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Saturday, October 30, 2010
WTG Comcast
At my home my cable service is hit and miss. All of the issues are not caused by the service provider alone. Some of our issues are due to location alone. This week we had a new cable box sent out which we had to install. I don't mind giving feedback especially when I like a product, but don't request feedback if you won't follow through. So a few days after we get the new cable box we got an automated phone call asking us to give feedback on the installation. I actually choose the option to continue. The automated system transfers me and I hear: "We are sorry but due to technical difficulties we can not process your call at this time." I hung up, it's a good thing Comcast doesn't do telecommunications.
Friday, October 1, 2010
I Buy the Right to Sell You Burgers
Since I have been fuming about this for more than a day I decided I needed to post about a recent trip to a fast food chain.
I want to say first of all that I am not opposed to franchises, actually I do appreciate the principle of what is supposed to be delivered by a franchise. In most cases you get at least a consistent product, and also a franchise model is supposed to work better than corporate run locations because the 'managers' are actually owners, so in theory they should be more concerned about the quality of the product and service, including customer service.
That being said I also hate franchises, because they are also somewhat of a Ponzi scheme in the business world because they allow people to buy into a business without the sweat equity of a genuine start up. The reason this is the case is because often by the time a the customer figures out a particular location isn't holding up the quality of the franchise product they've been ripped off, and even if the home office removes the right to offer the item under the brand the damage has been done.
I'm pointing out the benefits and drawbacks of a franchise is because especially now with so many people lacking work you would hope that business owners especially would understand without customers, you have no business. This being said I've always been a huge advocate of customer service. Even if I like your product, if you get my order wrong too many times, or treat me rudely on more than one visit, I will no longer be a customer of yours.
Back to the recent fast food incident. Waiting in the drive-thru I realized it was taking an unusual amount of time for the woman in front of me to get past the payment window. There was a lot of exchanges back and forth and I overheard enough of the conversation to understand what happened. When I first pulled up behind her she pulled through the drive-through very quickly and didn't order. Instead of telling her to pull back around so that the orders weren't messed up and to process people that ordered correctly, the person at the window allowed her to order at the window and hold up the entire line behind her for several extra minutes. It wouldn't have bothered me so much except that the other orders were already being made and it meant that they weren't sure which order was which.
In a pinch fast food fills a need, and occasionally I admit I have the siren call of the really trashy food it has to offer. But thank you franchise food supplier, I could care less if you spent over $900,000.00 for the right to sell me burgers, I still expect fair service, and the understanding my time and that of those in line behind me is valuable, so do your job and be brave enough to afford to lose the one sale over the seven or eight you lose by not being fair. By the way I'll go to the other franchise just down the street, and keep my fingers crossed that you mess up enough orders to close soon, especially when your competition opens up across the street.
-Bee Stew
I want to say first of all that I am not opposed to franchises, actually I do appreciate the principle of what is supposed to be delivered by a franchise. In most cases you get at least a consistent product, and also a franchise model is supposed to work better than corporate run locations because the 'managers' are actually owners, so in theory they should be more concerned about the quality of the product and service, including customer service.
That being said I also hate franchises, because they are also somewhat of a Ponzi scheme in the business world because they allow people to buy into a business without the sweat equity of a genuine start up. The reason this is the case is because often by the time a the customer figures out a particular location isn't holding up the quality of the franchise product they've been ripped off, and even if the home office removes the right to offer the item under the brand the damage has been done.
I'm pointing out the benefits and drawbacks of a franchise is because especially now with so many people lacking work you would hope that business owners especially would understand without customers, you have no business. This being said I've always been a huge advocate of customer service. Even if I like your product, if you get my order wrong too many times, or treat me rudely on more than one visit, I will no longer be a customer of yours.
Back to the recent fast food incident. Waiting in the drive-thru I realized it was taking an unusual amount of time for the woman in front of me to get past the payment window. There was a lot of exchanges back and forth and I overheard enough of the conversation to understand what happened. When I first pulled up behind her she pulled through the drive-through very quickly and didn't order. Instead of telling her to pull back around so that the orders weren't messed up and to process people that ordered correctly, the person at the window allowed her to order at the window and hold up the entire line behind her for several extra minutes. It wouldn't have bothered me so much except that the other orders were already being made and it meant that they weren't sure which order was which.
In a pinch fast food fills a need, and occasionally I admit I have the siren call of the really trashy food it has to offer. But thank you franchise food supplier, I could care less if you spent over $900,000.00 for the right to sell me burgers, I still expect fair service, and the understanding my time and that of those in line behind me is valuable, so do your job and be brave enough to afford to lose the one sale over the seven or eight you lose by not being fair. By the way I'll go to the other franchise just down the street, and keep my fingers crossed that you mess up enough orders to close soon, especially when your competition opens up across the street.
-Bee Stew
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Hello, Dick
Repost from an old blog, originally posted January 10, 2007:
Recently Mark & I got new cell phones (if you want our numbers ask). Both of us have been having fun with our new 'toys'. The only problem has been this, I've been getting phone calls from an automated dialer named 'Dick'. 'Hello, this is Dick and I have an important message to share with you'...., after the first call I was mildly curious. So I looked up my new number with reverse number look up and realized it had at one point in time been attached to a land line.
The calls from 'Dick' continued, I even had a voicemail from him tonight. The ironic thing was the calls from 'Dick' always asked me to call back a different phone number than the one he called from.
Tonight I had enough, I made two phone calls. The first was to 'Dick'. Mark almost lost it when I left the polite but direct voice mail. 'Hello, DICK...my name is Bee and you have been calling my cell phone, this is a new number for me which is xxx-xxx-xxxx, please stop calling.' The second call was to the number that the message from 'Dick' had actually been dialing from. When I talked to someone in the call center I was again direct. 'Hi, there have been several calls to my new cell phone number for someone else, for their debt or something, please remove me from your database.'
My phone number used to belong to Roxie Shoxnie, thanks Dick.
The calls from 'Dick' continued, I even had a voicemail from him tonight. The ironic thing was the calls from 'Dick' always asked me to call back a different phone number than the one he called from.
Tonight I had enough, I made two phone calls. The first was to 'Dick'. Mark almost lost it when I left the polite but direct voice mail. 'Hello, DICK...my name is Bee and you have been calling my cell phone, this is a new number for me which is xxx-xxx-xxxx, please stop calling.' The second call was to the number that the message from 'Dick' had actually been dialing from. When I talked to someone in the call center I was again direct. 'Hi, there have been several calls to my new cell phone number for someone else, for their debt or something, please remove me from your database.'
My phone number used to belong to Roxie Shoxnie, thanks Dick.
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