Advertising Is Good For You

Not all disgruntled customers write letters to management.

Source: Chicken Crap

Customer service: you're not doing it right

Source: Passive Aggressive Notes

Images from the tech support capital of the world

A friend emailed me these photos of India the other day.

Top 10 National Banks for Most Customer Complaints

CLICK HERE to read more.

Circuit City learns the hard way

Visit Boing Boing for a great (and mercifully short) post about Circuit City's contempt for knowledge capital.

1-800-FLOWERS' direct mail solicitation outed a cheating husband

When Leroy Green sent flowers to his mistress via 1-800-FLOWERS, he was assured by the florist that no proof of his purchase would be sent to the home he shared with his wife. Nonetheless, 1-800-FLOWERS mailed a 'thank you for your purchase' and a discount coupon to his home. His wife saw it, got suspicious and asked 1-800-FLOWERS to fax her the original receipt. Which 1-800-FLOWERS did, along with the sentiment Leroy included with the posies he had had delivered to his girlfriend:

Just wanted to say that I love you and you mean the world to me! Leroy"

Leroy's wife is suing him for divorce.

Leroy is suing 1-800-FLOWERS because his divorce is going to cost him extra because his wife has proof of his infidelity thanks to 1-800-FLOWERS' customer service bungling.

And 1-800-FLOWERS is pulling a PR weasel by claiming it will not take responsibility "for an individual's personal conduct." Meaning Leroy's conduct, not that of the 1-800-FLOWERS employee who promised nothing would be sent to Leroy's home or the conduct of the person who authorized automatically mailing Leroy proof of an order to his home.

Leroy is clearly a rat. But 1-800-FLOWERS was stupid to not realize that not every Romeo who sends flowers wants proof sent to his home.

Image: TeraRoop11

Source: Houston Chronicle

61% of consumers don't believe that technology has improved customer service

According to an Accenture survey of more than 2,000 consumers in the U.S. and U.K.

Image: MSNBC  

Delta Airlines doesn't understand the concept of good customer service.

Delta Airlines refuses to give Charles M. a refund.

Charles M. had his camera stolen from his baggage by a Delta baggage checker. Charles himself tracked down his stolen camera on eBay and got the thieving baggage checker fired, arrested and prosecuted.

The man is a hero.

Delta Airlines, instead of rewarding Charles M. for uncovering an unscrupulous employee, refuses to give Charles a refund for his plane fare with the excuse:

We must respectfully deny your request for a full refund of your trip since travel did commence.

If this is how Delta treats its customers -- especially in the age of blogs and chat rooms -- the airline deserves to go bankrupt.

 

Update: posted 17 March 2007

Consumerist reports that after being trashed on the Internet and on the PeterGreenberg radio show, Delta Airlines is FINALLY reimbursing Charles M. for the cost of his camera.

Source: The Consumerist

New Customer Service Technology for Turning Angry Customers into Satisfied Ones

Growing up, there were eight words I dreaded hearing pass from my mother's lips: I would like to speak to the manager. The exchange that followed always made me cringe with discomfort.

I didn't inherit my mother's chutzpah -- this is a character flaw I've been trying for decades to correct -- but there may be hope for me yet thanks to NICE Systems.

It's kind of like a customer service mood ring.

NICE Systems has created a new emotion detection technology to be used during those customer service calls when the exchange is being recorded "for quality assurance purposes."

NICE's technology monitors the customer's voice; when the system detects frustration and/or anger, a manager is alerted who then comes on the line to intervene and resolve the matter to the customer's satisfaction.

This should resolve customers' problems more expeditiously. My mother would approve.

Source: Retail Design Diva

Are you ignoring 5% of your customer base?

The phone company almost turned off my service.

I'd signed up for paperless billing -- instead of a bill, one gets an email and the option to pay the bill online -- but I had no way of knowing that the phone company's technology isn't compatible with my Mac.

Not only does the telecommunications giant's technology not know what to do with a Mac, it isn't programmed to tell me that the transaction it just thanked me for completing isn't valid.

Today, more than 5% of computer users are using Macs.

5% doesn't seem like much -- unless you look at it as 5% of your customers.

If your technology discriminates against Mac users, it's time you did something about it before you permanently tick off and lose that 5% of your customer base.