talkingDigital

The saga continues in my six month quest to acquire a Palm Pre on release day. After my very public and targeted complaints, a few of the employees mentioned in my posts, tweets and Facebook updates have apologized and requested that I remove the posts.

I will not remove them completely, because the account is accurate and getting me a lot of traffic on my site.

Here is what I have found out. The local Sprint store or perhaps Sprint corporate, announced the waiting list policy that employees could be dismissed if they put names on the waiting list who were not present in the store.

I am guessing that the people who I have been pestering at the Sprint store for the past six months had no way of contacting me to let me know that the waiting list had started or that I had to come in to get on it.

I asked if they could move me up in the waiting list (many on the list are getting more than one phone) and they explained that there are no exceptions to the policy. I will believe that on June 7 if there are no Sprint employee/SERO folks who own a Palm Pre. I am betting that is a policy that they will find a loophole in.

I will remove the names of the employees from my posts as they have explained to me that Sprint will possibly fire them if they make any exceptions for me.

Also, even after all this mess, I have no intentions of leaving Sprint and I am not afraid to show my face in the Sprint store. I realize that policy comes before service in today’s business world and I no longer blame the employees for the problems I have had.

I will still acquire a Pre at some point – perhaps August when they are slated to be available to the masses and I will stick with Sprint as my cell provider.

Perhaps I will sponsor at meetup on June 6 at noon where we can either celebrate the fact that I was able to acquire a Pre or help those who were able to acquire one to celebrate.

After providing a brief timeline of how I got to be 12th on the waiting list for the Palm Pre at the Grand Junction, CO Sprint store, I thought I would post one of my favorite threads from Facebook. You can also follow the drama on Twitter.

The user "Rachel" is my wife. That will explain her comments a little more. She is tired of hearing about the Pre as are most of my other Facebook and Twitter friends.

I am going to make this rant short, but accurate.

The week the Palm Pre was announced, I did what many gadget geeks do, I visited the Sprint Store and asked ********, a girl I have known for a while who happens to work at the local Sprint store when it was coming out and whether they were putting together a waiting list. She assured me they were not and that I would be added to the list when it was created. I got excited.

After making a post about the Pre in February on Facebook, ******** messaged me and told me that the Pre was probably not coming until March but, “ill put ne on hold for you first shipment. rumor is it will launch the last week in march [sic]”

Over the next few months and as late as last week, I visited the Sprint Store and talked to *****, *** and ****** who I know from outside of our Sprint relationship. Each time asking to please put me on a waiting list if one formed. Each assured me that it would happen.

Tonight, I stopped in the Sprint store and when I asked, “What’s new?” I was treated like I was trying to make small talk. “With the Pre, I mean… Is it first come, first serve or invite only?” (****** told me last week it might be invite only and that I would be put on the list)

“We have a waiting list. Do you want to be added to it?” ***** asked. I asked if he was kidding. He assured me he wasn’t.

“How many people are on the list?”

Keep in mind that I have been told that our store may only get six or seven Pres – probably a made up number, but at least it’s a number.

“You’re number 12,” said *****.

I am guessing that the other 11 people must have been put on the list before the Palm Pre was announced.

Over the past six months I have been teased by all my “friends” on Twitter and Facebook about been a Pre fanatic. I have defended Sprint and Palm each on this very blog in addition to numerous threads on Palm and Pre website threads.

I have become the Pre promoter for Western Colorado. Several news sites, blogs and podcasts have asked me to provide my first impressions and reviews of the Pre on release day.

I will be providing those reviews, interviews and guest interviews whether I have the Pre or not. The question is, will I be talking about the Pre, or will I be talking about my experiences of trying to acquire a Pre?

Keep your eyes on PreCentral.net, HelpMeRick.com, DogHouseSystems.com and, of course, talkingDigital.org as well as my Facebook and Twitter feeds to find out.