What this page is
Before launch I sent PALM to people who had good reason to be hard on it, and asked them to tell me what was wrong with it. This page is the record of what came back and what I did about it. It is kept as a running log rather than written once: entries move as the work moves, and an entry can say that nothing has been solved.
Every entry is in the same order: what somebody told me first, then what I did about it. That order is deliberate. I am not listing improvements and putting a tester underneath each one as evidence — these are things other people changed my mind about, and the page should read that way round.
What I did then carries one of three statuses.
- Changed — the design or the instructions are different because of this, and the change is in what I am shipping.
- In progress — I have made a change and I am still checking whether it does the job.
- Still open — raised, understood, and not solved.
This is not a reviews page — it is what unpaid testers told me before anything was sold. Customers have since written their own, and every one is published as written. One review, from a confirmed order. Read them.
Who has tried it
Between the end of July and the end of August 2026, seven people outside my own household put a PALM on a pump and told me what happened, and a group of visitors at one of their houses handled it over a weekend. Between them they brought arthritis, blindness, the frailties of being ninety-four, two careers spent selling or prescribing daily-living aids, and several kitchens and bathrooms full of pumps I had never seen.
Nobody was paid, and nobody was asked for a testimonial. I asked what was wrong with it.
Nobody is named here, and that is not a gap waiting to be filled. What these people gave me was criticism, not endorsement — somebody telling me the fitting moved on their pump is reporting a problem, not recommending the thing to you, and putting a name and a job title beside it would dress it up as something it is not. The words are theirs. The decisions, and the parts still not fixed, are mine.
The entries
Not being able to see where the soap comes out
What I was told
A tester passed one round her house over a weekend, and the people who tried it there did not like that they could not see where the soap would come out. They suggested an arrow, or a different shape that would show where it was going to come from. She told me plainly that this round was “not so positive” as the last one.
In progress
What I did, and what it does not fix
There is now an arrow on the top face. It is debossed rather than printed, deep enough that a fingertip can find it, so it should tell you which way round the disc goes whether or not you can see it. I am confirming that by touch on the next print rather than telling you it works.
That answers direction. It does not answer what they actually raised. The disc sits over the pump head, so the spout is underneath it and stays hidden; an arrow tells you where the soap is going to come out without letting you see it come out. The other half of the suggestion — a different shape that leaves the spout in view — is a bigger change to the part than an arrow is, and I have not made it.
So this says in progress. One of the two things asked for has been attempted and not yet verified, and the other has not been attempted at all.
Raised in August 2026.
Grip, and water sitting on the face
What I was told
Nothing. Nobody raised this one.
It is on this page because a list of only the changes other people prompted would quietly take credit for the ones they did not. This came from using it in my own bathroom: the face of the disc is what your palm lands on, and it gets wet.
Changed
What I did
The grooves across the face are cut deeper and set at an angle, so a wet palm has something to hold on to and water runs off the face instead of sitting in them.
Nobody has tested that but me. No tester has told me the old face was slippery, and none has told me this one is better. It is my own judgement about my own bathroom, which is the weakest evidence on this page, and I would rather label it than let it sit among the others looking like feedback.
Not from feedback. My own change.
Finding it, and using it, without much sight
What I was told
On 30 July a tester told me to make it in bright yellow for visual impairment — and told me not to do a range of colours: “I don’t think it’s a good idea to have lots of colours though but maybe do grey (or whatever) and a bright yellow? Or just a yellow.” He had been talking to a relative who is completely blind, who said it would work well for him too because he struggles with pumps.
In progress
What I did, and what I have not
Samples went out after that in more than one colour. What has not happened is the part a buyer would notice: there is still no colour to choose when you order one, and the bright yellow that was actually asked for is not something you can buy.
So this is in progress rather than changed. The advice was specific — one high-contrast colour rather than a range — and the specific thing it asked for is the thing I have not done.
Said again afterwards, unprompted
Two people raised it again later without being asked, which is why I am not letting it drop: that “the different colour versions are a good idea”, and, from somebody using one on her own dispenser, that it “would be very good for people with sight problems”. Neither is a reason to call this done. Both are confirmation of the problem, not of a fix.
Raised in July and August 2026.
Not knowing which fitting to choose, or which one arrived
What I was told
A tester was sent all three fittings as samples. He never went through the buying flow, tried all three on one flat kitchen pump, and reported that none of them stayed on. Somebody in the same house tried the round one and called it “too wobbly”. He could not recommend it for sale on that basis, and said so.
Changed
What I did
Three fittings arriving loose in a parcel, with nothing saying which is which, is not the same thing as buying one — the shop makes you choose a fitting and will not take an order without it. But nothing on the site had ever said the parts are marked, and nothing had said that a twin or a trio is chosen one at a time. So:
- At the point of choosing, three ways out for anyone unsure, cheapest first: measure yours, print the free gauge, or send me a photo and I will tell you which. All three are on the fit guide.
- The twin and trio now say the pack holds more than one PALM, that each has its own fitting, and that in most homes they are not the same.
- The letter is named on the site for the first time — S, W or D, moulded into the underside — so somebody opening a box can tell three identical-looking discs apart.
What none of that fixes is a pump that falls outside all three shapes. If the size is wrong I exchange it free, and there is a made-to-measure option printed to a photograph of your own pump. It also does not undo his experience of it: he had three parts, one pump, and no way to tell which was which.
Raised in August 2026.
Being sure it is on properly, without sight
What I was told
A tester who is blind tried PALM, and his objection came back to me through a member of his family. If the fitting were not on properly it could come off, and putting it back on would mean asking somebody else for help. A thing that has to be set up for you is not the same thing as a thing you can use.
Still open
What I have done about it, and what I have not
Two halves of this, and they are different sizes.
Fitted correctly, the disc does not slip or wobble. That is the baseline and I will say it plainly.
What I cannot tell you is whether somebody who cannot see it can be confident, first time, that they have fitted it correctly. The marking on the top face and the fitting instructions are my answer to that question. Whether they are a sufficient answer is not something I know, because it has not been tested by anyone without sight.
So this entry says still open rather than changed. It will stay that way until somebody who cannot see it has fitted one themselves and told me how it went.
Raised in August 2026.
If you already have one, the current version is free
Some of what is on this page changed after people already had a PALM in their hands. If yours was made before a change described here, I will send you a current one. There is nothing to pay, nothing to send back, and I am not going to ask you to prove anything.
Ask for a free exchange
Tell me which fitting you have and where to send it. The letter is on the underside — S, W or D. If you cannot tell, say so and send a photo of your pump instead and I will work it out.
Everything comes to me. There is no support desk and no bot, and I answer every message myself, usually within one working day.
Tell me what is wrong with it
This page exists because the useful feedback was the unflattering kind. If you have one and it does not work, or it works but something about it annoys you, I would rather know. It gets read by the person who designed it, and if it is a fair point it ends up on this page.
hello@gethandl.co.uk
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