Palm support and a lost screw on the T3

[efk22]

Thought I would share this...

I recently noticed that one of the screws on the left slide of the slider had come loose and was now lost.

Today, I contacted Palm support to have this repaired or to have another screw sent to me. The rep said that the warranty stated that this was an out of warranty repair and it would cost me $125 to repair it even though I purchased the T3 on Oct. 1. She said that any lost parts automatically make it an out of warranty repair.

I insisted that I would not pay the $125 because I felt that the reason the screw fell out was a manufacturing defect and Palm should be responsible for the cost. She refused to accept responsibility. I then asked to speak to her manager. A few minutes later, the same rep came back on the phone and said that Palm was willing to wave the $125 fee this one time.

I'm glad that it worked out the way I wanted it to. I just wish it would not have been so difficult.

[FrankG]

My Clie N610C used to loose screws. Someone on ClieSource suggested looking for an eye glass repair kit for a supply of tiny replacement screws for about $5; the details are sketchy. I

Glad it worked out for you and thanks for the post. It's a reminder to keep an eye on those screws.

Frank

[Stefan Knochenhauer]

Guess what!

Today I noticed that the lower screw on the left slide of the slider of my 5 weeks old T3 is gone.... what kind of qulaity control is that at the Palm manufacturing facility???? I will contact Palm support here in Germany and see what they will do about it.

Cheers,

[exiii]

So you have to send in your PDA to replace a screw? And they're doing you a favor by not charging you $125?

:rolleyes:

[edeab220]

heh...your screws are loose...my T|T3 is easily suseptable (sp?) to dents :(. My T|T3 now has a dent in the back of the device for some weird unknown reason...talk about quality control :rolleyes: .

[Stefan Knochenhauer]

I am increasingly dissatisfied with the quality of the device... the color is coming off around the head phone jack and where my palm has slipped onto a rougher carpet from about 10 inches when I was packing my bag at school.

[Stefan Knochenhauer]

Ok, so here's my story... as I said I am also missing a screw on the slider of my T3... I contacted Palm Europe's technical support. All they could do is to exchange the whole unit for a refurbished one... they do not have any spare parts. However, as I did object to an exchange, they told me to contact customer service. Now customer service tells me, they don't have parts, I would have to contact Palm Europe's technical service... (I explicitly wrote them that the technical service guy "transferred" my case to customer service). I think PalmOne's behavior is just plain rude.

FrankG: did you find a repair kit that had a matching screw? I tried a watch repair shop the other day and they didn't have one that matched it.

[bryus]

I smell a business opportunity for someone who can get hold of a bag of these screws. $1 a pop? ;)

[yoopermjm]

Has anyone found any replacement screws for the T3 screws that come loose and fall out? I can't get ANY help from Palm, and it looks like I'm on my own here--

[Michael Hamm]

I too have lost screws. I just noticed they were missing, and I have only had my Tungsten T for three weeks. I think they were there before. In any case, perhaps a camera repair shop might have the screws. I will keep looking at this forum to see if anyone has found them.

[Palmloyal.com]

Whatever happened with this topic? I have two screws missing from my T3 now. Has anyone found suitable replacements or a PalmOne solution for this?

Carl Brooks

[MMike]

I'm interested too. I just noticed that one of my screws is missing and I keep my T3 in an E&B Slipper 97% of the time so I have no idea how it went AWOL! I wonder if I should try and see if my Best Buy extended warranty will do anything about this?

Mad
Mike

[Stefan Knochenhauer]

Hi,

I went to a watch repair shop, but they didn't have the proper screws. I didn't bother me that much anymore since my Piel Frama case arrived shortly before christmas.

However, it scares me a bit that MMike lost a screw while his T3 was in a case... maybe he can get a bunch of screws from Best Buy and distribute them ;)

[Holyoak]

Maybe I'll take mine out and add a little blue threadlock...

[derekweb]

Before anyone loses any more screws (I *was* affected by this until I took matters into my own hands) ...

Get some clear fingernail polish. For those of you guys who think it's too GIRLY to get some, go to your girlfriends. THEY should have some, in that event. Do NOT overapply. However, it's the same tactic that Eyeglass Shops use on the screws in your glasses. Just a small dab of the clear coat on top of the screw and surrounding metal (once the screw is re-ttightened), and it won't come lose any more. However, if someone should NEED to losen the screw, a normmal screwdriver can easily undo it.

Now. Go coat those screws down before we all lose our minds ... bad enough we all have our screws loose!

:D

[Palmloyal.com]

I carry mine in a Aluminum cas most of the time; only taking it out for a few minutes for things like using it in my Endora Wi-Fi case.

[himpressive]

Read once in a forum somewhere about some T3 owners that had the same problem of missing screws.
I seem to remember that quite a few of them suggested unscrewing, adding a drop of "loctite" to the groove and re-screwing, will permanently preempt any screws from getting lost.
Loctite costs £1.99 in the uk; make that $.80 in the US!
Prevention is better (and often less painful..) than cure!

[PDA gadgetfreak]

Be careful with Locktite. I don't know if the screws go into plastic or metal. I posted this advice before on a thread and was quickly told it can damage plastic.

Just be sure before you try it!

[n2ifp]

I have lost screws and have seen paint rubbed off on Sony Clie's too!

[derekweb]

Again, you *could* just get some clear fingernail polish and put that right over the top of the screws. No damaging plastic OR metal that way. And still a cheap prevention.

:D

[Anarchy]

.. if you think that polish and all is too risky... do this..

DUCT TAPE!... You can tape it here.. you can tape it there... you can duct and tape it every-where.!!!

If Luke had tape his arm.. he won't have gotten it chopped off..

I got the whole world.... in my tape...

[bryus]

My coworker found replacement screws that work. They are not flat head, counter-sunk screws, but they work. He got them at a railroad hobby store.

[L-3]

I just noticed last night that I lost BOTH screws on the left side of the slider. I quickly pulled one from the right and put it on the left, but I too need to find some replacements.
There's a railroad hobby store near my house, so I'll try there, but if anyone else knows where to get them, please chime in!

BTW, thanks for the nailpolish idea. My wife had a good laugh, but hey, it works!

[philipt18]

This is clearly a design-flaw and PalmOne should acknowledge the problem as such and offer to fix it. I have set up a petition online to try to get PalmOne to do just that. Please read and sign the petition here:

http://www.petitiononline.com/t3flaw/petition.html

[Taikun]

Nothing could be more irritating than a lost screw. The love of a good machine is often compromised by the lack of a screw!
I bought a new driver just to ensure against loss.

It appears that palmone has plenty of screws for everyone - and some loose ones that it keeps for itself.

[derekweb]

And here I thought WE were the geeks with the screws loose.

:D

[backhand]

Just lost 2 screws on my T3. Never opened the unit.

This issue has to be kept alive: it's a construction flaw in the T3 that at least 50 people have publicly announced on the internet they've experienced. And that usually means there's a lot more people experiencing the same problem.

This is more than just coincidence.

[CWolf]

My T|T3 now has a dent in the back of the device for some weird unknown reason...talk about quality control :rolleyes: .

Errrm, the dent isn't about quality control! That's user damage.

Get a case!

[n2ifp]

A couple drops of Loctite on the screw threads will prevent loss.

[technical1]

I had the same thing happen - lost the 2 left screws.

Don't know which is worse, having a pricey unit come apart; or the stupid, even obnoxious 'customer care' reps who just refer you to www.pdaparts.com - went to that site.

PDAParts doesn't even have T3 slider screws.

Needed other info & couldn't get online at the time & even tho the PalmOne rep had a machine w/internet connectivity - he refused to look up the info for me.....

Good thing I like the unit so much, & spent so much on it - otherwise I would just move away from it. I can't even get an american English speaking support that has a clue.

I hope PalmOne sees this. They are saving money shipping out jobs to India & making customers right here very unhappy.

[CWolf]

Hi there Eli - nice to see ya.

I am not entirely convinced of this being bad choice of screws - screws are designed to come out, however I do think that they should have sealed them - using the technical equivalent of nail polish.

[technical1]

Chris,

Greetings right back to you! The screws don't concern me as much as the obvisou design/impelementation flaws; & how non-intuitive & non-customer oriented the PalmOne 'customer care' reps have been w/me & others.

Imagine sending a customer to an unofficial 3d party vendor (not official partner) as the means to solve the issue & the 3d party vendor doesn't carry it....

[GadgetGuru]

Lost three of four screw on mine. Will go searching for replacements soon... It's crazy of PalmOne customer support to ask for people to sent in their Palm for repairs and $129 charge...they must not know what screws they were talking about... PalmOne could have easily packed say four screws in a packet and sent them via courier for a few dollars shipping (which they even absorb) and the consumer will be delighted (and might even become a lifelong PalmOne-Customer-support advocate).

Oh well, the pitfalls of large companies, where Customer-support, repairs, and management does not belong to one department...

[technical1]

3 of 4 !!!!

Sounds like PalmOne policy & support has loose screws more than their Tungsten units!

I'm using the eyeglasses screwdriver that fits the slider screws & frequently check the status of the screws & if they feel tight enough.

Two lost screws are enough!

If anyone finds where they can confirm the exact size, style, etc of the screw I & I'm sure many others would be very interested.

To repeat, I recently got a msg fm the folks at PDAParts.com (AKA gethightech.com) that they are not carrying T3 slider screws & it doesn't look like they will...

[MarieC]

Is this also bound to happen (loosing screws, I mean) even if the T3 is carried in a case ?

[GadgetGuru]

I think the answer is yes...the screws are loosened by the sliding action. But it you have a case, the screw might be held back from falling by the case (depending on type of case).

If you still have your screws, I suggest the nail polish treatment (see earlier post in this thread from other members).

[MarieC]

Originally posted by gadgetguru
If you still have your screws, I suggest the nail polish treatment (see earlier post in this thread from other members).
Yeah, I still got'em all. T3's barely two weeks old.
For the nail polish, I'll do that. I have that at home ;)

Thanks !

[CWolf]

Hmmm, I think I should do the same... Mind you, my T3 stay closed a lot of the time thanks to the little status bar...

[slippy4twenty]

I've just checked today cuz it felt loose and I'm missing 3 of 4 screws. HELLO RUBBERBAND!

Seriously....anyone selling a 4 pack of these yet?

[slippy4twenty]

Found some at a watch repair shop......for free too, same diameter but perhaps 1/2 a mm shorter still holds securely.

[Bleeding Edge]

I have been watching this thread and have noticed several others have also posted regarding the same problem. Last week I realized that it happened to me as well. Both screws were suddenly missing on the left side. On a hunch , I went to a local hobby shop that sells various types of 'slot' cars, particularly the 'HO' scale stuff. I explained to the fellow there what I was looking for, showed him my T3 and he says: "yup, looks like a number 80 srew". They had two types - pan-head and counter-sunk. Of course counter-sunk is the type required. I wasn't sure about the fit, but at $1.10 for a bag of 5 it wasn't a big risk. I took them home and they worked perfectly!
Hope this helps out the others with this problem.

[pault]

I've lost a screw from the right side of my slider :(

I'm trying to figure out what type of screw I should order from this site

http://www.modelfixings.co.uk/countersunk_screws.htm


Will any of these work?

Please let me know so I can order some!

Thanks!

[derekweb]

Originally posted by Bleeding Edge
I explained to the fellow there what I was looking for, showed him my T3 and he says: "yup, looks like a number 80 srew". They had two types - pan-head and counter-sunk. Of course counter-sunk is the type required. I wasn't sure about the fit, but at $1.10 for a bag of 5 it wasn't a big risk. I took them home and they worked perfectly!
Hope this helps out the others with this problem.

Really? Huh. Now THAT is good info. Thanks Bleeding Edge!

[tanker_bob]

Originally posted by Bleeding Edge
I have been watching this thread and have noticed several others have also posted regarding the same problem. Last week I realized that it happened to me as well. Both screws were suddenly missing on the left side. On a hunch , I went to a local hobby shop that sells various types of 'slot' cars, particularly the 'HO' scale stuff. I explained to the fellow there what I was looking for, showed him my T3 and he says: "yup, looks like a number 80 srew". They had two types - pan-head and counter-sunk. Of course counter-sunk is the type required. I wasn't sure about the fit, but at $1.10 for a bag of 5 it wasn't a big risk. I took them home and they worked perfectly!
Hope this helps out the others with this problem.
Bravo! Thanks for the great info. :D

[y_g]

Last week I found a miniature screw while throwing junk out of my car. I was wondering where it came from and decided to keep it for a while. When I saw this thread It came to mind to check the T3 and Voila!!! 2 screws are missing on the right side of my palm. Now, once I replace the screw, I will surely use loctite to prevent them from ever falling again.
Worried about corosiveness of loctite? always use blue loctite rather than red loctite to avoid damaging plastic parts and to allow future removal of screws for service.
Palm Support have gone mad. 125$ for the repair? If I were Palm I would ship a bag of screws to whoever asked for them to avoid an up-and-surely coming lawsuit and loss of customer (high end customers) trust.

[finnsmith]

Hi everyone,

I too lost two screws from my tungsten and after searching everywhere without luck I asked my kids to find them. They actually found replacement screws that work pretty well. The head is just a tiny tiny bit wider than on the original screw, but it does the job well enough for me. We are still looking for a more perfect screw.

If you need screws, the kids are shipping them for 2$ each, plus the price of postage. It is a lot for one tiny screw, but the kids have worked hard at finding these screws and there is some work involved in handling the order.

Send an e-mail to finnsmith@hotmail.com and put "T3SCREWS" in the subject field. Let us know how many you need and where to ship. Payment is via paypal.

All the best.

Finn Smith

[Palmrifter]

I discovered about two months ago that I had two missing screws on the same side. I went to the hardware store found screws that fit (unfortunately they were too long) but I bought them and at home I used a rotary handheld tool and ground them down to the same size as the original. I put one each of the original screws on the top of each side and one each of the replacement on the bottom of each side. They have held my T3 together now for a couple of months but they were not the counter sunk head so they stick out from the sides. I was upset but now I really have a psuedo-personalized T3 with a unique screw set up. They even help give me a tiny bit of purchase to help me pull out the slider.... or am I just rationalizing through my disgust at having the screws fall out in the first place?