Peggy, you're right. I feel like they just wanted our money when they offered the transplants to those of us who have existing units. I understand that technology is constantly changing and they cannot get some of the parts now. But, there should be a more practical way for customers to upgrade their units. I have concluded that Humanware is slowly letting the blindness products decline because their long term strategic plan is focusing more on the low vision segment of the market place and they will take the chance on loosing customers from their blindness products in exchange for increasing their market in the low vision line of products. It kind of reminds me of the grench who stole Christmas!
-- Earlene -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: [Braillenote] What is happening to Humanware? From: "Peggy Kern" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Wed, December 05, 2007 9:26 pm To: "Braillenote" <[email protected]> This is unbelievable! When they did the transplant thing, they talked about what a wonderful deal it was for BrailleNote classic users to be able to get the benefits of the mPower without having to fork over all kinds of money! Now they're not offering a service contract for it? What's up with that, and why didn't they tell us? I've always loved my BrailleNote and been impressed with Humanware. But if this is true, and if I don't hear an explanation of why this change and why no explanation, I may very well have to look at different options. Peggy <whose service contract ends in February> http://kernsac.livejournal.com/ ----- Original Message ----- From: "Earlene Hughes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2007 5:22 PM Subject: [Braillenote] What is happening to Humanware? > Hello all, > I don't often have time to post to this list, and, perhaps this subject > has already been visited here. If so, please accept my appology. > > I want to share with you, what I found out from a Humanware Customer > Service representative, just in case others do not know about a recent > policy change which applies to BrailleNote Empower units that were > transplanted with the older braille cells. > > > Today is the day when my service contract should be renewed for another > year. I called Humanware and was connected to Customer Service. I > confirmed my name, unit's serial number, and address with the > Representative. Then, to my surprise, she said that she had to put me on > hold for a minute. I couldn't imagine why, -- I knew my credit card would > be good, and I had not even given it to her yet! So, I waited patiently > for about 5 minutes until she returned. What she told me caught me > completely by surprise. She told me that I cannot renew my service > contract for the BrailleNote Empower that I have because under the > recently changed policy, Humanware is no longer making service contracts > available to those customers who have the older braille cells. Then, she > proceeded to tell me that I can get a credit of $2,200 if I want to > purchase a new unit that has the newer braille cells. > > I responded that I had updated my brailleNote to a transplanted unit in > 2006, and have always kept my service contract up to date since my > original purchase back in 2003. > To the best of my knowledge, I have not received a letter telling me that > no service contracts for my unit would be issued in the future. > Needless to say, I am very disappointed. This certainly is not the way > good customers should be treated. > > What is happening to Humanware? Humanware owes its customers an > explanation. We have invested considerable amounts of money purchasing > and updating our hardware and software. > I have never had my credit card in hand, only to be told that I could not > complete the transaction that I was expecting to be able to make. > The 500 dollars that I would have spent renewing my service contract, will > now be spent on purchasing a new Pacmate. Will I be making another > mistake, I hope not. But in the considerable amount of time I have been > doing business with Freedom Scientific, formerly Henter Joyce, I have > never had a customer experience like I had this evening. I'm willing to > take that chance. Humanware, you just lost another customer. You can be > sure that I will not be recommending BrailleNote purchases to my clients, > or especially, to my friends. > > To those of you on this list, thank you for listening. > I have enjoyed reading the many comments that have been posted here. > > > Best Wishes to all, > -- Earlene Hughes > > > ___ > Replies to this message will go directly to the sender. > If your reply would be useful to the list, please send a > copy to the list as well. > > To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit > http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote > ___ Replies to this message will go directly to the sender. If your reply would be useful to the list, please send a copy to the list as well. To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote ___ Replies to this message will go directly to the sender. If your reply would be useful to the list, please send a copy to the list as well. To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote
