Hashemian Blog Web Tools, Financial Markets, Technology Wednesday, September 09, 2009 Virgin America  I flew Virgin America for the first time on a trip to LA last week and I was thrilled with the experience. It doesn't take much to make me a happy flier. A little in-flight entertainment, decent seats, and a clean plane is enough for me. I got all of those on Virgin America. Sort of like JetBlue with a bit of European flare. Even the safety instructions were pretty entertaining. Richard Branson also makes a cameo cartoon appearance peddling the Gogo in-flight wireless service (it's fee-based like everything else.) He made a humorous reference that made me do a double-take. Did he really say that? I don't remember the exact words but it was something like … because everything is better at 35,000 feet. Uh, wait, what are we trying to say, like a mile-high club? … Conservative-minded passengers probably weren't amused, but it made me laugh. I didn't even bother with the TV on the return flight. There was enough selection of classic rock, alternative, and blues music to keep me listening the whole way back. If only the traditional airlines could learn a thing or two from Virgin America. virgin america,airlines,richard branson Labels: customer service <Virgin America> // posted by rh 0 comments Tuesday, April 15, 2008 Bank Service Agreement  Every time I receive a new service agreement from a bank or a credit card company I know they've devised a new way to profit from the consumers. Remember when many credit card companies shortened the payment cycles (grace periods) from a full month to three weeks or less. That was their ingenious way to snare more consumers into their penalty list, charge them extra interest, and jack up their interest rates. Or another time when they changed their dispute policies by curtailing consumers' right to lawsuits, replacing it with arbitration. No doubt their hand-picked arbitrators would always side with the banks, forcing consumers into unjust settlements. Here's another Service Agreement I received recently addressing online payments: We may delay or cancel a request to transfer or charge money back to the Pay From or other account at our discretion including if the payment: Looks suspicious or fraudulent Appears to have incorrect amount or recipient information Seems to duplicate another payment Of course this is spun to appear as if the bank is attempting to protect its clients against fraud. But what it's really saying is that the bank has given itself arbitrary and broad powers to do as it pleases, including charging fees, if it the transaction doesn't seem right, based on its own vague definition. Look at the verbs used: "Looks", "Appears", "Seems". What kind of rules are these? I mean why even bother with a service agreement? They should just replace all that with a terse statement like: "We will charge you whenever, however, and whatever amount we feel like. Have a nice day." service agreements,banks,credit cards,online banking Labels: credit cards, customer service <Bank Service Agreement> // posted by rh 0 comments Tuesday, December 04, 2007 High-Tech Sales Pitches  So today I'm at my desk in the office fiddling with a new Web accelerator toy, er appliance, and I get the dreaded call transfer from the front desk. The Web caching box must've had fried my common sense and I took the call. It was a sales pitch. People who call my number at the office usually dial my extension directly. Even then, they get a call-screening message asking them to identify themselves. If I am at my desk and if it's urgent, I pick up the call, otherwise they go into the voicemail and I get back to them later. Generally, the only times calls are transferred to my extension via the front desk are when someone calls up the office and asks for the Web guy or the programmer or the developer and those are typically salespeople pushing a new and exciting product or a service or the survey guys asking for 5 minutes that last a good half hour. The sales guy was peddling Microsoft and Cisco training courses. With my mind still on Web caching, I half-heartedly listened to the man drone on effusively about their courses and their various membership levels. He had me browse to their Web site and took me through some of their marketing pages. Not wanting to be discourteous, I obliged, but he must've realized that I wasn't exactly the type of ready and willing customer he was hoping for. Undaunted, he pushed on buttering me up with compliments that I was a part of an exclusive group chosen to receive the course material at a substantial discount. I finally had to cut him off and asked the inevitable question, "How much?" Sensing slippage, he promptly handed the call over to one of their professional and cheerful salespeople with the hopes that the new guy would close the deal. When I resisted, the cheers suddenly gave way to a quick thank-you and a phone number to call back and that was the end of it. I don't understand this. I mean I know techies are eccentric and lack some social skills, but are we taken for easy prey? I could almost hear the salesman's thoughts through all the pleasantries, "Buy it, you dumb ass. Take the bait. Buy the stupid course." I suppose there are some of us out there who would succumb to the art of persuasion. I've had my weak moments too, but not today. If only he was peddling a Web caching courseware today. sales pitch,telemarketing,web caching,web accelerator Labels: customer service, sales <High-Tech Sales Pitches> // posted by rh 0 comments Tuesday, November 13, 2007 Web Hosting Customer Service  Here's the brilliant idea for today. Why don't the hosting companies let the right representatives answer their customers' questions, instead of letting customers waste time with their less trained agents? I've been helping a friend setup a site on one of the nationally known web hosting sites, and I must say getting the right answer is an exercise in extreme patience. My own site (the one carrying this blog) is hosted with one of the smaller outfits and I've been able to get my technical questions promptly and correctly answered most of the time. That doesn't seem to be the case with the larger companies. I don't even think they read the emails. I ask for something to be disabled, they send instructions back on how to enable it. Even worse, after dealing with so many newbies mindlessly spouting techie jargon, they have developed resistance to anyone trying to get technical with them. It's only after several tries that an issue is escalated to the more knowledgeable staff who can finally help resolve the issue. I'm not sure whom is to blame here. Web hosting must be a cut-throat business and these outfits are just holding the line on expenses. The front-end positions are generally low-paying jobs, so I assume new people are brought in, trained quickly on the web hosting's interface, and then dumped in the call center pool. I wish I could get a sample of the questions these guys field. I can only imagine what absurdities customers throw at them. The front-end agents are probably fine for the amateur callers, but it’s the back-end guys I really need when I call or email for something. I presume I never quite make it to the back, but I would be quite content with the middle-layer without being hassled by the front guys a few times. People tend to note that smaller hosting companies have more informed support personnel. That's certainly true with my hosting service. Perhaps the bigger guys can learn something from their smaller counterparts. web hosting,tech support,call centers,customer service Labels: customer service, web <Web Hosting Customer Service> // posted by rh 2 comments Monday, July 02, 2007 Discover Card  My memory is hazy on this, but I think Discover Card was the first credit card I ever had. What I'm sure of is that Discover Card was the only credit card I carried in my wallet for years. I signed up for mine back in college years when credit card companies were just beginning to realize the untapped potential of revenue in college students. The Discover Card was a new arrival but it had an innovative approach. No annual fees and a cashback program and a slick slogan, "It pays to Discover." It instantly won me over and I started using it exclusively. Their plan was certainly paying off with me. As I graduated from college and entered the workforce and ramped up my expenses, Discover Card came along for the ride. But it wasn't meant to last. After some 15 years, I finally parted ways with Discover Card over a small dispute with a vendor. This happened a few years ago and the details of the dispute escape me, but what remained was the bitter taste of a credit card company taking the side of the merchant, rather than its long-time customer in good standing. I can understand Discover Card's reasons to go against me. I'm sure the vendor's business was substantially larger than my paltry charge-ups. But from my point of view I was wronged and by then the credit card landscape had caught up with Discover Card's benefits, so there was no reason for me not to jump. And jump I did, to a no-fee, cashback MasterCard and never looked back. As Discover Financial Services got its own stock symbol (DFS) today and begun trading on NYSE, I couldn't help reminisce of our long relationship and how it was derailed over a small charge. I wish Discover Card well, but I still don't miss it. discover card,mastercard,credit cards,merchant accounts Labels: business-finance, credit cards, customer service <Discover Card> // posted by rh 3 comments Tuesday, April 24, 2007 Cell Phone Backlash  Those who know me, know that I have shunned and resisted cell phones with all my power. For me it's not about making a statement. Actually, it started with not making a statement at all. Back in the dark ages when having your ears stuck to a giant cell phone was a symbol of vogue, I deliberately avoided getting one so I wouldn't be viewed a privileged technophile. By the time cell phones became ubiquitous, I had managed to get along without one and my frugal side saw no reason to throw money at this inane device. Sure, there have been times when I wished I had a cell phone, like the time my car broke down on New Jersey turnpike and I had to walk 2 miles in 95-degree heat to the nearest rest stop to get help. But even that experience didn't convince the stubborn me to go mobile. And so, as of now, I continue to remain a cell phone virgin, happily untethered. Today I saw another reason to rejoice at my mobile-free status. While ordering a sandwich at a local Subway shop, I noticed this sign prominently displayed: No cell phones while ordering or you will not be helped. Be courteous. Thank you I know, not exactly customer friendly. But something egregious must've taken place prompting the manager to post this candid note. I almost wanted to commend the man for his courage. Most cell phone chatterers are probably nice people, but get them on a call and they become the rudest and most obnoxious people you could ever imagine. And the rest (specially the ones with the ear-pieces) act like deranged vagabonds talking to the devil in their heads on the streets or in store isles. No sense greeting someone you know these days, they're probably talking to the devil and you will either be ignored or be embarrassed for disturbing their communion. I can understand why that Subway sandwich store manager felt compelled to post the no-cell-phone bill. Not long ago my kids and I were at a check-out counter at a store in my town. The person in front me was talking to the devil and utterly ignored the clerk as if this lady was just a fixture. The patron certainly owed nothing to the clerk other than the cost of his goods, but by just being a discourteous jerk, and judging by the clerk's expression, he earned a spot in the clerk's jackass list. All I could do was to turn to my kids, watching this curious lack of etiquette, and say: "And that's why I don't have a cell phone." cell phones,etiquette,subway Labels: customer service <Cell Phone Backlash> // posted by rh 2 comments Monday, January 29, 2007 Bypassing Dell for HP  In a not too distant past Dell was king of the hill, at least when it came to computer hardware. I still remember their old one page ads on the backs of PC magazines taunting Compaq and bragging about their cheaper prices. Dell was unstoppable and its stock was a reflection of how rapidly this company grew to become the favorite destination of many PC buyers. Some might even believe that the decline of Gateway came as a result of Dell's efficiency. There were also a number of years that Dell and Compaq (later acquired by HP) were locked in heated battle of who has shipped the most PC's. Dell is still a powerhouse, but HP wasn't about to lay down its arms and surrender. Because I am programmer somehow people believe I can give good advice on buying a PC or laptop. I used to keep things simple and tell them to shop Dell. But the other day when my wife asked me to help her choose a laptop, I just flat didn’t even mention Dell. I checked out HP, Toshiba, and IBM (Lenovo) but didn't even bother with Dell. Then I wondered why. Dell has been getting quite a string of bad press lately. Perhaps the worst was the Laptop battery fiasco. But the bad news also involved their poor customer service. Bad press leads to a bad image and it's hard to battle back. Redemption takes a lot of work and patience. But for me Dell's tarnished image goes beyond the bad press. It's based on first-hand experience I've had with their servers where I work. I have had a number of problems with their servers I manage for my company. We have been plagued with bad parts and faulty firmware for quite some time. Dell's customer service has been relatively responsive, but dealing with so many headaches has left a bad taste in my mouth and while their consumer products might not suffer from the same problems, the Dell logo has lost a lot of its appeal for me. So we finally settled for an HP laptop. Of course when I tried to place the order online, the order wouldn’t go through and I was forced to call the HP customer service to finish the transaction. Calling customer service meant being transferred to an Indian call center. These guys aim to please, but heavy accents abound and a quick call turns into a long conversation punctuated by a number of "what?" and "Can you repeat that?" This is by no means exclusive to HP. That's an economic reality firmly proven to me when I called my calling card company a few hours later to report a problem. But that's a different topic. We'll see how the HP laptop, preloaded with Windows Vista, works out when it arrives in a few days. dell,hp,laptop,call center,customer service,ibm,toshiba,servers,pc Labels: computers, customer service <Bypassing Dell for HP> // posted by rh 3 comments

Links Technorati Profile TMCnet.com ARCHIVES 09/01/2003 - 10/01/2003 03/01/2004 - 04/01/2004 04/01/2004 - 05/01/2004 05/01/2004 - 06/01/2004 06/01/2004 - 07/01/2004 07/01/2004 - 08/01/2004 08/01/2004 - 09/01/2004 09/01/2004 - 10/01/2004 10/01/2004 - 11/01/2004 11/01/2004 - 12/01/2004 12/01/2004 - 01/01/2005 01/01/2005 - 02/01/2005 02/01/2005 - 03/01/2005 03/01/2005 - 04/01/2005 04/01/2005 - 05/01/2005 05/01/2005 - 06/01/2005 06/01/2005 - 07/01/2005 07/01/2005 - 08/01/2005 08/01/2005 - 09/01/2005 09/01/2005 - 10/01/2005 10/01/2005 - 11/01/2005 11/01/2005 - 12/01/2005 12/01/2005 - 01/01/2006 01/01/2006 - 02/01/2006 02/01/2006 - 03/01/2006 03/01/2006 - 04/01/2006 04/01/2006 - 05/01/2006 05/01/2006 - 06/01/2006 06/01/2006 - 07/01/2006 07/01/2006 - 08/01/2006 08/01/2006 - 09/01/2006 09/01/2006 - 10/01/2006 10/01/2006 - 11/01/2006 11/01/2006 - 12/01/2006 12/01/2006 - 01/01/2007 01/01/2007 - 02/01/2007 02/01/2007 - 03/01/2007 03/01/2007 - 04/01/2007 04/01/2007 - 05/01/2007 05/01/2007 - 06/01/2007 06/01/2007 - 07/01/2007 07/01/2007 - 08/01/2007 08/01/2007 - 09/01/2007 09/01/2007 - 10/01/2007 10/01/2007 - 11/01/2007 11/01/2007 - 12/01/2007 12/01/2007 - 01/01/2008 01/01/2008 - 02/01/2008 02/01/2008 - 03/01/2008 03/01/2008 - 04/01/2008 04/01/2008 - 05/01/2008 05/01/2008 - 06/01/2008 06/01/2008 - 07/01/2008 07/01/2008 - 08/01/2008 08/01/2008 - 09/01/2008 09/01/2008 - 10/01/2008 10/01/2008 - 11/01/2008 11/01/2008 - 12/01/2008 12/01/2008 - 01/01/2009 01/01/2009 - 02/01/2009 02/01/2009 - 03/01/2009 03/01/2009 - 04/01/2009 04/01/2009 - 05/01/2009 05/01/2009 - 06/01/2009 06/01/2009 - 07/01/2009 07/01/2009 - 08/01/2009 08/01/2009 - 09/01/2009 09/01/2009 - 10/01/2009 10/01/2009 - 11/01/2009 11/01/2009 - 12/01/2009

هاشمیان.com

 Home

 Blog

 Web Tools
Usage

 News

 Articles

 FAQ

 About

 Contact

 Financial Markets Book
Read Complete Book

Search Amazon: