Before continuing my series about Windows authentication, I wanted to take a few minutes to review something that is very dear to my heart: “Good customer service and corporate stewardship” Now, you are almost certainly wondering what this has to do with IT. But, I promise, stick with me here and I will tie it all together in the end.
I choose this topic tonight because of a recent encounter that I had with a window film manufacture (Gila Films). To make a long story short, I bought their film, installed it on my window, and shortly thereafter the window cracked. Frustrated with my experience I contacted the manufacture to see if this was normal behavior. To my surprise, they explained that this was a rare problem, and very quickly started the claims process to get the window repaired.
Here I was half expecting some long drawn out bitter exchange that would have left me hating customer support people even more. Instead, within the span of several emails (24HRS of me sending my initial email), a solution was in sight and a process was in motion to fix my window.
Needless to say, I was in shock. After all, this type of behavior from a corporation is not the norm. Just browse the annuals of the The Consumerist and you can witness firsthand the blatant disregard for good customer service which many corporations instill within their culture.
Regretfully, technology companies are not immune to the temptation of kicking their consumers around. Not only is the “The Consumerist” filled with entries for technology related companies, but it seems like almost every day there is a major news story about how companyabc.com or companyxyz.com stuck it to the little guy. For example, here are just a couple of recent headlines:
- New York Subpoenas Comcast on Internet Blocking
- Network Solutions sued over domain name policy
- Sony’s ‘rootkit’ opens massive can of worms
- …
The list can go on. But, the point I’m trying to make is that technology companies tend to have a very bad rap when it comes to doing the right thing. For example, several weeks ago, I posted a blurb about how Microsoft and Dell had teamed up on the “Red” campaign. Then recently, I stumped upon this article from the New York Times: Link. Without going into much detail, the article basically explains that how the Red campaign seems to have been hijacked as yet another method to make money:
Yet detractors say Red has fallen short. They criticize a lack of transparency at the company and its partners over how much they make from Red products, and whether they spend more money on Africa or advertising.
“Look at all the promotions they’ve put out,” said Inger L. Stole, a communications professor at the University of Illinois. “The ads seem to be more about promoting the companies and how good they are than the issue of AIDS.”
In the Super Bowl ad Sunday, which promoted Dell’s recent Red debut, a man buys a Red laptop and finds himself cheered in the street by strangers and kissed by a beautiful woman. At the end of the commercial, three screens flash in rapid succession: “Buy Dell. Join (RED). Save Lives.”
The fact that something with such a good cause… could morph into a scam is just sad in my opinion. Then again, that is why this post is called “Good customer service and corporate stewardship…”
