May 22, 2001
Technology marches on, taking my money with it
by indavis <isaac@dontforgetthemilk.com>
Well, here is a typical situation for you. I bought my Palm VII and paid $450. A couple of months later, out comes the VIIx so I hand my wife the VII, and march out to get a VIIx, and pay $450. The price of the VII drops at the same time. I tune into some news site the other day and see the announcement that Palm is now selling the VIIx for $199 with a $99 rebate. For pete's sake, I just bought mine a few months ago. They can afford to let them walk out the door for over 1/2 of what I paid. Boy, was I getting bent over the counter. That's the first Pfft! We have a triple header today folks. Palm is pulling a sweep at the old Pfft! awards.
For their second award, I have a friend who ordered a new Palm VIIx and now informs me that to get this magical $100 rebate he has to sign up for the $24/month plan for 1 year. Nowhere in the ad or news flash did it mention that. You were told that you had to sign up for the $24 plan, but it did not mention a years worth of service. I know, because I read the thing more than once. So there's there second Pfft! of the night.
Now, on to the next category. Hey Palm, how about rewarding some of your loyal customers, you know, people like me who have multiple Palms including more than one VII on the unlimited plan for most of the last year. Highly unlikely that us loyal customers will get anything except for a bill. You would think that companies that have obviously been robbing us blind would have the decency to cut us a break now and then, or at least not be so obvious about it. But that is how they got to be a big company, and by offering deals to entice new customers, they will only get bigger. One word of caution to all you new Palm VIIx users. Expect nothing in the future. It will soon be your turn to sit back and watch even newer people be given the sweet deal. Enjoy it while it lasts, because at this rate, it will not be long. Isaac Davis
Published: May 22, 2001
Editor: stacy