CustomerService posts

The Federal Communications Commission last Friday asked Verizon Wireless why it recently doubled the fees it charges customers when they break their contracts on "smart" phones. In November, the carrier increased the maximum early contract termination fee for smart phones from $175 to $350. Like other carriers. phone devices are subsidized and the carrier makes the money back in service fees over the term of the contract.

Verizon did not respond specifically to the FCC's inquiry, but the mobile operator has said it needed to raise ETFs in order to defray the costs of advanced devices it sells to customers at a subsidized price. According to the Associated Press, Verizon spokesman Jeffrey Nelson said, "Smart phones quickly became a major part of our business and cost us a whole lot more."

One of the questions the FCC seems to be asking is how a customer is to know whether the increased fee applies to THEIR phone, and whether it's spelled out anywhere except in the formal customer agreement; which, of course, no one reads.

Sounds like a policy of "begging forgiveness" rather than "asking permission" to this cell phone user. I routinely look at my cell phone bills to scan for additional charges and changes. I'm convinced that many services add extra charges from time to time with the knowledge that people don't review their bills or their contracts. They certainly don't call me if there is an opportunity to save some money on my plan.

It will be interesting what the FCC determines as the outcome to this one.

Barbara Bartlein is the People Pro. For her FREE e-mail newsletter, please visit: The People Pro.

Dear WalletPop:

I'm writing to let you know of a battle that I've been fighting since late June. I am owed a credit of $275 for an overpayment on my AT&T Dish Network account. Neither AT&T nor Dish disputes that I am owed the money; however, due to massive, persistent communication failures between Dish and AT&T and poor customer service toward me by both parties, I still have not received my credit.

Here are the details: Prior to leaving AT&T DIsh Network for AT&T U-Verse, I was sent a replacement Dish receiver that I did not request. It took me a while to return it. In the interim, I was charged $275 for the equipment. Complicating things, my online bank account was set to autopay any AT&T bill, so it did, prior to my returning the equipment. The bill was paid in full. That includes the $275. I then returned the equipment, as Dish acknowledges. Because I returned the equipment, that $275 charge should be removed, as Dish also acknowledges. Dish Network has said on multiple occasions that they have informed AT&T through their systems that I am owed the money. Dish has also said on multiple occasions that they have credited AT&T the $275 so they can pay me. AT&T has had repeated problems seeing that confirmation in their systems. This has happened multiple times since June.

I have been so disillusioned by this process that I have canceled my AT&T U-Verse service, which I actually enjoyed, and have moved all of my services -- TV, phone and Internet.

Matt Schulz
Austin, Texas

One of the knocks on General Motors has long been that the company is arrogant and out of touch with the needs of its customers.

Has that changed since the company went into bankruptcy and pledged that it was building a new, more nimble car company? Exhibit A in the "Nothing has changed" file is this: the feedback rating for GM's eBay account.

In total, yourgmdealer has received six positive ratings and two negatives, but because one buyer left three ratings, the actual feedback score is +2. . . four positive and two negatives. And if you think that's bad, there's more: Three of the positive feedback ratings come from a user with the ID "661henryglen" who left this glowing review after purchasing a 2009 Chevy Cobalt: "THIS IS A VERY SIMPLE PROCESS."

That feedback was left on Aug-20-09 at 16:51. The auction ended on Aug 20, 2009 at 16:48:01 PDT. That raises a fantastic question: How does a person buy a car on eBay and then complete the transaction in less than three minutes, allowing enough time to log back in and leave feedback? That must have been a simple process indeed!

Fascinating -- and suspicious -- stuff.

Build your business even in a down economy. Join Barbara Bartlein, The People Pro, as she interviews Shep Hyken, author of "The Cult of the Customer." No matter what you sell, who you sell it to, or how much (or little) of it you sell, your business revolves around customers. Keeping customers happy, keeping them coming back for more, and keeping them loyal to your brand are the most basic ingredients of business success. The Cult of the Customer shows you how to create the kind of customer experience that leads to endless loyalty and constant referrals.

Join us for this fun interview with one of the experts in customer service and building your business.

Bank of America complained that the credit markets were so tight, soooooooo tight, that it couldn't possibly generate cash in the private sector, and that was why it needed a federal bailout.

Well now it got its federal bailout, and it continues to rip off consumers across the country with one of the worst savings account rates in the world -- 0.10% APY.

This means that for every $1,000 you save with Bank of America, you get a pre-tax return of $1 per year.

Emigrant Direct's FDIC-insured savings account pays 1.55%, and the national average on a money market account is 1.29% according to BankRate.com

Maybe it was the sauce?

Sometimes at WalletPop, we have a hard time predicting which of our pieces will touch a nerve, and in what way. So when we posted Wednesday about Pizza Hut changing over to "The Hut"-- and the new in-house digital TV network arriving at Hut stores this summer -- we hardly expected to field scores of comments from disgruntled Pizza Hut patrons nationwide, a hefty majority complaining about pie quality and sanitary conditions at stores.

Here's a sampling of some comments readers posted; we've used screen nicknames to identify the writers:

From Brian: "If Pizza Hut wants to appeal to the younger generation, they need to work on their product. No amount of re-branding is going to help. Bland greasy nasty overpriced (cheap) frozen grocery quality 'pizza' that smacks of the Velveeta era just isn't gonna cut it with the younger crowd who (particularly in urban areas) are accustomed to much higher quality Italian joints."

From Linda: "We are in our early 50s and one of our Pizza Huts closed because the quality was awful, kids ran rampant and it was getting downright dirty. "

Is the customer always right? OK, they're not always right. But shouldn't consumers at least feel as though they are valued? Particularly in today's economy, where customer retention and growth is tougher and tougher, you would think the low-cost investment of being responsive to customers would be a wise move.

But more and more consumers are writing in with tales of woe that turned them sour on a company when quick action could have made the whole situation go away or even enhance positive feelings toward the business.

For our recent series Vanishing in America, I wrote a post bemoaning the disappearance of customer service in the U.S. retail industry. Many readers rightly took me to task for appearing to place all the blame on waiters, clerks and call center reps. They pointed out that it takes two to tango, and when otherwise nice people are forced to deal with rude, inconsiderate and pushy customers all day long, their attitude is bound to suffer.

Do any of these situations ring a bell?

I recently received my bank statement from one of the passbook accounts that I own. My initial deposit of $200 was down to $152. Apparently, I was charged for having a "dormant" account which then put my total below the required minimum of $200. Because the account had fallen below this minimum, I now was being charged extra for having the account. Naturally, I was a bit upset. I thought that you put money in the bank to grow the account, not watch it go down.

I took my passbook and went out to the branch of North Shore Bank. The teller informed me that the woman who handled dormant accounts was gone for the day but she would be in the next morning. I left my passbook with my phone number and asked her to call. She did not call the next day.

Slumdog Millionaire is tipped to be memorialized as Best Picture at the Oscars this Sunday, but customers are hanging up on the world of Indian call centers that it depicts. But report after report show that customers are sick of contending with polite but robotic script-reading phone operators from India, the Philippines, and Mexico.

Companies originally moved their call centers offshore because the practice saved them money -- some 50% to 75% off the price of maintaining them in the United States. But now, they're finding a way to turn our collective distaste for overseas call centers into a new revenue stream. If you don't like Indian call centers, companies are saying, then you can pay more to be guaranteed an American one.

Americans' tolerance for companies' lousy service, and our increasing willingness to pay more to be treated the way we used to be, has not gone unnoticed. The Washington Post calls it the Bangalore Backlash, and its poster child is Dell, which has instituted an optional $12.95 monthly service fee for customers who want to talk to an American. One survey found that customer satisfaction with overseas calling centers was 23% less than satisfaction with American helplines.

Companies are doing it more and more. Take Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, which continues to "test" a $15 fee which gives passengers in the main dining room access to a certain kind of steak normally served in a surcharged dining room. With its own eye on the bottom line, Apple Computer is increasing its call-center presence in India, but then again, it already has a fee-based phone support plan in place for customers who have owned their products for more than three months. Even the TSA permits Clear, a version of security inspection that favors those who shell out extra cash.

We love to watch movies in my family, renting several each week. But the new policy at our local Blockbuster is just too complicated for us. It used to be that you could rent a movie for $5.99 and there were NO late fees. This made our life simple. Couldn't find the DVD for a day or two? No problem. Wanted to save it for the weekend? No problem.

When we went last week, however, we were presented with a complex list of different options for rental. We could have the movie for one night at $1.99. Not a bad deal, unless you forget to return it. Then you were charged $1.99 per day for every "overdue" day. Or, you could rent for $5.99 for four days. But again, you would be charged $1.99 for any day after the first four.

I don't know about you, but I have no idea what I am doing four days from now. I have so many other things going on in my life, that this just seems too complicated. I checked out Blockbuster online to look at the plans there, but couldn't figure out what they cost. To find our about the pricing, you have to sign up for a "FREE" trial. This doesn't sit well with me, I generally like to know the prices before I buy.

It's difficult to know where to begin in providing commentary on this conversation that purports to be a conversation between a Verizon customer and the company's representatives.

Note: I found this video on FailBlog.org and cannot speak to the authenticity of the clip -- although given my experiences with Verizon, it certainly wouldn't surprise me if it's real. The company ranked eighth on MSN's Customer Service Hall of Shame for 2007.

Anyone who's ever had a Dell computer knows the company doesn't offer much in the way of customer service. But this takes the cupcake.

In response to complaints that calls to customer service end up somewhere in Bangladesh, where the employee may or may not be able to make himself understood, Dell has decided to offer this fantastic new service. The Your Tech Team service promises that when you call tech support, you will get a real live American. For a price.

The service costs $12.95 a month for customers with a Dell account, and $99 a year for customers who've just bought a new computer.

If you opt not to pay extra, it's back to the Third World for you.

I can think of a few all-American words -- of the salty kind -- to describe this new form of pay to play.

Even I'm galled at the number of functions American companies have outsourced to the Third World. And I'm a fairly left of center sort. But nothing makes me go Archie Bunker faster than not being able to understand someone I've waited 40 minutes on hold to talk to, about some infuriating tech problem that shouldn't be happening on a new machine.

Actually, I can't decide whether to revile Dell more, or admire its chutzpah. I got so mad recounting that last paragraph I realize I would probably pop for the American.

What would you do? Pay for a y'all or save and take your chances the Indian worker who picks up the phone speaks the King's English?

Did you ever think we'd see the day when people would beg for airline food? Yet here we are.

In mid-August, United announced it would start forcing coach passengers on international flights to pay for their meals. Customers went ballistic. First U.S. Airways makes people pay $2 for so much as water, and then United deigned to lock people up in a steel tube for eight hours without providing free grub. United rebuffed the complaints saying the changes were "necessary."

The new "test" charge was supposed to begin on many transatlantic flights as of Oct. 1. But after fierce feedback from would-be customers that the airline politely described as "candid" but were actually downright scalding, United announced Tuesday that it would not, after all, charge customers to eat on long-haul flights. Some passengers who protested the new fee, many of whom travel for work, were e-mailed a capitulation today ("We heard you," it reads, "and have decided not to move forward," before prattling on about its business class amenities).

No one ever thought that $4.05/gallon would look like a decent price for gas. Here on Cape Cod this summer it did, so I stopped. It was a gas station in West Falmouth, a town I once lived in but visit only rarely these days. The $4.05 was at a "full-service" pump which once meant that someone would pump your gas and even wash your windshield. Forget the windshield these days but most of us have adjusted.

On a blackboard at the corner of the station a sign read, "Coffee, any size, 49 cents."

"I'll just leave the car here a minute while I run inside and get an ice coffee," I told the attendant.
"I'll show you," he replied and followed me inside. The Quikmart was newly renovated and the attendant - who I suspect might have been the owner - pointed to the coffee area. "Coffee," he said and then pointing again, "Milk, cream, sugar." It was actual milk and cream resting in a bin of ice, not those terrible little plastic containers that add reams to the landfill and are filled with something that doesn't taste like milk.