I caught up with SplaTT for breakfast again yesterday and we were talking about one of my favourite rants - why it is that in 2004 I can still count on ONE HAND the number of offline businesses who have 1) asked for my email address at the moment of transaction and then 2) used it for some worthwhile process (to me!). How hard is it? Why doesn't it happen?
Case point: I bought this Canon 300D from JB-HiFi a couple of months ago. I bought a couple an extra 300mm zoom lens, a couple of CF cards, etc. Spent about $2000. Did they take my email address? Nope. Am I a great prospect for buying more camera peripherals and electronic equipment in the near future? Absolutely! Will JB-HiFi necessarily get my business next time? I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. And obviously they don't care. But the business that learns to ask for my contact information and then uses same to make regular, non-intrusive but useful contact with me (eg "Hey Mr Reilly, thanks for buying that camera, we hope you are enjoying the use of it. As a valued customer, we want to let you know we are having a special sale next week for Canon D-SLR lenses...") will likely find me a return customer.
Anyway, onto my other recent tale of horror. This one about Telstra.
A couple of months ago, when I was gearing up to leave Microsoft, I needed to get a new SIM card for my phone. One Saturday while walking around "Knifepoint" (aka Highpoint Shopping Centre in Maribyrnong), I spotted a mobile shop which happened to be a Telstra re-seller. As I already own my phone hardware (an XDA 1.0.... which needs upgrading by the way... anybody mobile phone reseller or hardware manufacturer out there who wants a very vocal early adopter should ping me) I asked them for a new SIM card on the lowest plan possible. I usually spend about $500 - 750 a month on mobile phone calls, as I live on the road, but I didn't want to commit to a plan until I knew a little more what I was doing post-MS. So... a few minutes later, I've got a $10/month plan. They tell me I have to sign up for a 12 month contract, even though I'm not requiring hardware? Meh. I don't have time to argue that this is stupid, so I just sign the form and leave.
Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. I've been back from Europe for two days. One evening about 6pm, my home phone rings. It's some guy saying he's from Telstra and wants to talk to me about upgrading my mobile phone plan. What an excellent idea. I don't even mind that he is ringing me at home while I am trying to get my kids into the bath, this is proactive customer service. He is helping me to save money by thinking about my needs. I am impressed.
Then things start to go horribly wrong. He asks me to tell him my account PIN number so he can make sure it is really me. Hold on - you're calling me and you want me to tell you my PIN number? How do I know you aren't just some dude? Hmmm. He promises me he is from Telstra. I ask him to give me his direct contact number. He can't/won't. I tell him I'm not giving away my PIN over the phone without some proof of ID. He finally decides to compromise and reads out to me the last two digits of my PIN and I tell him the first two. OK.
He then walks me through my last bill and we agree that a plan of $200 might be a good place to start. He tells me then that he will read out the terms and conditions of the plan and I should say "yes" to confirm I understand them. All is fine until he gets to the "penalty clause" condition. Whaaat? Oh yeah. To go on the plan I need to commit to spending $200 a month for TWELVE MONTHS. If I decide to move provider or reduce my plan during that period, I have to pay a $400 penalty! I explain that I already own my hardware - why would I commit to such a condition? The provider is getting my business AND they want to lock me in? He tells me a contract for a certain period is "pretty standard these days".
I check that this phone call is being recorded "for quality assurance purposes" and advise him to tell Telstra they just lost my business. Again. I only recently decided to "go back to Telstra"... and now I remember why I avoided them for as long as we've had quasi-competition in this country.
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