Subscribe
Not “Technically” Fraud
Author: Peggy Entrop
April 23, 2009
I shop online. A lot. This makes me somewhat paranoid about my credit card numbers being stolen. I know that most online sites are secure, but I still check my accounts daily to make sure nothing fishy is going on.
This morning I saw a charge I didn’t recognize, so I called Bank of America and spoke to an extremely helpful fraud claims rep. She immediately identified the claim with no help from me. “Are you calling about the $14.95 charge on April 21st?”
Yep!
She told me some things that shocked me.
(1) It’s not technically fraud. YES - I didn’t authorize the charge. But, what most likely happened was that I bought something from Company A that sold my credit card number to Company B who started charging me monthly for a service that I knew nothing about. And, I technically authorized the charge by doing business with Company A.
(2) She gets calls reporting these kinds of charges every single day.
(3) She told me that if I called the company and asked for a refund of all charges, they would immediately give them to me because, “They know you didn’t ask for their services.”
(4) She advised me to ask them which company gave them my credit card information so that I can be cautious when dealing with that company in the future. This kind of charge happened to her once, and it was Best Buy that sold her card number.
(5) All this is legal.
So, I called the company, told them I wanted all my money back and no future charges. They folded immediately and gave me the refund. They told me it was YourCableStore.com that gave them my number. (I bought a stereo headphone adapter from them a month ago.) And they sent me an oddly delightful cancellation confirmation email:
The irony of this situation is that even though my “membership experience” was based on what I feel are duplicitous practices, it was much easier to resolve the situation with them than it was to cancel my AOL membership, or my 24 Hour Fitness membership. And, at least their exit communication was well written and even gave me the opportunity to provide them with “comments or suggestions.” (I remember my AOL confirmation email as essentially saying, “You are dead to us.”)
The real losers in this scenario are the companies that are getting my business honestly with their right hand and quietly scamming me with their left. What kind of customer relationship does that build? Will I ever buy from YourCableStore.com? No way. And now even Best Buy is even looking fishy to me, because my friend at BofA warned me.
Happy Customer Loyalty Month!
Masters of Customer Experience
Author: Bill Cusick
April 14, 2009
Through serendipity and a great friend of mine, I lucked into a chance to attend the first two practice rounds of the Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia last week. If you’re a golfer, I don’t have to tell you that that is an opportunity you don’t check your calendar for; you just go. If you’re not a golfer, well, congratulations.
The Masters is a special tournament, and Augusta National is a special place. You get that sense of history and tradition on television, but to go there is to truly feel the “experience” in the best sense of the word.
There are no corporate logos at the Masters, no sponsor signs on the course, no corporate tents, no ads in the course guidebook you’re handed (for free) on your way in. If you’re hungry, you can buy an egg salad sandwich for $1.50, a Coke for a buck. It’s like, as you step on the course, you’ve walked back in time about 25 years.
The course itself is immaculate, with thousands of blooming azaleas, dogwoods, 150 year-old elms, and Magnolias everywhere on the course and around the low-key plantation-style clubhouse.
Given the prestige and the rich tradition of the tournament, they have no trouble selling tickets, which they cap for both practice rounds and the tournament. There’s a lottery to grab the practice round passes, and they closed the waiting list for actual tournament passes in 2000 (9 years ago!), and still haven’t needed to open it back up.
So it makes me wonder. As we talk about customer experience, and what companies should focus on to create a memorable, positive one, what can we learn from Augusta National and the Masters. I think it’s two things.
First: Commit. At Augusta, they are committed to providing both players and spectators with the very best, traditional golf tournament in the country. To do that, they say no to quick money from additional sponsors, they leave money on the table by not increasing passes to an exorbitant amount, and they keep the number of spectators to a manageable number (again, bypassing more quick money) so everyone can move around and see their favorite players on the most famous holes. At the same time, they spare no expense in preparing and maintaining an immaculate course, tweaking it each year to make it challenging for the players, but retaining all the memorable aspects of individual holes, creating a sense of nostalgia.
Second: It All Matters. At Augusta, when you buy a sandwich, it’s wrapped in green plastic. The reason is so that, should you commit the cardinal sin of dropping it on the hallowed ground, it won’t be a distraction to the players or patrons, as it will blend into the background. That’s just one of the countless details that the members of Augusta National take into account to assure that each year, the tournament experience delivered is top shelf. They understand that the experience is made up of everything. It’s not just which players are entered, or the tee setups, or the traffic patterns to enter the course. It’s those things certainly, but it’s everything else as well.
As you think about your customer experience, do you understand what your company is really trying to accomplish? Are you willing to commit to the vision of your customer experience? And then, do you take into account all aspects of the experience, and how each might impact the customer’s perception of the experience?
If not, you have some work to do.
Follow Bill on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bill1vox
Customer Loyalty Month
Author: Peggy Entrop
April 10, 2009
April is Customer Loyalty Month!
Here at Vox, we talk a great deal about how simple improvements to the customer experience can increase customer loyalty and therefore profitability. Giving people a personal touch is often the key in creating the kind of relationships that will win a loyal customer.
What simple things do you do to keep your customers coming back for more?
How do you build relationships with them?
How do you repair relationships that may be on rocky ground?
Leave a comment with your tips on building customer loyalty!
More on Twitter… (I know, I know)
Author: Peggy Entrop
April 9, 2009
Take one moment to make some assumptions about what the typical Twitter user (Ok… tweeter?) is like… Got it?
Now, read the article about 10,000 young Moldovans that mobilized using Twitter as their media center of choice to protest against Moldova’s Communist leadership on Tuesday.
Does it surprise you that there are thousands of politically active Moldovans on Twitter? Maybe not, but it surprised me. I think I have some assumptions about what kind of person uses Twitter. The truth is that people from almost every walk of life are tweeting away.
Social Media has become a permanent fixture in the way people communicate with each other. The sites evolve and formats change, but there is a flexible, seemingly-uncontrollable communication mechanism out there, and if you don’t learn to tap into it, you are wasting an opportunity.
Tourism Kiosks at O’Hare Airport
Author: Peggy Entrop
April 1, 2009
According to an article on Chicagobreakingnews.com, “Fifty new computer tourism “kiosks” will be installed throughout O’Hare International Airport” to replace recently laid-off greeters.
The article emphasizes the economic benefits to the new system. While it is a sure way to save on expenses, there are other customer issues to explore.
Possible CE Benefits
- Since these kiosk computers can store an enormous amount of information, customers are more likely to get accurate, up-to-date information
- Many customers (like me) prefer to use self-help technology than speak to humans (notice the popularity of the grocery store self-check-out)
- Airports could potentially track the kind of information accessed by users and use that information to create better and more user-friendly communications
Questions to Consider
- Can these kiosks replace the translation services that greeters formerly provided? What languages will be offered?
- How frequently will the information be updated? Will they use the data gathered to improve future communication?
- What are the contingencies in case of an emergency situation?
- What about the environmental design? Are these kiosks easy to find and use?
- What if someone requires help or gets stuck? Is there some personal backup?
Kiosks also pose many concerns that directly affect the customer experience (as Vox President, Jeannie Walters outlines in her Woman vs Machine Blog Series). How clean are they? How secure do users feel? Where are they located within the building?
The bottom line is that providing more information in a new way can be great, but you can’t just put up a kiosk and assume that everything will be fine.
Follow Peggy on Twitter: www.twitter.com/entrop
