Hey folks!
I’ll be holding an ‘open court’ session at The Fine Grind tomorrow (12/11/11) from 10:00 – 3:00pm. Come by, have a cuppa and ‘pick my brain’ – at no cost!! (Well, except for the coffee, they’ll charge you for that!)
Hope to see you then.
-a
So, Game Stop, a Brick & Mortar (and on-line) game retailer has put it’s collective foot in their collective mouth (and more.) Here’s the synopsis and link:
Basically, Game Stop told it’s managers to open a sealed copy of a new game, which included a code for a free on-line version, and remove the code slips.
Those who opted for a physical copy of Deus Ex: Human Revolution were greeted with a pleasant surprise yesterday. Included with the retail game was a code that could be redeemed for a free OnLive copy — unless, of course, the game was purchased at GameStop.
GameSpy reports it heard from multiple GameStop customers complaining about opened games and missing codes. It also heard from an anonymous source claiming to be a GameStop employee showing what appears to be management instructing employees to remove and discard the OnLive codes from all PC copies of the game.
Bad news, right? Who is Game Stop to remove a bonus that the developer decided should be in there? Well, look at the following (dead-on) video from Gary Vaynerchuk. As Gary states, even if GameStop was doing what they thought was right in their corporate minds, they did it the (very) wrong way. Of course, with hindsight being 20/20, GameStop should have (and should have the oomph to) call the developer and tell them they wouldn’t carry the game the way it was packaged. Give Gary a look-see here:
Your thoughts?
A while ago, I posted a video about WHY Social Media. Well, the video has been updated, and although I like the last one better, here’s the updated version:
A former co-worker of mine, who know lives in Australia told me about this recent “Customer Service” story that happened to her: (emphasis are mine)
“OK so I tried to order from a USA food site, and shipping was $400.00 so I sent a complaint, here was the response:
Dear XXX,
Thank you for your email. We have checked into our site and we were having problems with our shipping quotes. Your items would most certainly not have been that amount to ship. We have thousands of customers in AU that are very happy with our service and would also never pay that amount for shipping. The cost would have been a fraction of that amount.
If you had been more pleasant we could certainly have checked into that excessive quote you got from the site and sorted out our problem. We are well aware of USAfoods and we would prefer if you would continue to shop with them or any other online options you have as we don’t appreciate rudeness. Please feel free to pass this on to anyone you wish.What a pity you choose to be so abrasive.
Regards,
Paula Greally” (my note: She is the OWNER)
So she admits the problem and then blames the customer?? Can you believe this? In today’s Social Media world, she actually says: Please feel free to pass this on to anyone you wish.
Ok Paula, happy to help! Feel free to comment here or pass along.
BTW, the site is www.cravingamerica.com
There is a free Networking Workshop, sponsored by BNI at the Bergen Community College Tuesday evening, May 24thfrom 7-9 p.m.
The workshop is for busy professionals who want to generate more business referrals by improving their networking skills. There will be a panel of business networking experts who will share tips and techniques for successful networking.
If you are interested, please reserve your space by registering on-line by Thursday, May 19th at http://bniworkshopmay24.eventbrite.com as space will be limited to early registrants.
Light refreshments will be offered and there will be a raffle for several business networking books.
I’m pleased to announce that Kevin Haughwout of the freedmarketer has agreed to do some blogging and posting for us and our clients! Most of Kevin’s work will be seen around the interwebs and maybe I can convince him to write a post or 2 here as well.
Please give a big welcome to Kevin and say ‘hi’!
So, a while ago, I wrote about the excellent Customer Service that former NY Met Art Shamsky provided when a signed picture I ordered came with a minor issue.
So, now it’s time for really bad Customer Service.
About two months ago, I deposited some funds into a bank who’s name I won’t mention (but their initials are TD and the last word is Bank.) I did this with the express intent to transfer those funds into ING Bank. Why? Because ING is paying 10X the interest that TD is.
So, after the funds are transferred, TD calls me and tells me they need to cancel my account. Why? Because all I’ve done is transfer the funds to another bank. When I call to explain, the CS Rep admits to me that he does the same thing(!) and that he will try to cancel the cancellation.
But, alas, he cannot and 1 week later TD sends me a bank check (via Overnight UPS) – closes my account and that’s that.
Really?
I admit the accounts I had there were nothing more than emergency type funds, plus I originally opened them because of the benefits TD had (and are now phasing out) like no-cost ATM use, even overseas, the ability to purchase a Visa Gift Card at no cost, etc. So I’m not that upset that I won’t be using them anymore.
But – the fact that they terminated me because my ‘recent activity’ was to transfer money away from them and into their competition is a bit silly. “HEY! You want to play with them? Go ahead but you can’t play with us anymore!”
Oh, and TD… want to keep your customers? Stop paying 1/10 the interest rate of other banks.
