Tuesday, February 01, 2005

Our soon-to-be-ex ISP

Rescued this from my PalmPilot...

Our Internet Service Provider has had major system outages every day for the past five days. As I write this on my Palm's keyboard, I wonder why their tech support line no longer works, and why, when the service was restored last time, they had the gall to e-mail me an invoice the full amount owing for this month. No discount. No apology. No mention of the fact that I was paying 100% of the bill for, maybe, 80% of the service.

Eight years of being a loyal client means little in this day and age, as do all the folks I referred to them. I believe it may be time to move on.

At the very least, however, they don't pester me with telemarketing calls every other day. About the worst I got from them was a request to give them one of my articles - for free - to reprint in their monthly newsletter. When I asked if they could at least arrange a discount off my bill in exchange for the courtesy, I was politely informed that this was not their policy.

I politely informed them that it was not my policy to value my work at nothing and simply give it away to a company that didn't understand the concept of symbiosis.

They've been quiet ever since.

2 comments:

Christine said...

It is my firm belief that customer service is the most important, and most neglected asspect of business. It's insulting really, that these companies think their customers will just accept mediocrity. The problem is that most do. I do my best to do business with companies who provide good customer service, even if it means spending a bit more.

Ayn Rand said (and I'm parapharing, because I forget now the exact quote) that by accepting mediocrity we destroy the pursuit of greatness.

Christine said...

Please excuse all my spelling errors. (hiding her head in shame!) - I'm tempted to throw out a lame excuse, but the truth is, I'm a bad speller. Sorry!