The old Philadelphia double-blind! That’s the third time I’ve fallen for it this week.
I disagree. Strongly. It’s quite easy to distinguish the reputable companies from the ones that aren’t. Reputable companies don’t erect roadblocks that make it more difficult for customers to stop being customers. Instead, they offer a superior product or service.
As an example, why was it necessary to phone the company in order to cancel the account? Having been through this kind of rigamarole before, I would bet real money that it’s not actually possible to cancel the account online. The implications of this are enormous, and the motivations obvious.
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It was not necessary to phone. The rep in the call told the customer, and the customer stated, I believe at least twice, that he knew that he could just stop by a local shop and cancel directly, but he didn’t want to. I doubt that cancelling online would be allowed though, if for no other reason than customer service questions we’re already discussing. Personally, I don’t want any services that I’m paying for to be cancelled unless it’s being done by me. And do you really want to have to set up yet another internet account & password for every possible home service you might have?
[quote=“PurpleStater, post:23, topic:37636”]
No, it’s not. If it were then those disreputable companies would be losing more customers, and getting even lower customer service ratings than they are.[/quote]
This fails the most basic blush test. Good companies that provide products that their customers are happy with don’t lose a lot of customers. Insisting at length that companies must engage in these kinds of scummy retention practices assumes by definition that the companies are losing more customers than they are gaining.
This filler is irrelevant to my point. I’ll repeat my point: reputable companies don’t need to employee retention specialists. Providing examples of companies that do employ retention specialists does not in any way refute my point.
I explicitly said “online”. Going to a shop directly to cancel an account is obviously even more of a hassle than having to call the company, and both of those options are more of a hassle than simply allowing the customer to cancel their account online.
A company can “allow” any kind of cancellation that they want to. That they only allow cancellations by phone and in person speaks volumes about their intent.
I’ll bet you $10 that you can open the account online. Disallowing reciprocal escape from the business relationship is, as I said, the mark of a disreputable company.
I think you’re getting a bit desperate here. It’s an internet account. It has online access, a password, and suitably strong authentication protocols by default.
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First off, have you ever had Comcast as your ISP/cable? Because until recently, I would have to sit around my house for 6 hours and maybe, just maybe a tech would show up. Late. Secondly, if the problem isn’t outside your abode, Comcast will charge $35 for the service call. Thirdly, they never, and I do mean never, own up to problems being on their end.
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Its interesting that he mentions feeling embarrassed. FWIW, I have some experience working with ISP’s in a contractor capacity and these types of statements have always been meant to be “interpreted” in the context of doing whatever it takes to retain the customer.
In other words, you need to read between the lines to understand what is really being said and my CEO to phonedrone translation is this:
To whom it may concern (phone reps)
Geez, this is a mess, I experienced embarrassment of the worst kind, make some judgement calls willya!
We’ll get quality assurance to work on this, but don’t worry, not the managers or anybody in operations, you guys go ahead and keep doing things the way we’ve drilled them into you until we say otherwise.
Did I mention I was embarrassed? and that we apologized to the customer? good, feel free to share.
Love.
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