I dont know whether to laugh or cry at Palm Pilots inept tech support

[ufcrusher]

Last night I grabbed our Palm M505 off the charger and went to use it about 12am. It was dark and so I am used to turning it on in the dark and playing a game in the dark so as to not disturb my fiance. (No, that is NOT a whip cracking thank you, just being nice) The palm pilot felt a bit odd as the button didnt feel raised up enough, and it wasnt turning on. So I grabbed my book light, hit the phone book key to see if it had power and sure enough, the palm pilot turned on. Unfortunately, I couldnt turn on the light or turn it off. Ut-oh!

I figure it will auto shut off and put it down with the thought that once I get up I can play with the button trying to get it to come back out. This morning I get up and the palm pilot is still on! I cant get it to do anything so I send palm the following email to tech support.

Detailed Description: The Palm Pilot is working fine except for the factthat it can no longer be turned on/off or the light activated since the power button/charging led is stuck in a down position.

The button had become problematic previously whereby it did not activate on the first push, but it would always work on a subsequent attempt. However last night when I went to use my Palm pilot it would not turn on. I finally just hit one of the quick keys and to see if it was charged (it had come off the charger) and had to turn on a light to see that it was in fact operating. I put the Palm pilot down and figured it would turn itself off to standby mode, which apparently it never did, as when I grabbed it this morning to see if I could do anything better in the daylight that it was still on reading extremely low battery

I get back the following email:

Thank you very much for your inquiry. I understand that your Palm(TM) m505 handheld cannot be powered off as the power button is stuck. Please follow the steps given below in order to resolve this
issue.

First, please try to wiggle the power button so that it moves freely. Please try again to power off the Palm handheld.
If the issue persists, I request you perform a Soft Reset on the Palm handheld. A Soft Reset tells the Palm handheld to stop what it is doing and start over again. Please follow the steps below to back up your User information, and perform a reset on the Palm handheld computer:

<< Soft Reset >>

NOTE: A Soft Reset should not erase your data, however, I suggest
performing a HotSync® operation first in order to back up your
information. If you are unable to perform a HotSync operation, you can back up your current Palm handheld User information on the computer by following the steps below:

*Back Up User Data*
<SNIP>

*Performing a Hard Reset*

1. Press and hold the power button.

<SNIP>

If it wouldnt cost me $25 to call to talk to a manager to complain about the techs stupidity I would do it. How can I hit a button, if the button WONT move!

[LPMiller]

I love cut and paste tech support.

[ufcrusher]

The only good thing is I was able to Hotsync it before their help froze it up completely! On top of that, we have the box and they used to sell this model at Costco...so we can probably get something for it. Not what we paid, but its better than eating it altogether.

I am sure that if I pay the $25, they are going to say send it in and we will take it apart and replace the button. I will send it in and then they will say they cant replace it. Net loss, the palm pilot and $25.

Who ever came up with the idea of having to pay for tech support on products you own should be shot. I should be able to call a 1-800 number and at least talk to a manager.

[cheapie]

Originally posted by ufcrusher
If the issue persists, I request you perform a Soft Reset on the Palm handheld.

sounds like offshore tech support. :rolleyes:

[ufcrusher]

I am sure that it is...the name sounded like a particular nationality. I actually fired off a not so nice email to them a bit ago. Palm screwed the pooch here with their tech support here...by their careless instructions they destoyed the palm pilot and if need be I can probably force them to pay me the value of the palm pilot. Of course, it will be the value of a palm pilot with a stuck button, but still. :shrug: