December 7th, 2010, 5 Comments »
The universe must hate me, because I’ve had a serious rash (heh) of customer service debacles over the last six months. Two recent ones–one with Apple, another with UPS–reminded me of an important principle of interacting with big organizations. First, a summary of my conversation with Apple:
ME: My iMac has catastrophically failed twice, and been in the shop four times. Send me a new one.
APPLE: Sorry, it needs to fail three times before we replace it.
ME: (Repeats litany of the misbegotten iMac.) I’ve been an Apple customer for a decade. I’ve easily spent $10,000 with your company.
APPLE: Sorry.
ME: So, after all this, there’s nothing you can do for me?
APPLE: Nope
ME: Nothing at all?
APPLE: Oh, hang on, here’s some store credit.
And here’s my conversation with UPS:
ME: You failed to deliver the package on the day you said you would. I stayed home all day. I even called at 4:00pm, and your agent confirmed that it would be delivered by 7:00pm. It wasn’t.
UPS: We work with a third-party delivery company. We can’t determine when they deliver packages.
ME: So I have to stay home all day again?
UPS: Yes.
ME: Really? So, despite doing everything right as the customer, there’s nothing you can do for me?
UPS: Nope.
ME: Nothing at all?
UPS: Oh, hang on, I’ll call dispatch and they can narrow the window for when the package will be delivered.
Customer service and customer retention
Companies usually perceive their customer service department as a cost centre. They want to process as many calls as quickly as possible while minimizing the costs associated with those calls. So, they train their staff to parrot company policies and appear to be inflexible.
However, companies also recognize the importance of customer retention. They know it costs a lot more money to replace a customer than to keep one. So, they usually enable their staff to upgrade customers to higher levels of service, or to occasionally dole out goodies to troublesome customers.
The trick is to have a strong case, articulate it calmly and rationally, and not to hang up until you’ve derived some degree of satisfaction. Your ace in the hole should be, “because I’m so disappointed with your service, I’m going to switch to the competition”. This is particularly effective with mobile providers like Fido and Telus–they have whole departments to handle customers who say this.
Assuming that you’ve been legitimately wronged by a company, they can always do something for you.
5 Comments »
September 2nd, 2010, 5 Comments »
Over the past five years or so, people have asked me “should my company launch a social network?” My answer, 19 times out of 20, is ‘no’.
Instead of trying to drag your customers and prospective customers from wherever they currently live online–Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, community bulletin boards, blogs–go interact with them there.
In 2008, I think my company declined three different projects to promote newly-launched ‘green social networks’.
But what about Apple? They’ve actually built their new social network right where their customers are: inside iTunes.
Why have they launched Ping? Friend-powered recommendations are de rigeur these days, from the Levi’s store that enables you to shop for clothes that your friends have liked on Facebook, to the new Vancouver project Recotype. And, obviously, it seems like a good way to get people to buy more music.
I’ve learned not to boldly predict the success or failure of big tech projects. Thus far, I don’t see much value in Ping for me. I don’t think I have a music discovery problem. Nor do I necessarily see my friends as a good source of music that I might like. But we’ll see.
On a related note, Ping feels shockingly unfinished for an Apple project. There was no Facebook integration available when they launched yesterday–surely an important feature for spreading it quickly. Also, there are precious few artists which you can ‘follow’ on the service. I searched for popular acts like Feist, Vampire Weekend or The Killers and came up empty.
Band News, Not Music Discovery
Here’s what I wish Ping could do for me: index my music collection, and generate timely updates via email and RSS featuring news about those artists. When are my favourite bands coming to town? When are they releasing new songs? Where can I find their new video? iLike used to do an acceptable job of this, but they definitely skewed to the bigger, older performers. Maybe another service has comprehensively solved this problem?
This functionality becomes more and more important as we shift to a ‘singles’ music economy, where consumers own songs by many more artists than they used to. It’s possible to keep up with, say, 15 or 20 bands you like, but that doesn’t scale to 50 or 100. Each of those 50 or 100 bands ought to want to have an ongoing relationship with you, and Ping is one place where that could happen. However, I don’t want to use iTunes to get that information, so Apple would have to deliver it in other forms.
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April 26th, 2010, 9 Comments »
I recently wrote about the unreliability of all of the Apple computers I’ve ever bought. Last night, my iMac failed to start up, displaying a big white screen and what I came to understood as the ‘Forbidden’ icon. It made me miss the venerable Macintosh bomb icon.
This brings the number of Apple computers that have fatally failed within two years of my owning them to four. Here’s what my sad computer looked like:
Despite my distaste for the Uber-branded Orwellian weirdness that is the Apple Store, I took my iMac in. They decided that it was merely a ‘system problem’, not a hardware issue. So, we backed up my computer to a newly-purchased hard drive and they wiped the thing clean.
As I write this blog post, my CD drive is spinning and installing the dreck that is Microsoft Office for Mac 2004.
I suspected that my hard drive had died. It wouldn’t have been a big deal, as I do most of my work on the web and, besides, I had backed up about six weeks ago.
A License to Download, Once
However, I had bought about $20 worth of iTunes music recently. Most people know this, but I think it bears repeating: you can only download an iTunes song once. When you buy it, you’re buying, what? A license to play the song, and the right to download the thing once.
It would have been ironic in my case, as my Apple hardware failure would have vapourized a bunch of my Apple digital assets.
This policy, by the way, is farcical. Every other digital content vendor that I’ve used–Audible, for example, or PC games from Steam–enables me to download my purchases over and over again. This feature is particularly handy when my Apple computer stops working.
Truth be told, if my hard drive had failed, and I’d lost that music, my first tactic would have been to try to download it illegally. After all, I’d paid Apple, the artists and all the stakeholders once, why should I pay them again?
9 Comments »
April 14th, 2010, 7 Comments »
It recently occurred to me that my recent Apple hardware has performed worse than my old PC desktops. Consider this list of ills:
- Julie’s old iMac suffered from swollen capacitors, a factory defect that sounds a little dirty.
- My old white MacBook had a bad fan, and I replaced the cracked faceplate around the keyboard twice before just living with that defect.
- My newish iMac is somehow b0rked, in that it takes about 10 minutes to reboot into OS X after running it in Windows.
- My MacBook Air’s fan recently started making an all-too-audio grinding sound, as if my laptop is constantly de-winging mosquitoes.
I know I’m whinging, but it’s a little disappointing. Before I switched to Apple, I had some issues (I recall a noisy fan, for example), but never so many.
A friend recently bought a new iMac, and she asked me if she should get AppleCare, Apple’s expensive extended warranty. What do you think I told her?
It’s not like I’m going to switch back to Windows any time soon–the software alone is more than worth using Apple machines. But here’s the lesson I take away: they may look slicker, but Apple’s machines are no more reliable than their generic Windows equivalents.
UPDATE: And now my iMac looks like this. Oy.
7 Comments »
January 27th, 2010, 21 Comments »
The trouser-rubbing hordes of Macolytes are all in a lather about Apple’s newest device: the oddly-named iPad (insert menstrual humour here). If you haven’t seen it yet, watch the introductory video. It features the usual legion of starry-eyed, breathless Apple senior staff speaking reverently about their newest saint.
It’s a big, thin iPod. And it’s dead sexy. And surprisingly cheap, with prices starting at US $499.
It looks like a cool toy, but which of my computing, communications or entertainment problems does this device actually solve? It’s a sexier Kindle (with, no doubt, the same level of vendor lock-in)–a cool-looking reading device, for newspapers, books and the Web. I’ve been pretty ambivalent about the Kindle and other ebook readers up to now. I’ll probably buy one eventually, but I find I have an affection for the analog reading experience of dead tree books and New Yorker magazines.
And I don’t sit down to ‘read the Internet’. My ‘web surfing’ experience, if you will, is this mix of reading, blogging, tweeting, sending emails and chatting online, and all of that is usually intermingled with my doing actual work. The iPad looks to be great for reading the web, but worse than a laptop for each of these other functions.
I do watch TV and, rarely, feature-length movies on my laptop. I’m usually either on a plane or in bed. In either case, I appreciate the fact that my laptop can sit all on its own, without me holding it up. I know there will be docks and sundry other, uh, mounts for the iPad, but I’m not sure how else it would be superior to my MacBook Air.
In short, it’s a great-looking device, but I’m not sure it’s right for me. What are your initial impressions?
21 Comments »
February 3rd, 2009, 6 Comments »
I was fortunate to get a bunch more recommendations for OS X apps from Twitter and my previous post. I’ve included most of them below. I skipped a few that seemed particularly specialized, or specific to a particular profession (for example, software developer, web designer, and so forth). Here they are:
AppTrap – Ensures that all files are removed when you uninstall software.
Boxee – From what I gather, a kind of free, open source media centre.
Calaboration – For syncing Google Calendar with iCal. I’ve tried three solutions, and this is the only one that’s worked without serious agony.
CrossOver Games – Apparently a ‘seamless’ tool for playing PC games on OS X.
DoubleCommand – A utility for remapping your keyboard. Apparently useful for using a non-Apple keyboard with OS X. I’m going to give this a try, as I want to use my big old Windows keyboard instead of the dainty one that came with my iMac.
DropBox – Storage app and syncing service for storing and sharing files. For what it’s worth, I tried this tool on OS X 10.4 and had a difficult time uninstalling it.
Evernote – Very handy research, note-taking and forget-me-not tool. I’ve never used their software, but have lately used their Firefox add-ons for research on our book.
Freedom – Turns off your network connection for eight hours, enabling you to temporarily defeat your Internet addiction so you can do actual work.
iAlertU – A car alarm for your laptop. It uses your Mac’s built-in motion sensor to trigger an alarm and snap a photo of the apparent thief with the iSite camera.
iTunes Alarm – Predictably, turns iTunes into an alarm clock.
Jumpcut – Access your clipboard’s history, and edit the contents on the fly.
LittleSnapper – Yet another screen capture app.
Little Snitch – A firewall app that can tell you what’s coming in and out of your computer’s network connection.
MacTheRipper – Extracts DVDs to video files. I used this app about a year ago, and it worked like a charm.
Mojo – Looks like a modern-day Napster or Kazza.
Popcorn – Another tool for extracting your DVDs to your computer.
Scrivener – Another app specifically built for the writer. Looks quite cool, though I wonder how a tool like this influences the kind of work you might create.
TextExpander – Saves you time by enabling you to create customized keyboard shortcuts for commonly-used phrases.
Transmission – A pretty terrific BitTorrent client that I’ve used on occasion.
TrueCrypt – “Free open-source disk encryption software for Windows Vista/XP, Mac OS X, and Linux.”
Thanks to Aaron, Masey, Newley, Rebecca, Darren, Chris, Mike, Ross, Kerry, Peter and Brian for the suggestions.
6 Comments »
February 2nd, 2009, 24 Comments »
This week I got a new iMac. It’s the first machine I’ve had that’s running OS X 10.5 (that would be Leopard for all you cat-lovers), the current version of Apple’s operating system. I thought I’d ask on Twitter about the Apple desktop apps that the cool kids are using. Here’s what I heard back. I expect that Apple power users will be familiar with all of these.
UPDATE: If this post interests, you might want to check out part two as well.
1Password – A password manager and form completer.
Adium – The popular all-in-one instant messaging client.
Bento – “Personal file organization and database”. I’m a little unclear on why I’d want this. Anyone?
Boot Camp – The app that enables you to run Windows on my iMac. Assuming I can acquire a copy of Windows, I plan to install it for running Windows-only games.
Caffeine – “Caffeine is a tiny program that puts an icon in the right side of your menu bar. Click it to prevent your Mac from automatically going to sleep, dimming the screen or starting screen savers. Click it again to go back.” I gather this is for when you’re watching longer web-based videos, where the screen goes dim without inputs after a while?
ClicktoFlash – A Safari plug-in that turns all Flash elements in a web page to gray boxes until you click them. I’m a Firefox user myself, so FlashBlock looks like the equivalent.
FileVault – Software for encrypting one’s files. Boris assures me that I “can ignore FileVault — it’s for encrypting your home directory. Only uber nerds use it.” I am not an uber-nerd, so I’ll take his advice.
FileZilla – An open-source FTP client. I’ve always used CyberDuck, for no particular reason. They both have incredibly goofy names.
Fluid – Make site-specific browsers for your favourite web apps. I’ve been using Google Gears to get certain web app icons in my desktop’s dock, but this will work better.
HandBrake – “An open-source, GPL-licensed, multi-platform, multithreaded, DVD to MPEG-4 converter, available for MacOS X, Linux and Windows.”
KeePassX – Another password manager. Yes, I’m troubled by that creative spelling of “key”.
Layers – If I understand it correctly, it enables you to build multi-window screen captures? Seems kind of like a nail in search of a hammer, but who am I to judge?
Mailplane – This is kind of a custom email browser for Gmail that makes the web-based email app act more like desktop software. I’ve used this on my laptop for a while, but lately (probably due to Gmail, not Mailplane itself) I’ve found it rather sluggish. So these days I’m giving Apple Mail a try.
PersonalBrain – A mind-mapping tool, from what I can gather.
Quicksilver – Hard to describe, so here’s Wikipedia: “allows users to use the keyboard to rapidly perform tasks such as launching applications, manipulating files and data, running scripts, or sending e-mail.” I’ve had this installed on my laptop for some time, but I barely ever think to use it.
Skitch – The very handy, exceptionally usable screen capture and quick illustration app.
Snackr – An Adobe AIR app that, I gather, turns part of your desktop into a kind of CNN news ticker, powered by the RSS feeds of your choice.
Storyist – A word processor designed for novelists and screenwriters.
TextMate – A fancier TextEdit. I used NotePad++ on my Windows desktop–I must check to see if there’s a OS X version.
Things – Task management software. Boris, if I recall correctly, described the Areas of Responsibility feature as a ‘game-changer’.
Ted – Combines RSS and BitTorrent to automagically download the TV shows you specify. I’m familiar with another app that does the same thing, TVShows.
Time Machine – Apple’s fancy backup system.
Tinderbox – “A personal content assistant that helps you visualize, analyze, and share your notes.”
VideoLan – The workhouse, almost-never-fails video player I’ve come to know and love. Nowhere is Apple more irrational than in its ridiculously narrow native support of video formats.
Yojimbo – Yet another information manager.
Thanks to Avi, Ian, Chris, Miranda, Graeme, Andrew, David, Kerry, Derek, Chris, Ryan, John, Danny, Martin and Masey. Apologies if I referred to you as a geek if you are, in fact, a Normal Human.
That’s a good start. What favourite app would you add to this list?
24 Comments »
January 8th, 2009, 24 Comments »
In 2006, I bought a new Windows desktop. It enjoyed a year off when we lived abroad and I exclusively used my laptop, but I’ve been using it heavily over the past ten months. It’s beginning to feel seriously creeky.
In 2009, I’d like to buy an Apple desktop. I’ll still need Windows occasionally, but I’ll just use Apple’s Boot Camp to run it in parallel when necessary.
I almost certainly don’t need a Mac Pro, which would cost more than I’d like to spend anyway. So that leaves me with the iMac.
But here’s the thing: I’d like to get a second monitor. And it’s going to trouble my sense of symmetry tremendously if those monitors aren’t exactly the same. Obviously they won’t be the same, because one will be an iMac and one will be a plain old monitor.
We’ve talked about dual-monitors before–I’ve still never worked with that set up. Have you used two monitors side-by-side when they’re not exactly the same model? Did it make your OCD go zing?
This is such a Foamy Latte problem. I’ll explain what I mean by that in an upcoming post.
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