I love my Sharp Zaurus. I do. Love it so much that I broke the stylus a few weeks ago. Since then, I’ve been getting by with a broken stylus, which works okay but gets annoying fast.
In search of a stylus, I checked the Z’s website. It lists Office Depot as a retailer of replacement styluses. Someone didn’t tell Office Depot, apparently, since they no longer carry them.
Finally ready to deal with this problem, I called Sharp today to buy a new stylus. A helpful Sharp employee by the name of Joe looked one up in the Sharp catalog.
“Seven dollars,” he said.
“Uh, seven for one, or two?”
“Seven for one. And that doesn’t include taxes or shipping.”
“Okay, ” I said. “How much is shipping on one stylus?” They weigh a few ounces at most. Surely a first-class stamp could get it mailed to me.
“Damn,” Joe blurted out. “Shipping is four dollars, twenty-five cents.” The ridiculous cost actually made him laugh. “And that still doesn’t include the taxes.”
I decided I could live with a broken stylus a bit longer!
After I passed on a $7 stylus, Joe suggested I try the the ones at the office supply stores. That may be my only choice.
Sharp has a great product in the Z, but its obvious they are wishy-washy on supporting it: finding major retailers is a bitch, it’s a Linux PDA with no working Linux desktop software, and they charge you seven bucks for a damn stylus.
Way to win the hearts and minds of the geek elite, Sharp. Maybe its time for you to change the company name, eh?