Decent Marketing

Letting Customers Choose the Remedy for Bad Service

The service that hosts this blog is called Typepad.  Apparently they've been having some technical problems, and some users have not been able to use the service to post to their blogs or whatever.  So I get an email from them today, apologizing for the problems, informing me of the upgrades to their hardware, and offering the following:

By default, you will receive a credit for 15 free days of TypePad service. To get this credit you don't have to do anything; we will just credit your account.

That said, we recognize that customers have had different experiences with the service, so we want to give you the opportunity to choose more, or even less compensation. If you click the link below, you'll get a screen that offers you the following choices:

• While the performance issues caused me some inconvenience I mainly found the service acceptable last month.
  Give me 15 free days of TypePad.

• The performance issues made it very difficult for me to use the service on multiple occasions during the month.
  Give me 30 free days of TypePad.

• The performance issues affected me greatly, making my experience unacceptable for most of the month.
  Give me 45 free days of TypePad.

• I really wasn't affected and feel I got the great service I paid for last month.
  Thank you for the offer, but please don't credit my account.

Then the email has a link that sends you directly to the page where you elect the compensation you believe you should receive for their "less than stellar performance".   I elected to receive no compensation for two reasons:  1) I really wasn't affected, and I have a problem taking things I don't deserve; and 2) I find it very cool that they offered their customers a variety of choices of compensation, and were willing to accept it if every single one of us asked for 45 free days of Typepad.   I don't know how many millions of Typepad customers Six Apart has, but let's say everyone has the $8.95/month service and there are 10 million customers and everyone took the 45 free days:  I'm extremely mathematically impaired but that's giving away about 13 and a half million dollars right?

Given all the terrible customer services stories you see in the news and on the web, with people getting very little remedy other than a "sorry", if that, I like what Typepad is doing.  It made me feel like they gave a crap about their service, and gave enough of a crap about me that they want to give me some choice as to what would resolve the problem.  Granted, I wasn't terribly affected and there may be customers for whom 15-45 free days is not enough compensation.  But I'm guessing for most of us, the gesture alone went a long way. 

Tag: marketing

First The Good News

This morning. Fayetteville, GA.  McDonald's.

I went to McDonald's this morning.  The young African American lady who handed me my Egg McMuffin looked me straight in the eye, and said in the most genuine manner, "Thank you.  Have a good morning.  Come back and see us."  If I could have fallen out of my car seat I would have.  It may have been the nicest customer service greeting I've ever received.  She meant exactly what she said and it wasn't a script and it wasn't mumbled at me.  Good for her and good for McDonald's.  I will now satisfy my daily small Coke addiction by patronizing that McDonald's. 

Then The Bad News

Tuesday.  Fayetteville, Georgia. Cingular Store (the corporate store).

Me:  Hi.  I need to get my BlackBerry fixed.  The trackwheel won't push in anymore.  At all.  This is a big problem.  So I brought it here to get it serviced.

Cingular Lady:  OK.  What's your phone number?

I give it to her.  She looks me up on the computer.

Cingular Lady:  How long have you had the BlackBerry?

Me:  Two years.

I bought it at AT&T Wireless and that's who I signed the contract with.  But Cingular bought AT&T Wireless, so now everything is Cingular.  And has been for a while.  If you search for AT&T Wireless on Google, the Cingular site comes up with the headline "Now We're Cingular". 

Cingular Lady:  I can't access your records.  You're on the blue side.  We're on the orange side. 

She proceeds to call some number and talk to someone who apparently is on the "blue side".

Cingular Lady:  I have a customer here who is on the blue side.  We're on the orange side.  Her Blackberry isn't working.  I can't access her records.

They have a long discussion, during which I stand there and marvel how there can be sides when there is just one company.  When she gets off the phone, I ask as much.

Me:  Why are there sides? 

Cingular Lady:  You are a Cingular customer, but you're on AT&T billing.  We don't bill the same way.  So in order to fix the Blackberry, we're going to have to migrate you over to Cingular.

I'm still confused as to why I'm not already part of Cingular since they bought AT&T.  On Google it says "Now We're Cingular", not "Now We're Cingular As Long As You're on the Orange Side But if You're on the Blue Side, Well That's A Different Story".  Nonetheless, I need my BlackBerry fixed so I figure, what the heck, go ahead and migrate me.  She then informs me that I'll have to go up to a higher rate monthly plan because Cingular doesn't have the $29.99 plan AT&T had, only a $39.99 plan.

Me:  So I'm going to have to pay you an extra 10 bucks a month just so I can get my Blackberry fixed?

Cingular Lady:  You're no longer under warranty and you didn't have insurance.  And we don't have the $29.99 plan.  You'll need to migrate to Cingular.

Me:  I understand I'm not under warranty.  That's cool.  Why don't I just pay you whatever it costs to get it fixed?  I bought it from y'all and I just need help getting it fixed.  I'm sure you guys must make plenty of money on fixing things out of warranty.  I'm happy to pay for it.

Cingular Lady:  You can't get it fixed.  We don't do that.  You'll have to buy a new one.

Me:  What?

Cingular Lady:  We don't service Blackberries. 

Me:  You don't service what you sell?

Cingular Lady:  Not Blackberries.  If you were still under warranty, and if you were with Cingular, we'd send it off to get it fixed.  But you'll have to buy a new one and switch to our [more expensive] plan.

Me:  Why didn't you just tell me that from the beginning?  How much is a new one?

Cingular Lady:  $299.

She could have just told me right from the start that I needed to throw my BlackBerry in the trash and buy a new one.  I think I might.  From Verizon.

Tag: marketing

No Customer Service = No Customer

I like this post from Keith Hammonds at Fast Company Now. Keith talks about the complete lack of service he receives from ADT and why it then becomes so easy for him to switch to a regional security company. If I were the head of ADT's Sales and Marketing, I'd be having a complete heart attack reading that, yet I bet it happens every day. Why don't these big companies get it? I'm beginning to think the best companies are the ones that make me do the least work.

Tag: marketing

Target Online & Customer Service. Not.

I finally figured out what the definition of customer service is over the holidays.  It means the customer is responsible for working their ass off to get any service they can possibly squeeze out of the company from which they have bought goods and services.

Case in point -- Target.com.  I ordered a playhouse for my son for Christmas -- the big plastic kind that you put in your yard in which children can pretend to be homeowners without any of the actual hassles of homeownership.  I ordered it on November 28, figuring I'd be more than safe in getting it in time for the Big Day.  This was the only thing he had asked for, his Christmas 2004 Holy Grail.  Every single time he ran into Santa he said the same thing:  I want a toy playhouse.  This item was the linchpin, the key to my enjoyment of Christmas morning.

I received an email from Target informing me the house would be delivered somewhere between Dec. 9 and 16.  I called Target on Dec. 20 (call #1) to find out why it hadn't yet arrived, and after calling the number back three different times until I figured out what magical combination of numbers to press, I got a real person.  This very nice person called the shipping company, Eagle Logistics, and was told that the shipping company had had the item since Dec. 13th and had been calling and calling me to schedule delivery and had not heard back.  Amazing, considering I had been home all week and hadn't heard a peep.  Helpful Target Guy gave me the number for Eagle Global Logistics.  I called them (call #2) and ended up speaking to a somewhat snarky woman who basically admitted someone lied to Helpful Target Guy, because they didn't even have my phone number on file.  I asked her whether anyone had planned to eventually call Target to get my number, or if they just planned to leave the playhouse sitting there until it crumbled.  Well, I didn't actually say that.  But I thought it.   She said she'd have someone call me to schedule delivery later that day.  No one called.  I called again that afternoon (call #3) and was told that the driver would call me to schedule delivery.  No one called.  In the meantime, I sent an email to Target's Customer Service department complaining.  They responded by giving me a 50% refund on my shipping costs.  Nice, but all I wanted was the product I had paid for, and they didn't offer me any further help on getting it.  So I called Eagle again on the 21st (call #4).  I eventually happened upon Helpful Eagle Guy Steve, thank St. Nick!, and he put me in touch with someone (call #5) who put me in touch with someone else (call #6) who delivered the playhouse to me on December 23.  And not a moment too soon.  Needless to say, I will never order anything from Target.com again. 

When I filled out my order form and paid my $640.46, I thought I had done all the work necessary.  Clearly, I was mistaken.  Anybody else work hard to get decent service this holiday season?

Tag: marketing

Best Buy & Those Pesky Customers

Crystal Burdette pointed out this article on Best Buy to me, HoustonChronicle.com - Steffy: Some people become real shopping demons. In it, the CEO of the electronics retailer says he wants to " ... weed out problem customers, ones who tie up salespeople and then don't buy anything, for example ..." I hate to say it Mr. Anderson, but welcome to the world of choice. For big ticket items like the ones your store sells, consumers are getting smart enough to realize it might not be the best idea to go to the nearest Circuit City or Best Buy, pick out what they want and have it wrapped up at the register, lickety-split. There are more places to look, more prices to be checked out, more options to be considered and more salespeople needing to provide answers. You're simply going to have to get used to "problem customers", or what I like to call "customers"!

This week my computer decided to implode on me -- the USB ports broke in some evil attempt to shatter my serenity. So now I have no connection to my printer, my wireless keypboard and optical mouse, my external drive, my Blackberry, etc. (Can't you just hear me freaking out?!!) I found out it would almost make more sense to buy a new notebook than to have the motherboard in my current one replaced. I went to Best Buy to see what they had, but they only had about six or seven notebooks to choose from, a limited set of brands, no clear explanation of all the options available to me, and from what I could tell no way for me to customize. (If those things did exist, then they sure didn't tell me about it.) And the salespeople seemed friendly, but I didn't need their help reviewing the limited options Best Buy made available to me. I wanted to be more empowered. So I went to Dell.com instead, which walked me step-by-step through each option and let me build the computer I wanted. It's companies like Dell that will continue to win customers' hearts by providing everything at their fingertips. They recognize that consumers want to have a say in the matter of consumption, and not just be fed products like grain to cattle.

And then I had another completely annoying experience today -- trying to find a wall or car charger for my Blackberry. Since I can't charge it through my computer anymore (those darned broken USB ports!) I need some other way to keep it going until my new Dell D400 gets here. So I go to the AT&T Wireless store, where I bought the Blackberry, and they say, "Sorry, we don't carry accessories for the Blackberry." Wait a minute. You sold me the thing, but when I need things required to use it, you have NOTHING to give me? The salesperson hands me a slip of paper with an 800 number on it and says "You'll have to call Accessories". I'LL have to call accessories? You can't call accessories?!! Then I tried Radio Shack, since they're supposed to have everything. Well they don't.

Consumers are empowered, so we want choice, we want to be able to have in-depth conversations about the products we're considering, and we'd like not to be considered annoying by exercising those rights. On the other hand, we're not SO empowered that we don't need any service (AT&T Wireless, are you listening?). Mr. Anderson, instead of worrying about annoying consumers, you should band together with your fellow tech manufacturers and retailers and try to provide real support, real options and real care for your customers.

marketing

Fast Company Customer Experience Awards

If you'd like to weigh in on which company deserves Fast Company's first annual Customer Experience Award, check out the Fast Company Customer Experience Awards . According to their website, "Fast Company believes that there should be due recognition -- and reward -- for creating a rich customer experience, for focusing on consistently excellent customer service, and for putting customers first." In the October issue, they'll focus on what the best companies are doing to create rich customer experiences.

They've designed a quick survey that will ask you a handful of questions about some companies you may have experienced recently. The companies in the survey were selected after FC consulted a panel of experts in the fields of customer service and customer experience. Your vote will help FC determine which companies are worthy of the inaugural Customer Experience Awards. So for all of you who harp on the bad experiences out there (and we know there are many!), here's a chance to recognize some good work for once. I put my vote in for Chick Fil A -- I love that place! The quality of the people is consistent (clear, upbeat & well-mannered), the quality of the food is consistent (hot & yummy), the quality of the place is consistent (clean & bright) and they have values that they maintain in every thing they do.

Tag: marketing