >300 >650 >700p >755p >Pre >TP). I also told him I was a Hp shareholder.

None of that really mattered to him,so I,again,asked to speak to a supervisor. He then asked what I would like to speak with them about and asked him if he was kidding. Really? You don’t know whatni want to speak with them about? Again,refusing to get me a supervisor to speak with,he said,okay,if you want to return it,I’ll need to charge you $15 to return it. BOILING!

I guess he came to his senses,because after another few minutes on hold,he came back and told me he would waive the $15 fee. What a guy!

Really HP? You would rather have a loyal customer like me RETURN a new TouchPad then give me the discount you gave everyone else and sell two?

I even got an email from Marco confirming our conversation and thanking me for the call and offering a 15% discount off accessories. That aren’t even available yet! Terrible!

I’m still debating if I should write a review of the TouchPad! It would probably include things like advertising Kindle when it isn’t even available yet. Or the Music store? Or thenediting of documents tht does not even exist yet!? Or their Pivot magazine with MONTHY updates (we’re in the 21st Century! How about daily or weekly?)

[Shadavis08]

Holy wall of text batman !!!!

[LinT]

wow...just because some lucky people got upgraded, that doesnt entitle you to be "lucky" too. Just enjoy your TP and stop trying to get free stuff. (just pay the price that YOU agreed to)

[rawdeadfish]

that's the hp that everyone i know warns me about

[LinT]

really? So you think HP should have just told all the 16GB orders that they had to wait? I think HP did an extremely nice thing for some of their customers. (something that they were NOT required to do)

[runukraine]

I read through it all... I'm not sure how exactly HP did ya wrong.

They tried to work with you. You were the one who decided to double order the product. You put yourself in this situation with your impatience. They even offered you a pretty significant discount too.

I'd hate to be on the other end of a service phone call with you.

[fed5]

Dont get me wrong. I wasn't 'expecting' to get to get mine for $499, i just figured for HP it wouldve found it better to get me that than to have me return it!

[deCorvett]

... yeah, you wasn't expecting that, and because of that, you relaxed:

Originally Posted by fed5

Really HP? You would rather have a loyal customer like me RETURN a new TouchPad then give me the discount you gave everyone else and sell two?

I even got an email from Marco confirming our conversation and thanking me for the call and offering a 15% discount off accessories. That aren’t even available yet! Terrible!

I’m still debating if I should write a review of the TouchPad! It would probably include things like advertising Kindle when it isn’t even available yet. Or the Music store? Or thenediting of documents tht does not even exist yet!? Or their Pivot magazine with MONTHY updates (we’re in the 21st Century! How about daily or weekly?)

[bnceo]

Ya fed5. You did wrong here. Yes HP should have shipped them out earlier. However, this happens all the time. And instead of you waiting, you just HAD to be a day one buyer (does it really matter)? Then you complain about not being lucky to get an upgrade to a 32GB version. Dude, you get what you paid for. Some people preordered late and in order to fulfil a promise, HP said to get them 32GB ones instead.

I never seen such pompous attitude on here. Horrible. No business would want to be in business with you. Just plain horrible. Want some cheese with that whine?

[fed5]

Pompous? That's okay. I was ****ed and had 2 yrs of "just wait"s from HP building up. Another 5 days did matter to me.

[runukraine]

So beyond your frustration... Pretty cool device, no?

I'm hoping Kindle and HP Movies come soon, but I can't imagine taking this thing back.

[fed5]

Of course, I love it! But my real issue of this whole thing is, for the amount spent waiting for the final release (7/1), it should've been polished. Unfortunately, it isn't. How many times can one person hear, "in the coming months...?" HP just needs to put out a date on their releases, stick to them, and impress upon everyone with what webOS really is! It can definately become my 'ecosystem'. Now I'm stillnstuck with a horrible evo shift on sprint and can't use my TouchPad to its full potential. Makes me ill!

[runukraine]

I gave up on Sprint... Picked up AT&T veer and I love it. Can't wait for touch to share... I think homebrew will do great things with that

[fed5]

And we're all still... Just waiting!

[WindyCityPre]

I'm sorry, but posts like yours are what make this community sound like a bunch of whiners who will never be satisfied and think they're "owed" something.

Here's my experience:
2 HP reps were contacting me for pre-ordering. I was all ready to go through with it, but confirmed the delivery dates first, as that's the customer's responsibility (ie: yours).

When they told me that the device would ship on July 1st and even next day (Saturday) delivery was not possible, I thanked them for their time but said that I would purchase from retail on the 1st as I didn't want to wait until the 5th; I wanted it for the long weekend. They of course tried to persuade me and said that retail outlets were only getting partial shipments. I said I'll take my chances.

It was at this time that I went to Amazon and pre-ordered the case and touchstone with free Amazon Prime 2 day shipping.

July 1st rolled around, I went to Best Buy and bought a 16gb model for $499. They had 18 more in stock... The next day (Saturday morning) my case was delivered. The following day after that (Sunday morning) my touchstone dock was delivered by 7am.

I'm thrilled; love the device and mine is working great.

The way I see it, some people were upgraded to a 32gb for free. HP didn't have to do that. Customers agreed to a 16gb purchase and HP could have made them wait until more were in stock, but with great customer service, those orders were upgraded. No one was owed anything.

So let's see:
1. You made an agreement to pre-order from HP.
2. You didn't check delivery dates and was mad about the shipping date.
3. You tried to return it.
4. HP offered you up to $75 off the 32gb version.
5. Still wasn't good enough for you, but they agreed to waive the restocking fee (part of the agreement you made when purchasing) anyway.

Sounds to me like HP bent over backwards for you, but that wasn't enough because you're one of those awful customers that thinks they're owed everything for free. Tell me, did you steal from previous jobs because you thought you were entitled?

What you could have done was take HP's offer of $75 off the 32gb, then use the $50 rebate from original webOS owners (being such a diehard Palm fan) and have yourself a 32gb touchpad for $475...but you were too busy being a whiner. I apologize in advance if you're insulted, but I find your attitude disgraceful. Please feel free to switch platforms because you were treated so "badly."

[Rennat]

We need to stop cause the heat in these forums. I agree with most of you here but that doesn't mean that we should post the same thing over and over again making him feel rejected. He just wrote up a huge thread post and what does he get for it... Yes, he may have put himself into this situation but lets stop telling him he isn't the sharpest tool in the shed and have some constructive, civilized conversations here

There are better ways of telling him he needs to think differently or realize he isn't always right.

[fed5]

I never said I was owed anything. I love the product and have always touted it any chance I got. If you were to put it into monetary terms, word of mouth advertising from any of us on these forums is worth as much or more to HP's marketing department than any televisiin commercial they produce, which will (hopefully) ultimately perform better than what Palm's did.

[Rennat]

Originally Posted by fed5

I never said I was owed anything. I love the product and have always touted it any chance I got. If you were to put it into monetary terms, word of mouth advertising from any of us on these forums is worth as much or more to HP's marketing department than any televisiin commercial they produce, which will (hopefully) ultimately perform better than what Palm's did.

Agreed The biggest advertising monster out there is word of mouth. It just takes so much to run the monster.

[knauerhase]

I too corresponded with an HP Small Business salesman. He was quite helpful (even set up an account with the Small Business website for me) and called me -- as promised -- on Sunday morning 6/19 so I could place a pre-order and get in the virtual line. As an "inside sales" bonus, he also offered "free expedited shipping".

I asked if it would ship *ON* 7/1, or *TO ARRIVE ON* 7/1. He said the former, and that I should have it Friday or Saturday, but it might possibly be 7/5. I asked about discounts (my company gets some %age off from HP) and he said they wouldn't be able to discount. I was OK with that, being willing to trade some $ for being early in line, and supporting webOS by buying from the source.

Friday came, and just to be safe I did an in-store pickup order from Best Buy's website. No word from HP, so I bought one that evening with a corp discount from BB. Saturday, I got mail that my order from HP had shipped, with a tracking number "to arrive Tuesday 7/5".

As much as I liked the guy I was dealing with, the combination of lateness (from the manufacturer, notwithstanding a couple week pre-order and "early in line" assurance) combined with BB discount was a dealbreaker for me. So I called FedEx, asked them to intercept the shipment from HP and send it back.

I think the fellow from HP didn't exactly lie (well, reading his e-mail strictly, maybe a little lie), but as a salesman, he said whatever it took to close the sale. As a consumer, I voted with my feet both in terms of price and timing. The free market in action!

Rob

[Siah1214]

OP, you're the reason working in customer support sucks...