Toshiba Pocket PC Support [Archive] - Thoughts Media Forums

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Jason Dunn

07-22-2002, 08:51 PM

I called Toshiba support for the first time today, and I was reasonably impressed with them. It wasn't love at first site, however, because they have a few serious glitches with their support system. First off, when you go to their web site and dial the 1-800 tech support number, there is no option for Pocket PCs. Laptops, desktops, no mobile devices of any kind. Good example there of ignoring your own products. I spoke to the operator, waited for a few minutes while she looked up the number, then called it (800-949-7993). Six minutes on hold isn't too bad (that's why we have speaker phones), and the technician I spoke with was very nice, but I was a little surprised at what he told me. I told him about the power button not always turning the unit off, and the flickering at the bottom of my screen. He said they had not heard of either issue, which I find odd. And like most technicians, the second thing they recommend (after a soft reset) is a hard reset. <br /><br />Not wanting to prolong this any further, I did a hard reset and the problems were still there. He said I should send it in, and explained that they'd send me a Fedex box and I would ship it back to them. No cross shipping option, which I always find a little frustrating because it means Joe Consumer will be without his Pocket PC for a few days. Everything was going smoothly until I gave him my address and he realized I was calling from Canada - then everything fell apart. They apparently can't ship Fedex boxes to Canada, so he took my phone number and said he would call me back - he had no clue how to offer warranty service to a Canadian who has a Toshiba product. Not exactly great planning! Hopefully he'll have a solution when he calls me back - it's not like FedEx doesn't ship to Canada!<br /><br />What have your experiences with Toshiba tech support been like? Good, bad, ugly?

JonnoB

07-22-2002, 08:55 PM

It seems like I remember that Canada has it's own Toshiba support organization and even it's own website. I remember that because with my old Tecra (notebook) I could always find patches on the Toshiba Canada site weeks before they appears on the US corp site. Here is the e740 page on the Toshiba Canada website:
http://www.toshiba.ca/web/product.grp?lg=en&section=1&group=22&product=533 and this the Toshiba Canada support site: http://209.167.114.38/support/

Xaximus

07-22-2002, 09:17 PM

What puzzles me the most, Jason, is that you say you were "reasonably impressed" with how everything went. I'm trying to find a single thing in your story that went well at all.

- tech support doesn't list your device, or even its category
- tech agent hasn't heard of your issue
- tech agent's first recommendation is wiping everything to see if that solves the problem
- no cross-shipping available
- tech agent's brain explodes when you tell him you're calling from Canada
- tech agent has no idea how to solve that problem and has to call you back

As a former tech support agent for a very big name computer company, I have first-hand experience with how poorly tech support agents are trained these days. It's a disaster.

24va

07-22-2002, 09:42 PM

I received quick response from the email support, but so what, I don't like this answer!!!

Hi 24va,

We have been seeing many issues with customers using the Sandisk SD cards. There seem to be some compatibility issues with our devices and that brand of storage card. The only "certified" cards for the e310 are the Toshiba brand cards, however there are other brands that may also work.

My recommendation would be to avoid the sandisk cards, if this is not an option, you could also try reformating the card using the free storage tools utiltiy availabe from microsoft at www.pocketpc.com. Use of this or other 3rd party utilities would be unsupported by Toshiba however.

Best Regards,

Steve for Toshiba PDA Support.

-----Original Message-----
From: 24va
Sent: Jul 22, 2002 1:15:27 PM
Subject: Toshiba PDA Support Request from 24va

Customer Name: 24va
Customer Email:
PDA Model: e310
Problem Category: Other

The data backup does not work on my e310, I've seen this same issue on some forumns. Do you have a fix for this.

trying to back up to a 128k sandisk SD card.

===========================================================

dwprice

07-22-2002, 09:52 PM

I think these are a few more good reasons why "I'm a grownup not a complainer" apathy just isn't a viable option for Pocket PC's. This is particularly true as one company in Asia makes many PocketPCs and components for different companies so different PPC models don't necessarily escape the same problems. Who's the real competitor? Sony Clie with the "A" satisfaction rating in PC Mag? But there's that whole PPC/vs Palm religion problem.... oops.

jdhill

07-22-2002, 10:07 PM

We have been seeing many issues with customers using the Sandisk SD cards. There seem to be some compatibility issues with our devices and that brand of storage card. The only "certified" cards for the e310 are the Toshiba brand cards, however there are other brands that may also work.
This may be part of a larger issue with Sandisk SD cards. I have a Casio E-200. It, too, is incompatible with Sandisk SD cards. It works fine with any brand of MMC card, but is incompatible with Sandisk SD cards. I ended up returning two Sandisk SD cards and finally buying a Toshiba SD card that works fine in the E-200. Me, I'm staying away from Sandisk SD cards. :cry:

MobiliT

07-22-2002, 10:15 PM

I told him about the power button not always turning the unit off, and the flickering at the bottom of my screen.
I can confirm having problems with the power button on my e740. Haven't experienced flickering yet. Then there's that ActiveSync issue... :roll:

Yet wireless makes it all worth it. :wink:

Captain Obvious

07-22-2002, 10:34 PM

Jason, if you would've looked a little harder on Toshiba's contact page, you would've seen the number for PDA support. I had to call it about a week ago. On the contact page it says:

"For toll-free technical support for Toshiba PDA products, please call (800) 949-7993."

Jason Dunn

07-22-2002, 10:42 PM

What puzzles me the most, Jason, is that you say you were "reasonably impressed" with how everything went. I'm trying to find a single thing in your story that went well at all.

Well, the tech support guy was really nice to me. ;-) If they call me back with bad news, then this will turn into an ugly situation, but for right now I'm "on hold" with my feelings over it.

Jason Dunn

07-22-2002, 10:45 PM

Jason, if you would've looked a little harder on Toshiba's contact page, you would've seen the number for PDA support. I had to call it about a week ago.

I stand corrected. Could they have made that page any harder to read though? :roll:

farnold

07-23-2002, 01:40 AM

"Customer support is when the customer provides a good support." - sarcastic saying in Germany... seems to work outside the old world as well though :cry:

GadgetDave

07-23-2002, 04:33 AM

Haven't had to call Toshiba support on my e740 yet - only saw the power button problem once. (I have noticed that you can't hit the button quickly - have to hold it down for a second or so to shut the unit off - I kinda like that).

However, I've had 2 toshiba laptops, and on both I noticed that the earlier in the lifecycle, the worse support was. After the products had been out 6 months, it's been great. I don't say that to excuse Toshiba, just as food for thought. 8)

mormondad

07-23-2002, 04:53 AM

I'm having a problem with my Toshiba e740. When I attempt to charge it, most times the Alarm/Battery Charge light turns Yellow - not Orange - but Yellow. This indicates, according to the manual, that the ambient temperature around the device is below 41 degrees or above 104 degrees. Neither is the case. Because of this condition, the battery won't charge most times. Sometimes it will randomly charge, but might stop charging and the yellow light will come on.

Obviously the unit is defective and Toshiba Tech Support chat agreed. They will repair or exchange the unit, but they WILL NOT CROSS SHIP. That is SOoooo freakin' annoying!!! I have to go without my PDA for an undetermined amount of time while they "fix" the defect. They don't even offer an option where I let them charge my credit card until they receive the defective unit.

My wife has an iPaq that she hardly uses and will gladly lend it to me until I get my e740 back - but this does not make me happy and it will be mentioned whenever I'm recommending PDA's to potential customers. I've already steered 3 or 4 people toward buying Toshiba e310's or e740's, but in the future I'm going to give them a word of caution about tech support.

Pony99CA

07-23-2002, 01:25 PM

brool

07-24-2002, 10:57 PM

I've dealt with Toshiba technical support a couple of times in the past two weeks (screen died)...

I've never had to wait more than three minutes to talk to a human being.
They are extremely friendly.
They tend not to be very technical and as of yet have not given me information that I didn't read first on the Internet.
It's been over a week and I still haven't received my PDA back. If this is their "Rapid Exchange" program, I'd hate to see the "Slow Exchange" program. :-(

I did ask about the slow screen, and they said that their "engineers are working on it."