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Posted on 04.29.06 by Widge @ 3:10 pm
So here's where the story ends…at least for the time being. After the Consumerist was kind enough to air my plight to a larger audience, somebody in their comments mentioned that CompUSA had sold the MDA for the price I wanted: $250. Of course, I don't know about your experiences with CompUSA, but I hate going in there. It's like a freaking ghost town in there. Trying to find an employee is like a cryptozoological expedition. But, dammit, I wanted the phone. So I was willing to brave the void. Long story short, I was there on the one day that the one good employee was on hand. She took my information, looked me up in the system that T-Mobile has for them…and somehow, magically, I qualified for the right price. What a difference a day, and someone who gives a damn, makes. And, bonus, I only had to renew for one year instead of two. So, what have we learned? When you're dealing with an asshole, bypass them if at all possible. And, thanks to the Net, we can share intel and outwit bastardy. So am I still pissed at T-Mobile? Yeah. Like I said before, now I'm a customer who will be wary of recommending my carrier. And considering the bad press they've gotten, this is hopefully the most expensive $50 they've ever had to deal with. –Sent from the MDA (and still getting used to the keyboard, so forgive and typos) Filed under: General BS
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Posted on 04.27.06 by Widge @ 12:23 pm
The Consumerist has helped me air my vitriol, for which I thank them. Welcome those of you who wandered here. The place looks like crap, I know, because it's my personal blog. The real stuff is here. Anyway, first off, no, I'm not a pornographer. Being a writer and a webmaster generally ranks lower on the scale of acceptibility, whether people want to accept it or not, because at least if I was in porn, I more than likely wouldn't really need to worry about $50, would I? And as somebody pointed out in the comments on that post, the $50 argument goes both ways. Well, it does–unless you're the customer. The $50 is the tipping point for the other things that I mentioned: the lack of network coverage and wide variety of dead spots, the fact that I have to stand with my face pressed against the window of my apartment to forward my phone to my home phone because I know I get crappy coverage inside. Now, here's the thing: I may get out there in the big wide world of carriers and not be able to find a better deal. I may get out there and find that other companies are worse. Hell, I may, as somebody pointed out, luck out and find a CompUSA that sells them for the price I want. And you know what? I'd probably renew for a year and grab the damn phone to be done with it. But in the end, the $50 has still taken me from somebody who has said "Yeah, I 've never had a problem with T-Mobile" for years and turned me into somebody who'll…um, get pissed enough to write two posts and get people from bigger sites than mine reading them. And what I find so frustrating is that it is so fricking easy to please people. I wasn't asking for the damn moon. I wanted the same deal that Bailey got. If I had been a guy on for two years and he had been on for seven, I would have understood and probably plonked down the $300. But it's not even that. The woman on the phone could have made some kind of effort to keep me happy. How about this? We can't reduce the phone right now, but… We'll renew you for one year instead of two? Fine–based on my track record I would have renewed for year #2 when the time came anyway. They lose nothing. Here's a gizmo whatzit accessory for free. Fine. Let's give you the $50 back by trimming $10 off your wireless data bill for the next five months. Perfect. Any of these solutions would have worked for me. But instead, it was: you might want to make sure that other companies don't overcharge you and wind up costing you more than the $50. Well, guess what? I'll pay more for a service that has people who can think creatively and solve customer problems. Gladly. Or here's an even simpler solution: she notated my account about our conversation. I asked, "To what end?" I don't think I received a straight answer. If we couldn't have reached a solution then, she could have notated the account, "Call this guy back when we have a deal that will work," and said, "Okay, if we get a deal that we think we can work for you, we'll call you. I've notated your account and flagged it." Or even easier, "Give me your e-mail address and I'll make sure you get promotional offers there. You might find one that will work for you." Anything but we're sorry to lose your business but we just can't give a fuck would have been nice at that point. Okay, I actually wanted to tell you about a good customer service experience as an example of how to handle things, but I'm hungry. So I'll be back. In the meantime, my books are there on the right hand side of the site. Buy them. Then I wouldn't care about $50, porn or not. Filed under: General BS
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Posted on 04.26.06 by Widge @ 6:55 pm
Here I am, writing to you from my Sidekick 1. I was hoping to be typing next to you from a brand spanking new MDA, but that was not to be. Allow me to tell you my story. I have been a proponent of T-Mobile for a while now. Why? Why have I tolerated a sub-par coverage plan with a half-assed signal? Very simple. Customer service. It's amazing how little customer service it takes to instill loyalty, isn't it? Especially since customer service is a lost art. Two times T-Mobile did right by me…just little things, but they impressed me to the point that I decided to stick with them. First, one time, out of the blue, walking into my office, my cell rang. It was T-Mobile, calling out of the blue to tell me that they reviewed my plan, and that my plan sucked and hey, here's another plan where you get everything on your present plan plus a bag of chips and it's cheaper. Did I have to renew for 12 months? Sure, but I would have overpaid them for less service anyway, so I was happy to say sure, hit me with that hot note. Thanks for calling. Second time, I had called about something–don't even remember what–and the T-Mobile guy on the other end said hang on a second, let me take a look at your account. After a minute, he said, hey, we're charging you a la carte for a service tat you have in your plan already…here let me fix that…and…let me credit your account back to January for that (it was July)…all done. What else can I help you with today? Well, damn, when was the last time somebody did that for you? I was delighted. So here we are. I've been a T-Mobile customer for seven years. As you all know, I have (and love) my Sidekick 1. I did not buy a SK2 because at the time, the SK1 was still working fine for what I needed. However, I've been ready for the SK3 for a while now, seeing as how my SK1 is about ready to go the way of all flesh. So I was waiting on the SK3, knowing that if I went with a SK2, exactly one week later the SK3 would be on sale, and basically it would kick the SK2's ass and take its lunch money. So patiently I have waited, until recently, when I heard of the MDA. Basically, the MDA appears to have everything I would want in the SK3 and then some, plus it's available now. Bailey got one, so actually having one in my hands I could check out made me realize, ah, screw it, I'll go with the MDA. So I went to a T-Mobile store, expecting to get a good deal…i.e. the same deal Bailey got. After all, we joined T-Mobile about the same time…surely my loyalty counted for something. It did…just not as much as Bailey's did. So I find myself on the phone in the store talking to the customer care person. It seems very reasonable to me: I've been a customer for seven years, so has he, I know you call sell the phone at that price, you did it a week ago. Just give me the same deal. Nope, no dice. I even played the Okay, Fine, I May Have to See About Dating Other Carriers Card. Made no difference. I said thanks, but no thanks, and got off the line. So on my way to my car, that's when it hit me: seven year customer, spent in that time easily several thousand bucks on service, was standing in a store ready to sign up for two more years of service, ready to be happy with the phone I had decided I wanted. But no, sorry. And that's when I got pissed off. Because what was the difference between happy loyal customer and disappointed customer ready to dump T-Mobile for somebody else? $50. My loyalty and what would be nine years of paying them–the closest thing to a sure thing sale you could have–wasn't worth fifty lousy dollars. So at this point, it's not even about the $50. It's that T-Mobile thinks so little of me as a customer, they're going to, "generously," offer me the same deal they'd offer somebody walking in off the street to sign up for the first time. And you know what? Fuck that and fuck them. I'm not bound to a contract, so if I can find a better deal elsewhere, I'll take it. Because I finally know what price tag to stick on customer loyalty. Amazing how little it takes to make a customer happy, isn't it? And, conversely, how little it takes to piss one off. Update: Howdy, Consumerist readers. The welcoming committee and more rant goes here. Filed under: General BS
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John Robinson is a writer of prose, poetry and comics who also writes under
the pseudonym of Widgett Walls.
This is my latest book. Short stories written especially for you, or at least someone who reminded me a lot of you at the time.
