Hi Everyone!
I've been busy branching out a bit! Many of the posts related to customers, customer service, customer experience and CRM have been moved to my new blog Your Customers Matter...Don't They?
If you'd like to follow my thoughts on the world of Customer Service, click here and add it to your feed or sign up for the email update.
I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Last year I turned 50. Instead of going into a state of denial, I decided to be proud and think of it as a rite of passage. In fact, I've actually had quite a bit of fun with it.
As part of the celebration I decided I should join AARP. After all, I was looking forward to whipping out my AARP card to cash in on the massive discounts I'd always heard about. Of course, they aren't really specific about those discounts until they get your $12.95. When you finally get access to their website you'll discover the same and even better discounts can be had by just a little comparison shopping on your own.
One of their highly endorsed products is insurance through The Hartford Group. In fact, just about every week you get a mailer from AARP endorsing the savings from The Hartford Group. As long as I was doing my annual "insurance shopping", I thought I'd throw them into the mix. Sure enough, just like AARP said, the savings were pretty big. In fact, they said they could save me $400 per year by switching to their auto insurance!
Sounds almost too good to be true doesn't it? Well, it WAS true, they could save me the $400, but what AARP doesn't tell you is that The Hartford Group has one of THE worst reputations in the industry when it comes to paying claims. Just do a little Google search. Type in: The Hartford Group Claims Complaints.
The March 2006 issue of Smart Money magazine (article: AARP's Generation Gap) even tells the horror story of an AARP member. "The Hartford Group has been cited by insurance watchdogs for repeatedly failing to pay claims." Read the whole article and you'll learn even more interesting information about AARP.
Like the person mentioned in the article, I too contacted AARP and questioned their endorsement. I did receive one email asking for the sources that I researched. I promptly sent the links. Of course I never heard another thing from them.
For me, this is a matter of breached trust. Like most people over 50 I believed I could trust a company who was famous for advocating for the rights of the retirement community. I was wrong! In reality, AARP is a business. One that has become known as a "wildly successful direct-mail marketing organization". And they're "wildly successful" because people like you and me trust their reputation.
It's time to think again! I won't be renewing my membership. How about you?
The Godaddy saga finally came to an end. Not because their tech wizards helped me. I simply figured it out for myself.
I did get a great little bit of advice though. You increase your chances of success with their tech support team if you call versus using their email system. Secondly, keep calling back and getting different people until someone comes through for you.
After about 4 worthless email exchanges I picked up the phone. The response from that wizard was "We don't do that". So I called back. This time I got Justin. Justin wasn't completely sure about what I was trying to accomplish, but he was very willing to help if he could.
So for the heck of it I asked him why the others wouldn't help me. He said, "Well we don't normally do this, but I would want someone to help me if I needed it". Wow!!! Great attitude Justin! Thank YOU!!!
Justin sent me away to get a piece of information, but he gave me his email address so we could continue down the path. He was committed to helping me. He even offered to call me back after I provided the info.
In the meantime I resolved the issue. BUT...it still helped a great deal to know that I could go back to Justin if needed.
What do you think? Do you think Justin was out of line for offering to do something his co-workers weren't willing to do?
I'd love to hear your thoughts!
I would have never guessed that Godaddy would show up as a service rant here. That was until I needed a little tech support for the first time.
For several days now I've been trying to map a new blog "Get Your Career In Gear" to a domain I registered with Godaddy a few months back. I'm no geek, and that's probably part of the problem. Typepad has done a pretty good job of detailing instructions, but I still haven't been successful.
This morning I decided to try to get help from Godaddy. Here's the response I received: "Unfortunately we cannot assist with this issue however, you will need to modify your Total DNS settings so the information below can be used to update the info needed." The email went on to tell me how to access the DNS settings.
What kind of an answer is this? Why can't they assist with the issue? What needs to change in my DNS settings? Now I have more questions than I did in the beginning!
Godaddy! This is the first time I've tried to use your tech support...and this is your customer's first impression about the service you provide. I've got to tell you...it's not good!
Unfortunately little issues like this are all too common in the world of customer service today. One person decides to take the easy way out. Doesn't take the time to help the customer. And one customer at a time disappears. They find a company that cares about doing business with them.
What do you think? Am I missing something here? Talk to me.
I'm not your typical fast food customer. If I need something to eat while I'm out and about I typically run in and grab a sandwich and an ice water. I NEVER get the "combo" or "meal deal" things. Yesterday I realized I don't even know how to order a combo!
A page of Wendy's coupons fell out of my Sunday paper this week. Not sure I've ever seen a coupon for Wendy's before. I was thinking about their new promo to "create your own combo", so I grabbed the coupons on my way out the door to run some errands.
My coupon is for a "single combo". I hand it to the cashier and say "This is what I want." She asks me what I want to drink. Then she says "That will be $3.19 please."
So I said, "And I'd like that with a ceasar salad". The dimple of disgust comes over her face and she snips at me, "You didn't tell me." Without missing a beat I said "You didn't ask me." With her back turned to me she quips "We're not suppose to ask."
I couldn't help but try to figure it all out as I was eating my lunch...
How the heck was I suppose to know it was my responsibility to order correctly?
When I order just a sandwich they NEVER miss the opportunity to ask if it will be a combo. Why are they "not suppose to ask" which side order I'd like with my combo? They spent millions of dollars advertising "combo options" yet, they're not suppose to ask which option I'd like???
Unfortunately I still don't get it. I can't help but thing though..."What would Dave do?"
Recent Comments