The Pony Express

A few weeks ago, someone asked me my opinion on merging two LinkedIn accounts.  Turns out this person (like many) created a LinkedIn profile many moons ago, and made another one, meanwhile had connections on one account they still valued but no longer wanted to use their old account.  How to merge the accounts into one?  Doing a quick search on their Help Site, you can shoot them a quick email, answer some questions and bang-o.  You have one new account and then you're good to go.

But are you?  I was reading an article in the Times this morning about how a gentleman who opened  a Twitter account to promote a charity devoted to his daughter was locked and couldn't talk to anyone about why it was such.  What could have been a simple phone call to determine a) why it was blocked (never found out the reason why) or b) to discuss options if it was blocked for a reason (it was later reinstated after a few emails) was avoided because - ta da! - these new social networking sites don't offer a customer service number for its customers.

On one hand, I can understand, almost.  For the most part, these are free sites for the public (with the exception of LinkedIn, which has a premium account that you can opt into), and the cost of adding a help desk situation can be prohibitive.  Especially in the case that most of the questions can be answered by clicking around the Help Desk or FAQs of the site.

But it still makes me question the lack of responsibility or passing of the buck by these organizations.  I find that the most successful corporations or organizations on these sites are also coincidentally the most socially responsible.  So it would be nice to see them practice what they preach. 

I find that for myself, it's easier for me to make appointments over email or texting friends, but the reality is, it's tough to blow off a phone call.  I'm in the network marketing business, and you can email people to your heart's content.  Yet at the same time, it's easy to delete or blow off those messages. 

But the lack of phone support for many companies, not even the big three in social networking, is mind-blowing, especially when you are paying for a service. 

If I have a bad experience somewhere, anywhere, I can make the conscious decision to never use that product or patronize that establishment again.  You're kind of stuck in a consumer rock or hard place with technology based companies, however.  I mean, where else are you going to go?  Facebook?  They have your pictures or your company page profile!  Twitter?  All that content you've invested in? Good luck leaving it.  LinkedIn is what gets me though -- when I first lost my job a few months ago, I invested in a premium account.  I found it did not give me a competitive advantage.  I tried to cancel it, but it was not that easy.  If I did what they suggested in their Help Center, I would essentially lose my contacts, the contacts I've built up over a five year relationship, contacts that I still keep in touch with and use for potential business deals.  So as they would say, they have me by the balls. 

What I would normally do is call and try to eliminate the charges, give me my basic account and call it a day.  But hey, look at that, no 800 number, no customer service.

Whatever happened to that?  Customer service, you know the "Customer is always right" credo.  I find that these days, technology companies embrace Shannon Hamilton's philosophy that "the customer is always an asshole."

What's more is that places that you're spending money seem to take their customers for granted.  What I've found is that maybe over the past decade or so, companies have either outsourced or eliminated their help desks to the extent that it's almost impossible to talk to anyone.  What's worse?  In the event you DO get help, turns out that one department doesn't know what the other department is doing.  Then there are those synergies where you need to explain 900 times why you're calling.  It's not even places you are a consumer -- I have a friend who has been dealing with pension issues for the last four years or so, and still cannot get a straight answer from anyone. 

I am an AT&T customer.  Cell phone companies are a bit curious because it's like they're in collusion with one another.  Either way, you're locked into a contract, either way you've got a phone that unless it's "jailbroken," it's not translatable to another company.  So if I theoretically wanted to move my business elsewhere, I'd lose my phone number (that everyone has), I'd have to sign a contract, I'd have to spend a gazillion dollars on new phones.  The cell phone companies, in a sense, have your balls in a vise and they know it.  So what incentive is there to, you know, treat their customers with respect?

Because of their lack of customer service on the phones (for a PHONE COMPANY, for crying out loud), I've had to resort to sending letters to the CEO.  No, seriously.  This is the most effective way of getting the answers you need.  I feel like sometimes, the Pony Express would be more sufficient than trying to get someone on the phone who can actually answer your questions. 

Luckily for me, I'm the queen of letter writing, and can subsequently get the answers I need that way.  But why does it come to that?  Would it kill these companies that make their money off consumers to invest a little in customer care or better yet, a premium service that can answer a doggone question when you have it?

I get that there are some nuts in the world.  I get that there are people who will spend all day calling a help desk just to talk to someone.  Trust me, when I worked on a help desk, I used to deal with those people all the time.  That doesn't mean, however, that those customers are less valued.  In fact, some of them have the best suggestions, it might just take them awhile to get to the point because they are so starved for human interaction.  You just don't know.  And wouldn't it be ultimately better for the bottom line of these companies to engage their customers?  Isn't that the very root of social responsibility?

At the root of it all is a denial of basic customer service perks for your customers.  Saving money for your shareholders may be attractive to your bottom line, but customers can get stronger in numbers if you deny them this action.

Is the Telephone Becoming Obsolete?

I used to think of myself of kind of an anomaly. I hate talking on phones or making phone calls, yet I have an unusual attachment (like most people I suppose) to having my cell phone on me at all times. But cell phones are mostly multimedia devices and hardly even operate as phones anymore. Sure, I text and receive calls. Usually if I need to get in touch with a friend, I will send a Kik message, or if I really feel like I want their complete attention, I'll write on their Facebook wall (via my phone of course). Which is so funny how communication has changed even in the past decade.

Just barely ten years ago, I had actually invested in my own desktop computer. Now, don't laugh, how did I survive prior to that? Well it was easy. I had a job and spent most of the day on the computer. They gave me a laptop too, so I would use that with an old school "dial-up" connection. With the advent of cable modems and DSL connections, I felt it was good to invest in a desktop so as not to disturb the use of the home landline. I barely used my cell phone, since I could barely get a signal even back then.

But one thing I hated was using the phone. I hated calling people. I always felt like I could be interrupting something. I shouldn't call too early -- they might be sleeping. If they have kids, double-the-trouble. The kid could have JUST been put down for a nap, and here I come, calling wondering what Mom was up to! Don't call during dinner -- they've just had a busy day at work. And forget after 10 pm. They might be gearing down for the night, and putting the kids to bed, or getting it on with their significant others. Fact is, if I needed to confirm just a minor detail, or ask to go to lunch, wouldn't a short message suffice? Bear in mind, this was just personal usage, and not business. I will always understand the need to talk to someone over the phone for business needs.

That's why I took to email and texting like a fish to water. The receiver could answer me at their leisure, and I wouldn't feel bad about disturbing their routine.

I think why I was so sensitive was that I always got perturbed when the phone would ring. I mean, I know it sounds bitchy, but if I was in the middle of something, and the phone rang, it was usually someone checking in. Not for nothing, but if I was in the middle of something, I don't want to be rude and be like "Oh, I'm scrubbing the toilet" or "Hey, I was in the middle of a book," since I should be happy someone is on the phone, caring enough to wonder how I'm doing.

Well, with the advent of all these bells and whistles on our cell phones, monthly cell phone bills have gone up, and the usage of landline phones have gone down. I mean, I speak from experience but I am far from the only one who I know is going through this. In 2007, the usage of mobile phones as the primary source of communication was around 13%. In 2008, I switched to using my cell phone as my primary source. I felt that having a landline, for me, personally, was just window dressing. I could easily call someone from my cell phone.

Here's the thing though: my phone rarely rang. Except for maybe my mom or my dad from time to time (although they are both texters now), it's been a long-ass time since I spent hours on the phone with someone. It really has nothing to do with my self-imposed "rules" for calling someone. It's mostly -- why bother? I can text them, Kik them, email them if the answer is not pressing, or send them a note on Facebook. I feel like there's more options than just to call. Even in the workplace, we have an "instant communicator" type of program for instant gratification, and there's always email. Even in emails, though, we'll say, "Hey, can I call you?" Or "Are you at your desk?" in case they try to call. At least then, you can prepare.

Turns out I'm not the only one who thinks like this. The New York Times had an article, that was a little on the hoity-toity with a "real housewives" feel to the people who were profiled in it, about how no one calls anyone anymore. Or that's the perception it was in this small sample set. But I have to say that I feel strongly about that.

Even Miss Manners had to weigh in on this conversation. She said that the telephone has never been a polite way to communicate. In sort of an ass-backwards way, it kind of is. But I guess if someone gives their number to another someone, chances are, it's implied that the invite is open to call one another. However, it goes back to my self-imposed rules about calling people. Even as they relate in the article, that if their phone rings at a certain time, their automatic thought is, "Ohmigoodness, what's wrong?" If I got a phone call around 10 pm, unless it was from a west coast area code, I'd probably be alarmed at first. Since mostly the people I know are getting ready for bed or gearing down for the night.

Text spending is even becoming more commonplace than cell phone minutes. This is how clueless I am about my cell phone minutes: I have the absolutely bare minimum of minutes I can use from my plan, and they have rollover minutes...I have NO idea how many minutes I have in all. I'm pretty sure that they would have to keep me around and will them to my children since I RARELY use my phone for phone calls anymore. My apps? My texting? That's where the big bucks come rolling in for the phone companies. Remember a few years ago, there wasn't a week that went by without some angry mother whose teenager had drummed up thousands of dollars in text charges.

All in all, I would say that the phone isn't obsolete, but rather it's evolving to what people's needs are. Like Alexander Graham Bell did once upon a time, like Thomas Edison and Henry Ford too, they've addressed a need for human efficiency. I know there will be needs and uses for telephones. It's devolving but in a good way.