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08/09/2009, 03:58 PM
#7
Thanks for the responses, guys. Here's the long, and ugly saga, for those who may be interested. I'll pick up from where I left off in my first post.
On my way to the Sprint store, I decided to test my theory that they actually do have them in stock, but just don't want to give me one. So I called the store, and asked, "Do you have the Palm Pre in stock?"
"Yes, we do," replied the eager voice on the other end.
"Great, I'll stop in," I said.
Not good. Either the CSR had lied to me about calling the store, the store had lied to her about their inventory, or possibly both. At this point, I was fairly sure how this was all going to end. But I still held out hope that someone at the store would do the right thing.
A few minutes later I arrived at the store. As I was approaching the front door, an elderly woman with a cane said to me, "You don't want to go in there. It's FREEZING in there." This will become important later.
"Is it? Thanks for the warning," I smiled back.
Upon walking in, I was quickly intercepted by a large man at a podium near the door, who seemed to be some sort of receptionist, but looked more like a bouncer. In retrospect, I can only assume he was a bit of both.
He asked me what I wanted, and I told him my Pre was starting to fall apart. He said, "Ah, so you need a technician. What's your mobile number?" He started typing on his computer, and told me to wait.
"Odd way to begin," I thought to myself. Never before have I had to 'sign in' like this, just to enter a store. Very strange.
A few minutes later, a young man called my name. I walked over to his station at the counter, and showed him the various problems with my Pre. After nodding, and acknowledging, "Yes, I see," he took it from my hand, and disappeared behind a door.
While he was gone, I took a few minutes to examine the demo Pres that were on display. As I suspected would be the case, all of them were perfectly normal. The gap between the two halves of the phone on each of them was nice and tight, there was no floppiness whatsoever, and only extremely minimal "Oreo twist". In other words, their slider mechanisms were exactly as mine had been, up until a few days ago.
The presence or absence of any light-bleed was impossible to determine, as the store was very brightly lit. The bleed on mine is only visible when the ambient lighting is dim.
And of course, there didn't seem to be any dead pixels.
Some time later, the young man reappeared, handed my phone back to me. I could tell right away from the look on his face that whatever had transpired behind that closed door had not been positive. He said, "I spoke with the technician, actually the head technician, and he says there's nothing wrong with your phone. We won't be able to replace it." He seemed almost to be choking on the words a little, as if internally he did not at all agree with what he had to say, and did not enjoy fighting with himself in order to say it anyway.
I said, "What do you mean, he says there's nothing wrong with it? None of your demo units do this." I proceeded to tap on the upper half of the screen, so that the "click, click, click" sound was clearly audible. "Or this." I twisted the screen to demonstrate its considerable amount of "Oreo effect". "I've looked at other demo units in three different stores. None of them do this. I also know plenty of people who have this device, and none of theirs do it either. And this one didn't do it until two days ago. I don't know what this technician might have said, but I can promise you, this is NOT normal."
The young man looked to be at a loss for words. "As I said, I talked to the head technician, and we're not going to be able to-" He cut himself off. "You could talk to him if you'd like."
"I would LOVE to talk to him," I responded.
"OK, wait here."
So I waited, and while I did, I once again examined the demo units, just to be absolutely certain they weren't even remotely behaving like mine. They weren't.
Quite a while later, the young man again reappeared from behind the door, with an older, considerably less friendly-looking, pot-bellied, bespectacled, man behind him. I had to kind of lean out of my way to make eye contact with this other man, and when I did I smiled, as I always do when I'm about to begin a conversation with anyone. I opened my mouth to say hello, but this man cut me off before I could utter a sound.
"I'll be right with you," he muttered, as he quickly brushed past me to hand a pink phone to a woman toward the other end of the store, and began talking with her.
"OK, there's someone else ahead of me. No problem," I thought. He could have been a bit more vocal about asking me to wait, but evidently people skills were not this guy's strong suit. It would turn out that "not his strong suit" didn't even begin to cover it. Read on.
When he finished with the woman, he turned to me, gave me this look which seemed to say "I can't believe YOU really want to talk to ME," and without so much as introducing himself, spouted, "There's nothing wrong with that phone."
I repeated my previous, "It's not supposed to do this," speech, almost word for word. After all, anyone would have to agree it's malfunctioning if I just demonstrate it clearly, right? WRONG! This guy wasn't going to budge.
"It has to have some play in order for it to curve as it slides. That's how it's supposed to be," he muttered in sort of an "I'm sooooo obviously the most superior intellect in this entire store" kind of tone.
"Yes, SOME play, just like all your demo units have, a very slight amount. But not this." I started tapping again, to make the click, click, click sound, as I angled the top of the phone directly into his line of sight, so he could witness the gap changing size from dime-thickness to paper-thinness, and back again. "With all this clicking, it feels more like using a Blackberry Storm than using a Pre," I said. "That's not how it's supposed to be."
"That's not a comparison an intelligent person can make. The Blackberry Storm is made by Research In Motion; the Pre is made by Palm. There's no comparison to be made there," he snapped back.
Was he serious?! I could scarcely begin to figure how to respond to that. Not only did he just call me unintelligent to my face, but he also was speaking complete and utter nonsense, himself. Quite obviously, the makers of the devices weren't relevant in any way, shape, or form to the point I was trying to get across.
"Look, don't insult my intelligence," I said. "The makers of the two devices have nothing to do with why I just said what I said, and you know it. The point was simply that there happens to be another device out there that IS supposed to feel 'clicky' like this, but the Pre is not that device. This is not a normal thing for the Pre. It's supposed to feel solid, just like your demo units do."
"Those don't get opened and closed. So they don't get loose."
Nice try, but no. "I also know plenty of people who have this device, and theirs are just like yours. They do open and close theirs all the time."
"There's nothing wrong with your phone. That's how it's supposed to be."
He was now speaking much more forcefully than before. While his tone up until this point, if it could be described musically, had been an arrogant, "I'm too sexy for Milan, New York, and Japan," kind of vibe, it was now clearly bordering on "I Hate Everything About You." From his body language, to the piercing look in his eye, to the manner of his speech, every fiber of this man seemed to want to scream, "This is MY castle, I'm the king, and you need to get the **** out of here right now!"
Perhaps this wasn't the sort of thing any 'king' would want to hear, but a little authority from above seemed to be in order. I said, "Look, I talked with Sprint Customer Service this morning, and they agreed that my phone needed to be replaced. The representative I spoke with called here, and your people told her that you would put me on a list to receive a replacement Pre as soon as you have one in stock."
"No one spoke with me," he declared, with visible annoyance.
"I realize that. I'd like to speak with whomever they did talk to," I said.
"I don't know who they talked to."
"Well, let's get everyone out here and ask."
"I can't just call them all into a huddle."
"OK, let's go around, and ask them each one at a time."
"No."
Wow, just no. He wasn't even going to try to justify it. Just no. I was floored.
I could tell I wasn't going to get any further with this guy, so I said, very matter-of-factly, "Look, you and I are done here. Can I please speak with your manager?"
"You need to calm down. Don't be so angry."
Excuse me, what? Did he really just say that? At that, I could have spent the better part of the day lecturing this fool on the importance of not telling other people what they're thinking and feeling, especially when you have no idea yourself, but I chose just to let it go. "I'm perfectly calm," I replied. "Can I please speak with your manager."
"You're angry," he said.
"I'm done with YOU, but I'm not angry. Now, for the third time, can I please speak with your manager? I fail to see why it should be such a big deal to ask to see a manager in ANY retail store."
"You're shaking," he said.
Remember I said the old woman's warning about the temperature would become important later? Well here it was. "I'm shaking because it's cold in here. Look around. Everyone in here is shaking." It really was freezing in there.
He opened his mouth to speak, but now it was my turn to cut him off, just as he had done to me before. "Manager. Now."
He opened his mouth again, and I cut him off again. "Manager."
"Not until you calm down!" he exclaimed with visible anger.
"As I said, I'm perfectly calm. I can tell you something, though." I leaned in very close, and spoke very quietly. "I've been in customer service myself for over 15 years. The fastest way to make someone not calm is to accuse them of being not calm. Is that what you're trying to do here? Because it sure seems like it. Manager, please."
Finally, he stepped away, tapped a short, heavy-set, curly-haired woman on the shoulder, and motioned for her to follow him behind that same door he had come first come from. A few minutes later, she reemerged, and walked up to me, without saying a word. She did not even begin to introduce herself (Doesn't anyone in this place have any manners or people skills?) until I asked, "Are you the manager?"
"Yes, I am," she replied, but still did not introduce herself. I didn't even find out her name at all, until I asked for it much later in the conversation.
I recounted the entire story to her, and once again asked whom Customer Service had spoken with. "I don't know who they spoke with," was all she could say.
"Well, how about we call them, and ask them?" I began dialing.
"While you're doing that, I'm just going to look up your account information." She started typing on her computer.
"Can I ask what you're typing?"
"I'm just making a note that our technician says there's nothing wrong with your phone, so a replacement is not warranted."
I was now considering reaching across the counter to strangle this woman. If I wasn't angry before, I certainly was now. But I remained outwardly cool. "So not only are refusing to help me in the store, but you're also doing everything in your power to get Customer Service not to help me either?"
"They can still override this, if they feel it's necessary."
Before I could respond to that, Customer Service picked up. I explained the situation, but it was clear the damage had been done. "I can't authorize the store to give you a replacement."
"How come the representative I spoke with this morning said she could?"
He simply ignored the question. "We can get you a new phone, no questions asked. Let me give you a website to go to: phonereplacement.com."
"Isn't that the website for the insurance company?" I asked.
"Yes, insurance."
"This is not an insurance issue. I didn't drop it. I didn't step on it. It wasn't in a fire. It wasn't lost or stolen. To file an insurance claim for this would be fraudulent. Plus, I should not have to pay a $100 deductible for something that is not my fault. This is a warranty issue. Insurance has nothing to do with it. Never in my life have I had to fight like this to get any company to honor any warranty for any product. What's really going on here?"
He then attempted the mother of all lies, the bait & switch. "Let me speak with the Special Palm Pre Department." He put me on hold for a long time.
When he came back, he said, "OK, I've arranged with the Special Palm Pre Department for you to receive a new replacement Palm Pre. I just need to verify your address."
I wasn't about to fall for it. "Will there be any cost?" I asked.
"The cost is $100."
"Wait a minute," I said. "You spoke with the insurance company, didn't you?"
"Yes," he admitted, with very audible reluctance, "The Special Palm Pre Department, at the insurance company."
"I already told you this is not an insurance issue. This phone is defective, not damaged. This is a warranty issue. Can I have your name please?"
"My name is Cyrus," he said. "But don't worry, this call is being recorded. So there's a record of everything we've said."
"Great, can I get a copy of the recording?" I asked.
He then put me on hold again. After a long wait, someone who identified herself as a supervisor picked up. "Can I ask why you want a record of the conversation?"
"Well, between the two phone calls I've had with your department, and what's happened here in the store, I've been given a lot of conflicting information. I'd like a record of everything in order to compare what's been said at each stage. I'm sure you can understand why I'd want to be able to do that."
"We can't just type out a transcript," she said.
"I'm not asking for a transcript. I'm just asking for a copy of the recording."
"Recordings are only for training and monitoring purposes, and they get deleted after three days. We don't share them with the public," she said.
"Well, you might want to have a talk with Cyrus, then. He just told me that I 'shouldn't worry' because the conversation was being recorded. If I can't have access to the recording, how can its existence possibly be a reason for me not to worry?"
"We don't share recordings with the public."
"Again, someone might want to tell Cyrus that. In any case, what can we do to get my Pre replaced. Is it within your power to authorized the store to swap it out?"
"No, it's not."
"Then how come when I called this morning, the representative I spoke with told me she could arrange it?"
"That's not something I can do. I could connect you with Tech Support, though, and they could arrange to send you a new one. But if in the opinion of our warehouse technician, there's nothing wrong with your old phone when we receive it, then there will be a $100 charge for an insurance claim."
"Wait a minute," I said. "The 'opinion of your warehouse technician'? How do I know this warehouse technician of yours will be any more honest or helpful than your store technician? If he says what the store tech said, then I won't even have the phone in-hand anymore to prove otherwise."
"They don't lie," she said. "If a phone is broken, they say it's broken."
Once again, it was clear I'd reached the end of the reasonable argument road. At this point, I'd been at this for almost six hours, and I just didn't have much energy left to keep trying. "Go ahead and transfer me to Tech Support," I said.
When the tech support rep picked up, I once again began to explain the situation, and prefaced it with "You're actually the sixth person I've spoken with today about this."
She interrupted me with what sounded to be a very sincere apology. It was very nice to hear, but mainly it served to underscore the fact that no one else at any time throughout this entire process had apologized even once before her. As I said, it seems almost no one at Sprint has much in the way of people skills. This woman should have been the rule, not the exception.
After I explained She went on to say, "This is actually pretty embarrassing for us. ANYONE can order a phone. There's no reason you should have had to go through all this."
I said, "Thank you. You're the first person all day to acknowledge that. I do appreciate it."
She took my order information for the replacement phone, but then said, "Now, it looks like we don't have any in stock..."
I politely interrupted her with "And let me guess. You don't know when you'll be getting more, right?"
"No, I don't."
So now we we'd come full circle, right back to where we were when all this started that morning. They can send me a new phone, but they have no idea when. It could be the next day, the next week, the next month, or it could be forever. All this while I know for a fact that they've got plenty on hand for sale. Ridiculous. Simply ridiculous.
I asked, "Before you place the order, Palm already agreed to send me a replacement, as well. I just thought it would be easier and faster to go through the store, which was what led to all this. If it turns out Palm can ship me one faster than you can, can we cancel this order?"
She said we could either cancel at any time before it's shipped, or I could just send the new phone right back without opening it. Either way would work. So I agreed to let her order it.
The following morning, I did two things. First, I called Palm to tell them to go ahead and ship me the advance replacement they had offered. I'm not wild about getting a refurb, but it's better than dealing with Sprint. The package will arrive Monday.
Second, I called my lawyer to inquire about filing a class action against Sprint. From what I've read on this forum and elsewhere, this "forget the warranty, file an insurance claim" behavior of theirs seems to be systemic. That's not right, and something needs to be done about it. My lawyer agreed, but unfortunately he's not an expert in class actions. He's currently finding me someone who is. I'll post more information for anyone who may wish to join the class, once I've spoken with this expert.
That's the story, as best I can recall. As I said, I've never ever before encountered so much resistance to the honoring of a warranty from any company, for any product. Sprint's behavior is simply astonishing. Either they're the most blatantly dishonest company I've ever dealt with, or they're just so unfathomably incompetent that it simply doesn't occur to them how dishonest they appear.
Either way, I'm strongly considering canceling my service with them. As soon as the Pre is available on other carriers, I certainly will, if not sooner. Had this kind of experience happened with any other device, I would have canceled on the spot. But for the time being, I'm too addicted to the Pre to let Sprint's ugliness keep me from using it. As much as it pains me to keep giving them my money, it would pain me even more to give up the Pre.
Things may change, as other devices evolve to compete with the Pre, but for now, it seems I'm stuck. Palm, I hope you're paying attention. My loyalty to your product has won out over my new-found hatred for the carrier you chose, THIS TIME. You're going to have to work hard to maintain that into the future.
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