Unfortunately, not all of the calls we get from our customers are so easily resolved. We know that since our products go everywhere with our customers, that sometimes things happen -- they get dropped, driven on, left behind, and lost. Other times, there are installation problems -- confusion about hooking up the cradle or downloading third-party software. Less frequently, a product simply does not work the way it should. That's why we have our customer care and technical support programs in place -- to help you get maximum use and enjoyment out of your Palm product.

Palm now has more than four million customers worldwide, and we are very aware of the role that word of mouth has played in our quick growth. More than 90% of our customers tell us in our surveys that they would recommend Palm products to a friend -- and that is after they've had a reason to call customer care or tech support.

We consider that high percentage of customer referrals to be a critically important asset. In our role as service and support providers, we have a long-term view of our relationship with our customers, and our goal is to keep you a happy customer.

Tools and training
Our support teams go through extensive product support and customer service training to ensure that they have the skills and knowledge to find answers or solutions to our customers' questions. We provide them with tools and resources, such as troubleshooting guides and resolution guidelines -- in addition to some standard policies -- so that they have the flexibility to work with our customers to come up with a solution that meets almost every person's special needs.

After classroom training, phone representatives have a week or two of directly supervised calls, until we believe they are prepared to handle customer calls on their own.

We have a thorough process of new product training, and ongoing updates as new information on products is available. We also ask for feedback from our phone representatives, and we even conduct focus groups with them on how to make our ongoing training and customer support more effective. Also, we have created a number of service programs to address customer needs.

Palm's service offerings
One of Palm's service programs is the "Advance Exchange" program. The goal is to maximize your up-time with your Palm device. If a problem occurs with your organizer, we ship you a Palm-certified reconditioned replacement unit, before you send us your problematic one. We even pay all of the shipping both ways for domestic products. In the box with the replacement, we include a pre-paid shipping airbill for you to send your broken or failed unit to us. Just in case you need it, the replacement product is covered under warranty for three months, or through the end of your original warranty, whichever is longer.

Each reconditioned product is thoroughly tested and carefully checked for aesthetics and functionality.

The replacement product costs you nothing if your unit breaks while under warranty, and only $100 (including shipping) if your unit breaks or fails after the one-year warranty period has expired, or if the problem is not covered under warranty. The Advance Exchange program is very popular, as it usually gets a unit into your hands in one or two business days! You then just use the HotSync software to synchronize with the data already on your computer, and you're ready to go.