Available in Dull (Wake up, Handspring!)
Tuesday, March 12th, 2002 08:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tamaranthBad Handspring. Naughty Handspring (makers of the Handspring Visor - Palm-except-prettier-and-cooler - which has transformed my life by allowing me to download web stuff and documents daily, and read & write all sorts of weird stuff wherever I am) ... Handspring have been advertising their latest model, the Neo, on their site. (How come everything's going rechargeable? I want to be able to fill up with batteries when I run out of power away from home!)
Anyway, the Neo comes in three colours: smoke, red and blue.
Except that the only colour available in the UK seems to be 'smoke'. (Read: dull grey).
After fifteen minutes bandying semantics with their enquiry line (see below), the situation seems to be:
"You can't buy a red Neo in the UK, because we don't sell them in the UK."
Well, yes. I'm sure there's a really good reason for this. Maybe we Brits are just so sophisticated. Or something.
But wait! This is the 21st century! Help is at hand!
"Hi, I saw the Visor Neo on your website and I've set my heart on a red one. Can you tell me which UK stockists have the red one?"
"The Neo doesn't come in red."
"Oh yes it does."
"Oh no it doesn't."
[repeat a suitable number of times]
"Well, the amazon.com page has it in red."
"That's an American site."
"So it does come in red!"
"Um ... no."
"Well, it says it does on the website."
"Where?"
[talks through each step of the URL, often twice. Right up to the final step he - did you guess it was male? - is trying to convince me that the picture is of (a) a different product (b) an artistic effect (c) nothing, and I am hallucinating.]
"Ah. Yes. Well, it's not available in the UK."
"But it does come in red?"
"Yes, madam, it comes in red." (Can I hear his eyeballs rolling?)
"But I can't buy it in red?"
"Not in the UK, no."
"And why is that, do you know?"
"No, I haven't been told."
"But I can buy one in America and it'll work here?" (Just checking. It's not country-specific.)
"Yes, yes, you could do that."
"Thank you. You've been completely useless. Goodbye."
A very wonderful pair of friends have conspired with me against the might of Handspring, and soon, soon, my shiny red Neo will be winging its way from Amazon.com ("Sorry, we are unable to deliver this item outside the USA") to .. well, to Agent A in New England.
And thence to Florida, where Agent A and his wife, Agent B, will both be attending some skiffy event.
And thence to Bethnal Green (en Angleterre) in luggage of Agent B.
And thence to me, me, me.
Mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha. Foiled again, Handspring.
Anyway, the Neo comes in three colours: smoke, red and blue.
Except that the only colour available in the UK seems to be 'smoke'. (Read: dull grey).
After fifteen minutes bandying semantics with their enquiry line (see below), the situation seems to be:
"You can't buy a red Neo in the UK, because we don't sell them in the UK."
Well, yes. I'm sure there's a really good reason for this. Maybe we Brits are just so sophisticated. Or something.
But wait! This is the 21st century! Help is at hand!
"Hi, I saw the Visor Neo on your website and I've set my heart on a red one. Can you tell me which UK stockists have the red one?"
"The Neo doesn't come in red."
"Oh yes it does."
"Oh no it doesn't."
[repeat a suitable number of times]
"Well, the amazon.com page has it in red."
"That's an American site."
"So it does come in red!"
"Um ... no."
"Well, it says it does on the website."
"Where?"
[talks through each step of the URL, often twice. Right up to the final step he - did you guess it was male? - is trying to convince me that the picture is of (a) a different product (b) an artistic effect (c) nothing, and I am hallucinating.]
"Ah. Yes. Well, it's not available in the UK."
"But it does come in red?"
"Yes, madam, it comes in red." (Can I hear his eyeballs rolling?)
"But I can't buy it in red?"
"Not in the UK, no."
"And why is that, do you know?"
"No, I haven't been told."
"But I can buy one in America and it'll work here?" (Just checking. It's not country-specific.)
"Yes, yes, you could do that."
"Thank you. You've been completely useless. Goodbye."
A very wonderful pair of friends have conspired with me against the might of Handspring, and soon, soon, my shiny red Neo will be winging its way from Amazon.com ("Sorry, we are unable to deliver this item outside the USA") to .. well, to Agent A in New England.
And thence to Florida, where Agent A and his wife, Agent B, will both be attending some skiffy event.
And thence to Bethnal Green (en Angleterre) in luggage of Agent B.
And thence to me, me, me.
Mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha. Foiled again, Handspring.
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Esteemed academics don't 'smuggle'!
Date: Tuesday, March 12th, 2002 01:54 pm (UTC). Bwa ha ha ha.
*when are you going to finish getting it set up? If you go to PayPal and log in they'll give you your code