I lost count…

“That is our policy” – is is a frequently used sentence in the USA, I am sure. It think they see it as a magic word: policy. To my opinion it is an ANTI-magic word.

This is part-I don’t know in the Palm Treo 680 from the USA saga. For earlier parts look below!

After having trouble to become Europe’s first COPPER Palm Treo 680 owners, my best friend Servaas and I were prepared to bug his bil (brother in law) to help us out.

We did ask him to order two COPPER Palm Treo 680 at the Palm Treo store with an American creditcard.

We are still empty handed. The TWO orders we had were dumped by Treo Store and we still don’ know why.
We did order two times because we both wanted to get the Palm Music Pack (for BOTH phones) for free with our order.
After a call we got the answer that there were no copper ones anymore and thats why our order was just skipped.
After that still lots and lots of copper treo’s have been shipped… Huh?!?!

Still empty hands, okay, a grey phone on its way from the States.

[27-01-2007]
End of the story is that we both have an American, but graphite Palm Treo 680. Taken from the States by my buddies bil.
We were still waiting for copper Treo’s to buy if available in Europe. No one could tell us when the first ones would be there.
But last week we did hear that Palm is stopping the production of the copper 680…

I could buy one at ebay, but I am really so sick of it!!!

[and I don't even talk about the (severe!) battery and other problems]

Before:
Part 1 – Palm discrimination
Part 2 – No European Palm Treo 680 order in US
Part 3 – Palm Treo 680 plans

The Swiss are said to be neutral in the Second World War… I mean they didn’t care were the money did come from… I am sure this is true…

I am afraid I started just a bit off topic…
The Swiss are banning all navigation devices with so called POI’s, Points of Interest on it. Yes, serious!
Not all POI’s, but only the ones that contain information on speed controls, speed limits and everything related it seems.
This is fine with me, because I think it is a-social behaviour to drive (too) fast and then hit the brakes to get to the right speed. It is the way they do this….

But the police and maybe others can search actively to PND, Personal Navigation Devices to see whether someone has one in possession.
I can see the border patrol with their German Shepherd Dogs (no Berner Sennenhund or Saint Bernard! – the first are helt on farms and the second are used for rescue in the mountains….), and search cars for illegal PNDs!

The official information on this (in German / Italian / French) from ASTRA, “the bureau of roads”, with an (German only explanation here.

Happy driving in Switzerland!!!

[I forgot to say that pda's (like my Palm Treo 680) with navigation software can be confiscated and destoyed too!!]

It is not going to be like that…

Around Christmas I will receive a graphite (read: GREY) Palm Treo 680 from the USA, while I could have had one from November 22nd in The Netherlands.

I will tell you later how this could be possible…

I tell you, between you and me: it is that I don’t like pyromanics!!!

I am am still very very serious and it really makes me very very furious!! I will never get used to it!

The facts and differences till now are:

- NO Mobile Music Pack (Palm 1GB Memory Card, Palm Hybrid Headset Treo headset doubles as stereo headphones for your MP3 files, Palm Treo 680 Music CD includes Pocket Tunes™ Deluxe – worth $135 for FREE);
- NO copper, arctic and crimson Palm Treo 680 available in Europe (yet?);
- NOT deliver a package to a US address paid by a European creditcard (!). Yes, I tried, and got following e-mail from Palm:

Dear X X:

We regret to inform you that we are unable to complete your order.
We sincerely apologize for this inconvenience.

Your satisfaction is very important to us. If you have any questions about your order, call Customer Service at 1-800-881-7256. We will be more than happy to assist you.

We appreciate your business and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused if this action was taken in error.

Best regards,

Customer Service

Palm, Inc.

- buy a Treo 680 and get a $125 trade-in offer (okay, if you would want that…).

I am a long time Palm user and love the Palm OS (operating system), but this really p.sses me off!!!
I am not sure but may be thinking about legal actions. I have no idea whether it is legal to refuse to proces an order payed with a valid European creditcard.
I have used this card in lots of countries without any problem and now I wouldn’t be able to buy the Treo that I want?!

I am not sure about that second sentence: “Your satisfaction is very important to us“.

We will see….

[edit 23:15 CET: just ended a call with customer support (cs) of the Palm Treo shop. cs: Did you order with an American creditcard? me: "No, I did not". cs: But you can only order with an American credit card! ". me:Can you explain me why this is? cs:well, this is our policy. me: I can use this international creditcard anywhere. cs: It is still our policy. End of call.
I almost forgot to tell you, but I called my bank yesterday and they called it discrimination, without me even using that term!]
[edit 2 - 09.20 CET: After that I decided to send an e-mail to Palm. First you must be a genious to find a form to contact and after sending the content of this blog, I got this answer:

Dear Valued Customer,

Items in the Palm Store USA Catalog are priced in US Dollars and are for delivery within the USA only. Canadian customers can visit our online store at http://canadastore.palm.com or call 1-877-226-2320 to place an order. All customers located outside North America should visit www.PalmDirect.com for online shopping.

If this automated e-mail does not answer your question(s), please contact our Customer Service department using our toll free number, 800-881-7256. Our Customer Service is open 24 hours a day seven days a week to better serve you.

Please note: This is an automated response to your e-mail. You will not receive another response. Do not respond to this e-mail.

Best regards,

Customer Support at www.store.palm.com
Palm, Inc

Oh boy, do I feel valued!!

[Anyone who has the e-mailaddress of the CEO or someone from the management team?!]

It is the third time my old man is in the hospital this year. And again his body warned just in time to give him a big chance to survive. He will have a single bypass coming week.

I really want to write on our relaunched Green Crab, but can’t keep my thoughts to it. I hate the idea, because we have big plans with the new Crab.

I’ll Be Back!!! [while never been gone...]

:-)

The Crab will relaunch today @ 18:00 CET

Why? We want to be GREEN!!! Nothing more, nothing less!

Tell the world ! The Crab is now about environmental issues, health and such, more than we already did.
Let us tell you how to go green in your life. And you tell us! Please?!

Not for programming reasons, but for the fact that the American commercial network NBC is paying two billion (read: 2.000.000.000) dollar to have the finals (and parts of the Winter Olympics of 2006) in the US living rooms on prime time!!
Swimming finales are preferably in the early evening because of physiological point of view. This seems to be the case with all international finals.

I am not interested in watching sport, but in this case the soul of the Olympics is sold for a huge amount of MONEY.

One of these people in The Netherlands is a man called Thom de Graaf. He will be appointed (!) mayor of the city of Nijmegen in the east of The Netherlands.

The guy was D’66 Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Government Reform and Kingdom Relations and resigned in 2005 because he was against appointed mayors and wanted mayors to be elected.

He will start his new job on January 8th, 2007

Thom, You Suck BIG TIME!

Surinam is told to be still one of the most beautiful countries in South America. I want to see the spots where my grandfather could have walked.

I really want to go there….

Looking for your Surinam roots too? Go here: Stichting voor Surinaamse Genealogie – Dutch only

[If you are here for Liza, go here! ;-) ]

Years and years ago I did write and did send faxes to makers and distributors of software (Adobe (PageMaker), Norton, Borland (Paradox and Quattro), etc) why I had to pay a (sometimes much) higher price in Europe than in the US. And no, I am not talking translated software! Just the original UK English of US English versions!

Now it is said that we have a global market and that about everything is available about everywhere. Yeah, right!

I am still not able to get a Sony Mylo in Europe and now for the first few months we will not have the coloured Palm Treo 680 in Europe. This is what Palm says on their website: “Arctic, Copper, and Crimson available in the Palm US web store, Palm US retail stores and Palm Canada web store only.”

We still have to get a life with the graphite Treo 680…

I like that colour too, but I want to have a choice on my own!!! I don’t like to be dictated.

[Latest (December 4th, 2006) on this: HERE!]

[I am so sorry, Liza. Had to let you go. ;-) ]

This time one of his guests was the Dutch violinist Liza Ferschtman, a gorgeous 27-years old woman/girl that plays magnificent and is one of worlds biggest talents.

I do love classical music, but don’t listen to it too often. But it is very nice to see a beautiful woman to play her violin that passionate. I almost would wish to be a (her) violin. She touched my string…

And she has a nice sense of humour… That’s always nice! :-)

To be honest, I did see her before. Check the linx!

Liza Ferschtman will receive the Nederlandse Muziekprijs 2006, the Dutch Music Award, ‘the most prestigious award for a professional musician who is considered to be able to realise an international solo career‘.

Dutch Wikipedia did put her on the list of famous violinists, between Yehudi Menuhin and Itzhak Perlman, to name a two.
I have the laymans look that she has to grow for that, but Go Girl!!

LINX [all dutch only, but with her (streaming!) music:

De Wereld draait door at about 32 minutes
Vrije Geluiden (at about 3,5 minutes)
JoJo (love this one the best)
and her schedule

For mobile readers: You will be the first to see it!
For WP bloggers: A big Dhanyavaad for Imthiaz for making this absolutely great plugin and for sharing it with us!

A library member asked me to put aside a book from the central library. When I received it I was very much surprised by its state.
A library is not an archive (!), so most of the time you will find recent documents (read: mostly books, of course) in your hands.
This book was from 1918, so ‘almost’ 100 years old. I have seen books from that period before.

The great thing about this book were the stamps that were in it and the labels with instructions and remarks.
The books had been lend out 5 times in 1919, 7 times in 1920, 11 times in 1921, 7 times in 1922, 11 times in 23, 11 times in 24, 10 times in 25, 15 times in 1926, 10 times in 1927 and 5 times in 1928.

Remarkable is that the book had been lend out in the Second World War in The Netherlands, including the most difficult time of the war, the end of 1944, the Hungerwinter.

You see, even a library book itself can tell history….