It looks like the Palm Profile has been having issues with corrupted backups, leaving users trying to restore from a backup without their data. It’s not everyone who’s had this problem, just more people than can be called a fluke.

Here’s Palm’s statement on the matter:

We are seeing a small number of customers who have experienced issues transferring their Palm Profile information to another Palm webOS device. Palm and Sprint are working closely together to support these customers to successfully transfer their information to the new device.

Good to know, clumsy Pre owners. [PreCentral]

[Digg via Consumerist]

The call sounded painful from across the house. The first 10 minutes, it was clear she was talking to a robot. Then it was clear she was either talking to someone very stupid or someone very unfamiliar with English as she kept repeating, “No, I just want to know if I can swap out my 6-cell battery for a 3-cell battery.” She must have said it 50 times over 90 minutes. Someone even admitted to trying to make a commission off of her by selling her a new battery. That battery would have cost half of the price of a brand new netbook. In the end, customer service didn’t do anything to help her. It’s been years since I’ve needed customer service, so maybe every PC company is this bad now, but I hope not.

If you have any horror/pleasantly surprising stories of your own, please let me know in the comments. [BoingBoing, image from preemo at deviant art]

Apparently, 24 per cent of all females calling in had read the manual before picking up the phone. Good on you, ladies. Apparently you’re far less lazy than us when it comes to reading.

We guys are worse at figuring out the easy stuff, too. Twelve per cent of male callers needed to do something stupid to fix the problem, like plugging the item in or turning it on, versus 7 per cent of female callers.

We’re also much less pleasant to talk to. Even through the average female customer spends 33 per cent more time on the phone than the average male, 66 per cent of the helpline staff said they preferred talking to female callers.

Of course, I know that all of you male readers fall into the category of never reading the manual and never having needed to. But still, we could be doing better. [BBC]

While CrunchGear was able to get Rebel EFI working, it is important to point out that we tried several times to get the software up and running with no success on the exact same computer. Then we got this email from a frustrated reader:

Two weeks ago, I purchased Psystar’s RebelEFI software. While I own several Macs, I also have a fairly new PC with a Core 2 Duo and Intel motherboard that I thought would be a perfect specimen.

Before I purchased the software, I downloaded the trial version of RebelEFI. Sure enough, I was able to boot and install OS X 10.6. I installed the RebelEFI utility in OS X and because it was a trial, the hardware compatibility feature was disabled. (Why this feature would be disabled in a trial version?) I called Psystar with several questions and asked what would happen if some of my hardware was not compatible? The sales person told me that they would be able to access the software’s hardware compatibility list and be able to supply me with drivers for the incompatible hardware.

I purchased the software and ran the hardware compatibility test. It showed me lack of compatibility for my video, audio and USB 2.0, however there was no way to send them the results of this test. When I questioned this, I sent Psystar a tech support ticket through the software’s Customer Support feature. I was told in a reply that I would have to fill out a DCR form. I asked what a DCR form is and where I could find it. (They assumed I would automatically know this information).

After not hearing anything for a week, I tried calling Customer Support and was greeted with a message that support is only handled via email. I again asked the same question via email and 3 days later I received a PDF file in response. It basically says I have to send Psystar my computer for them to make it completely compatible. WHAT???? At no point during the purchase was I told I may have to send them my computer. I am now in the process of trying to get my money back.

Mac OS X on any computer? FAIL

Send your computer to a shady hackintosh company that refuses to accept any responsibility for devices shipped to their lab? Yeah…I don’t think so. But here’s the proof (click to enlarge):

As the days have worn on, Psystar’s response to this customer’s issue has deteriorated to the point that they are no longer responding to his attempts to email for a refund. In fact, they’ve stopped taking customer-support calls entirely and have switched to a far less personal email-based help program.

In other words, a $US50 solution to run OS X on a PC sounded too good to be true, and it looks like it is. So, I’m inclined to go with a flat out DO NOT BUY on this one. However, let me put the question to you — have you purchased this software? Did you experience a similar problem? [Thanks Brian!]

Last week I called Dell Technical Support about my Dell Studio 1537 Laptop and a DVD drive which was making loud noises and ejecting all cds. I had the basic “mail-in” warranty which required I ship them the laptop back. After my phone conversation with overseas tech support I received an empty box with a prepaid packing slip to mail the laptop back. A couple days ago I received both an automated email and phone call that my laptop was coming back to me. This morning, Fedex delivered a refurbished hard drive – yes just a hard drive.

I began my calling spree this morning and spoke to 7, yes 7, different Dell reps who transferred me between technical support, customer service, and back to technical support. After about 90 minutes of phone calls, hold music, and redialing I’m stuck with a 250gb hard drive but no laptop. Who do I call for help?

Oh, so he expected the whole computer to come back to him. I see. Perhaps this is some sort of new “you’ll get a hard drive and like it” approach to customer support Dell is trying out. I don’t see it working. Incidentally, Consumerist suggests sending emails to michael@dell.com in situations like this. Apparently, the messages are routed to an executive relations team that has been helpful in the past. [Consumerist Image via 60 in 3]

An exasperated tipster who just spent some quality time across the phone from an equally exasperated T-Mobile rep told us what he was offered:

• I’m released from the contract if I want (Yeesh, of course I better be. I can’t believe I had to ask).
• I can get a G1 for $US129 (not sure if that’s the normal contract renewal pricing or not; doesn’t sound like a great deal to me).
• They also suggested Blackberries etc, but I didn’t get the pricing (since those are design disasters compared to SK or iPhone).

So to break it down, your options are to accept about $US20 off a G1, which you, an avid Sidekick user, probably didn’t want anyway, move onto a BlackBerry, or to leave. Sidekick users are a dedicated bunch—there’s a good chance they came to T-Mobile just to use a particular handset—so I wouldn’t be surprised if people take them up on the offer.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see some kind of official announcement from T-Mobile regarding how they plan on dealing with their no doubt angry mass of Sidekick subscribers, but it’ll be interesting to see how this shakes out: Remember, even though these people all bought their phones and service from T-Mo, the actual data loss is Danger’s (read: Microsoft’s) fault. It’s already clear that T-Mobile’ is going to bear the brunt of the angry mob, but aside from getting very sternly talked to by nervous carriers, is Microsoft going to get out of this scot-free? —Thanks, guy!

The Benjamin-a-year plan entitles the user to a service rep to come out next-day, no matter where on the planet you are — provided it’s somewhere reasonable, we’d assume. The tech guy came by his office and fixed exactly what was wrong, basically doing an in-house call that Apple stores, even with their notoriously decent service, couldn’t match. I mean, in-house? And they even ignored the fact that he put Linux on there instead of his original Vista?

He does some caveats on his experience with IBM/Lenovo as a whole, and you can check that out over at BB. [BoingBoing]

The settlement stemmed from complaints about Dell’s service plans that promised “at home” or “on site” service, but actually left callers on hold while other callers were pressured to remove components themselves, and from complaints that Dell’s financing arm “lured consumers to purchase its products” with no interest financing but switched buyers to high-interest financing without informing customers.

Cuomo said that New Yorkers who have bought Dell computers since 2004 may be eligible and that compensation could cover from the cost of a service plan, to cost of interest payments made to Dell, to cost of work done on computers that Dell was supposed to service.

I know what your thinking—Dell? No way! I hate to break it to you, but Dell doesn’t exactly have a stellar record when it comes to customer service. But there is hope for people that believe they might be eligible for compensation. New Yorkers with claims can go to nyagdell.com. [Syracuse.com - Thanks Ponies!]

It’s not especially strange for a company to renege on an unannounced offer or a minor typo, but that’s not quite what this was. It was an offer couched in specific written language, and that had full, publicly-available information pages. In other words, it had been fully devised—this wasn’t a data input mistake.

That said, the fact that it only applied to new subscribers would’ve caused a PR problem for Sprint, who would be effectively penalising their most loyal (read: preexisting) customers with the offer. And the two listed end dates did seem to indicate that maybe it wasn’t fully baked, or ready for prime time. Since the deal was listed on their website, Sprint says they’ll honour the service rebate to anyone who signed up for a contract in the last few hours, but after that, it’s closed. [AllThingsD]