Switchung to Samsung Galaxy SII because of Palm Technical Support??

[philspre]

Hello,

beeing a loyal Palm customer for years, I thought today the first time if it is time to switch.What happened?

First I read the engadget review about the Samsung Galaxy S II, saying something like this is the best smartphone currently on the market.
But secondly, and more important I got really dissapointed by Palm Technical Support when the refused to repair my falling apart Palm Pre.

My Palm Pre Minus, I bought for nearly 500,00 Eur, caused problems again:
First I couldn't hear anything when making phonecalls, even when I tried thy speaker, headphones, Bluetooth headset. Strangely sound was working when I played movies, music or podcasts. So I started to use my second phone I'm carrying arround to make phone calls.

But then on th ePre my keyboard stopped working, and even after doctoring it didn't worked. Sometimes the keyboard was working for a short time but suddenly it stopped.

Time to call Palm Technical Support and ask for a repair.

Unfortunately they refused to take responsibility because the little USB-cover is lost and the plug is a bit bend.
But the USB connector is working and the problems regarding sound when calling and the not working keyboard have absolutely nothing to do with that.

Palm Technical Support offered a 150,00 Euro repair - very silly when I can get a new Pre Minus for less than 120,00 Eur.

Ahhhh, I'm so ticked off, why is Palm/HP treating it loyal customer base like this?

What can I do in order to get my Palm Pre replaced?

I really would like to support Web OS, a reason I bought the buggy Palm Pre Minus as an early adopter, but built quality is to bad and looking at the new Android devices like the Samsung Galaxy SII, I don't know if I'm doing the right choice still putting my money into WebOS.

- Phil.

[malpha]

Palm Technical Support has a flat rate fee for repair. Personally, I would just get the Galaxy SII.

[philspre]

I know the SII will be a "sexy" device, but what makes me afraid is that Palm isn't treating its loyal customers the way they should do.
I doubt that HP/PALM is selling lot of WebOS devices. We are the salesforce showing our phones to all these Android and iPhone lovers out there and presenting them an alternative. How many people bought WebOS-devices because you made a little "sales presentation?"

In my opinion it is stupid asking for a 150,00 repair fee, because of little signs of use, instead of looking at the case in detail. Apple did the same thing back in the days (repair of a damaged iBook screen costs more than buy a new one) - I've switched and am now a loyal Lenovo customer and sold over 30 Lenovo notebooks to work colleques and friends.

Palm should remember the power of word-to-mouth-marketing!

- Phil

[hrminer92]

That's not really surprising. For many products, the cost of the labor involved to fix it is more than the cost of buying a replacement.

If you want to continue to support webOS and want one now, get a cheap Pre/Pre+ off ebay/criagslist/classified ads/etc or a new Pre2.

[philspre]

Originally Posted by hrminer92

That's not really surprising. For many products, the cost of the labor involved to fix it is more than the cost of buying a replacement.
If you want to continue to support webOS and want one now, get a cheap Pre/Pre+ off ebay/criagslist/classified ads/etc or a new Pre2.

I know about labor costs, but for me as a customer it doesn't matter. Palm Support should make the best offer for the customer and if labor costs are to high they should say: buy a new device.

In my case I think they should just repair my pre or send me a refurbished one. We all know that the built quality of the first pre is not great and with all this new devices arround I don't want to buy a new Pre minus (with the same problems / old hardware).
And I don't see the point in getting a pre plus or pre 2. First the plus and pre 2 are more expensive but they don't offer much more functionality if think about what Homebrew can make to your old pre.

I guess Palm has lots of old Pre's in stock why do they prefer to make a customer unhappy.

Example:
What would you do if your engine in your car is damaged and the car company says: "Sorry, we can't do anything for you, there is a scratch on your rear mirror! It's corporate policy that we only repair and give warranty if your car is in top condition. We can offer you a repair, but it will cost more than getting a better brand new car from another company."