I recieved my OfficeMax gift card yesterday in the mail. It was accompanied by a cheesy little letter telling me how sorry they were that my PDA broke, and praising me for my foresight in purchasing a replacement plan, and expressing their hope that I would buy a replacement plan again for my new PDA. Heh. So, last night I went to OfficeMax and purchased a new Palm Tungsten E2.

It’s going to work out OK. I had to put an extra $50 out of pocket, but it has a $50 rebate coming back from Palm, and it came with a nifty leather cover as a bonus. The one thing I’m a bit disappointed about is that they changed the sync cable interface… the old Tunsten E had a mini-USB connector, which was great since I already had a couple of those cables. My guess is that Palm realized they weren’t making enough money on extra cables and such, so they went back to some proprietary connector. Arrrgh. Now I need to decide what to get so I can sync it at home, too… I’m thinking maybe a cradle for here at work…

So now I’ll have to find other subjects to keep up my consistent blogging. Maybe it’ll be good for me to prove that I can consistently write even when it’s not about something that’s making me mad.

Still counting. Maybe I’ll get my gift card before the holiday weekend… but that may be too much to hope for.

I sent an inquiry last week via the OfficeMax website, requesting some contact information. I wrote:

Could you please send me the name of the store manager for the Cedar
Rapids, IA Collins Road store, and also the name and mailing address of
the district manager who has oversight over that store? I would like to
contact them regarding my recent store experience. Thanks!

This morning I finally recieved a response, but it was not very helpful…

Thank you for your interest in OfficeMax.com. I don’t have the name of
the store manager. The district manager is [name deleted]. I have forwarded
your email to his email address. I do apologize for the inconvenience
this may have caused. If there was anything else we can help you with
please feel free to contact us. Once again thank you for you interest in
OfficeMax.com.

Sincerely,

Unique

Customer Service Representative

First of all, “Unique”?!? I hope that’s not somebody’s real name… secondly, they totally ignored my request for a mailing address. Maybe he’ll respond via e-mail, but I doubt it. Grrrrr……

In other bad news, I heard back from Countryman about the broken E6 microphone. They seem to think that the breakage was my fault, i.e. not under warranty. They want to charge us $200+ bucks to fix it. Again, not happy. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that maybe they’ll see the light after I send them another e-mail or two. I mean, what good is a microphone if it breaks after the second or third minor adjustment?

Take heart, though, my entire life isn’t this frustrating… I guess those parts are just the easy ones to blog about.

Today I missed my first event due to not having a PDA to beep at me… I was supposed to meet a friend for breakfast at 6:30 and I totally spaced it. Sitting at work about 8:15 it finally dawned on me that I was supposed to meet him… Arrrgh.

Still nothin’.

On another warranty replacement topic, I remembered this morning that the Countryman E6 microphone that broke on me has been in for warranty repair for nearly two months now, with no response from Countryman. Guess I’d better get back on their case about it.

Date I started the process: August 6.
Days since I called to start the process: 22.
Days since I sent the dead PDA in: 11.

Assuming a 4-day USPS trip from Cedar Rapids to Dallas.

Projected days until they send the gift card: 3 to 8.

Assuming a 3-day USPS trip for the gift card.

Projected days until I get the gift card: 6 to 11.

Projected total cycle time: 28 to 33 days. (For an “immediate” replacement!)

Projected date I get the new PDA: Sept 6 – 10.

Almost three weeks now and still nothin’. Geof suggests I should skip the Tungsten and go for a Treo. I suppose that’s an option, although if the Treo ever breaks then that means not only have I lost my PDA but I’ve lost my cellphone, too…

The other thing that irks me about Palm (not OfficeMax) is that none of the PDAs come with cradles any more. They all have a mini-USB port for syncing and a separate power cord. Dang it, I like the cradle. It gives me a place to keep my PDA charged and visible while I’m at my desk. They sell one, but it’s an extra $40. They used to include it with the PDA. Arrrgh.

As an addition: I just found this fun clause in the OfficeMax MaxAssurance fine print:

Meaningful service will be initiated within 48 hours of Your request and will be completed as soon as reasonably possible. If no meaningful service is initiated within such time limits and You have reasonably been available within such time limits, You may engage Your own servicer at Our expense.

Such great nebulous terms. “meaningful service”. What if I don’t think it’s meaningful? “As soon as reasonably possible.” I’ve got to think that three weeks (and counting) is waaaaaay longer than “reasonably possible.” I think it’s time to write a nasty letter to the store and regional managers…

Nothing to report again today. Still waiting.

Nothing to report. I have meetings all morning this morning and would love to have the PDA for note-taking and boredom-reduction. Oh well…

On the other hand, I did get a new car stereo last night which is getting installed on Friday. And tomorrow they should be turning on the DSL at the house… woohoo for broadband internet! Now if I could only get my home network functioning…

Yes, it’s been over two weeks now since I first took my dead PDA in to get it replaced. If their estimates hold up, sometime around Labor Day I should be receiving my gift card so I can purchase a replacement.

Arrrrrrrgh.

No events to report today.

It is starting to drive me crazy not having my PDA. I didn’t realize how much I rely on it for calendar and note-taking (not to mention game-playing) until I’ve been without it for the better part of two weeks. If I had any other big purchases planned, I’d just go buy one from somewhere today and then use the OfficeMax gift card later for that purchase… but I don’t know what it might be.