My Archives: November 2002
Saturday, November 16, 2002
One of my pet peeves is the total bombardment of advertising that one can't escape in American life today. A trip to the theater to see "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" today showed me just how bad it's getting. As noted in another entry today, "less is more" sometimes, and I, for one, would like to see less advertising in the movie theater. [more]
Posted by Rob @ 12:55 AM ET [Link] [70 Comments]
Occasionally you find a concept that you've always believed, but have never seen stated so clearly before. Bruce Kasanoff's online book "LESS" caused such a moment for me. In a nutshell, Bruce's idea is: Instead of trying to do more for your customers "to differentiate yourself," a strategy which often backfires, ask "what can I do to give my customers less of something they don't want?" His site has many good examples, and I highly recommend it to anyone that runs a business.
Posted by Rob @ 12:26 AM ET [Link]
Thursday, November 14, 2002
I had a noteworthy experience this week with iGain, a company that provides online "rewards." It turns out that they interpret their privacy policy a bit more liberally than I would. It seems that they don't feel there is a violation of the policy in using my information to send me spam from their corporate siblings. [more]
Posted by Rob @ 09:37 AM ET [Link] [89 Comments]
Any businessman knows: if a customer tried to send your company a letter, and it came back stamped "Return to Sender," it would ruin your reputation. So why do companies allow this to happen with their e-mail? Your "Internet presence" is more than a web site. Read on to find out about the amateur mistake that makes companies look bad. [more]
Posted by Rob @ 09:04 AM ET [Link] [117 Comments]
Monday, November 11, 2002
Jonathan Peterson wrote an interesting 'blog entry linking to my CompUSA page. It seems he did some consulting for CompUSA when they were working on their eCommerce web site. Jonathan's story certainly illustrates CompUSA's "commitment" to customer service.
Posted by Rob @ 11:25 PM ET [Link]
Why are so many companies sanguine about having upset customers nowadays? Are there things which contribute to a corporate culture of indifference? I have a theory: part of the problem is the rise of the mutual fund. Read on... [more]
Posted by Rob @ 03:26 PM ET [Link] [110 Comments]
Today I finally got off my butt and did a long-overdue update of the site's visual design. It's a work in progress, so there may be some oddities... Read on: [more]
Posted by Rob @ 01:24 AM ET [Link] [96 Comments]
Sunday, November 10, 2002
Some people have written to me suggesting that my experience with CompUSA was due to me being unreasonable. I recently received an email that suggests differently... from someone who works at CompUSA.
Read on to find out what "X" thought about my article... [more]
Posted by Rob @ 10:15 AM ET [Link] [85 Comments]
A week and a half ago, I was interviewed by Alex Frangos of the Wall Street Journal. He'd heard about my web site, and was working on an article for the syndicated Wall Street Journal Sunday Edition, which appears in newspapers nationwide. We talked for a while about the site, and my experiences with "turboing" customer complaints.
I was quite excited about the prospect of being published in the Journal, even if it was a little blurb in a syndicated column instead of the "real thing." Unfortunately, it seems that my interview didn't make it into the final article. Oh, well...
The article appears in the Sunday, November 10, 2002 edition of the Wall Street Journal Sunday Edition. It's also available online.
Posted by Rob @ 09:42 AM ET [Link] [122 Comments]
Saturday, November 9, 2002
Digging into the mailbag for feedback my site has received, here's a gem from October. This person was commenting on my tale of woe getting customer service from CompUSA. After a rant about credit-card fraud that showed this person hadn't read the article--or failed to comprehend it--the letter ends with this gem:
My policy is "when a customer tellms me that he willnever shop at the store again, then I say good by.. why should I help you!" I work at Best Buy and worked at CDW and we all have the same policies and we are siccessfulWe dont need jerks like you
So get a life
Well... I'm not sure if Best Buy is all that "siccessful," but that's a blog for another day. Certainly, if this is the kind of attitude I might find from a Best Buy employee, it makes me less likely to shop there!
Thankfully, such erudite and reasoned letters are few and far between. Most of the letters I receive about the CompUSA article are sympathetic. Often they share similar tales of woe.
Posted by Rob @ 06:50 PM ET [Link]
While The Art of Turboing is all about how to complain with extreme prejudice, sometimes the same technique is useful when you have compliments or constructive criticism. Sometimes, it's even profitable.
Read on to find out what happened when I shared some thoughts with the CEO of BJ's Wholesale Club. [more]
Posted by Rob @ 04:51 PM ET [Link] [99 Comments]
As time goes on, more and more sites seem to be linking to my web page The Art of Turboing. This means I get more "fan mail," both positive and negative. I've often wanted to share some of the thoughts I get from readers, but I didn't want to take the time making Web pages.
Also, sometimes I have ideas I'd like to share regarding customer service, corporations, and miscellaneous topics.
"Hey," I thought, "isn't this what blogging is all about?"
So, here you have it, my very own blog.
More to come soon...
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