“Dear Valued Subscriber,” the note began. Ah, my newspaper really appreciates my business. As well it should; isn’t the industry in distress? Millennials don’t read newspapers, do they? It’s time to renew my subscription and I’ll bet the paper really wants to keep me as a customer. Well, maybe it does want to keep me, [...]
Tag Archives: Customer service
Follow up!
It’s okay to follow up. That was my message this week to a friend who runs an aesthetics business out of her home. Pat has been in business a number of years, but at one point went from being there all week to only a couple of days when she worked part-time at a local [...]
Changing the game? Speak up!
After a couple of days trying to access my client’s e-mail system without success — and with so much on my plate I had no time to deal with their IT support group — I happened to mention the problem to one of my contacts. It turns out the company’s IT department had changed the [...]
Know thy customer
Oh, those funny folks at Honda! They’re doing a good job of keeping in touch with me, long-time Honda owner that I am. But their enthusiasm for selling me a new car always seems to overtake their good sense. I bought a 2009 Honda Civic last year, and I’m happy with it. But one of [...]
Do you respond promptly?
Having been away for a week, I’m a little nervous. A few weeks ago, I managed to live through a day where no e-mail messages made it to my in-box. It took a while to find out, because I could send messages; but the replies didn’t make it through. Of course, I had a satisfying [...]
Customer disservice files
Can you tell me… Why my bank has hired people to make “courtesy calls” to customers — which seem to be thinly disguised ways to sell other products/services — but cannot tell me that they have discontinued my paper statements? I have no problem getting my statement online, but I suddenly realized that I hadn’t [...]
Bell’s upgrade looms
As the end of January approaches, I’m a little nervous. Bell has alerted me that they are “making changes to our e-mail systems which will require you to update the settings on your e-mail software…Please note that if you do not update your settings by January 31st, 2010, you will no longer be able to [...]
6 things clients want from a writer
I turned down an assignment today that wasn’t my area of expertise. Instead, I referred my contact to someone else I knew would do a great job. But it got me thinking, what do clients want from a freelance writer? Here are some things, beyond of course the ability to write: 1. To know you [...]
Make surveys make sense
Customer/employee surveys are important. I know this, and I try to go along with companies who take the time to survey me as a customer. But they need to do a better job of asking questions that are both within the customer’s ability to answer and that they can do something with. Take my bank, [...]
Usability bugs
Random petty annoyances in the usability world: When a web site makes me log in, but has nowhere for me to log out. When a site makes me log in more than once (for instance, once to enter a members-only section, and again to comment on a discussion forum). When my e-mail program randomly logs [...]
