Continue reading… »

The 12 year old won’t give me my $8 back

The 12 year old kid by the street sells me cookies, takes my $10 first and then, only after I have taken the first bite, says that he does not have the $8 change, and that I should come back tomorrow to get discounted cookies from the money he owes me; cannot damn him, since the cookies are either really good or they have drugs in them. The sub-sandwich store gives me a $5 coupon valid for 3 days only for a new sandwich they have, and this sandwich costs $8 more than their current, most expensive sandwich.

I return a defective electronic item I buy at an electronic store to get back my $389 in cash, since I paid cash, and I am told to either wait 5 weeks for a refund check, or to get their store gift card with $389 on it, which I can only use to buy more electronics from the same store.

You want me to pay you to lure me in? Sure.

The funny thing is that despite all the typical bias many people have against businesses and entities which take your money, each one does provide me with a service before trying to lure me in. Maybe I like paying people to seduce me?

« Show less..

Continue reading… »

Advantage Rent A Car gave away my paid reservation to someone else

I landed at the LAX airport late because of my flight being late. The printed confirmation I had from Expedia mentioned that there will be an Advantage Rent A Car counter at the airport that would give me my reserved car right at the airport. At the airport, however, I found out that the counter was closed, and that I needed to take a shuttle to the Advantage Rental Car office. That took another half an hour or so. Once I arrived at their office, I was told that my reservation was given to someone else because I was late.

I was surprised. I told Advantage Rent A Car that even if I was late, I had paid for the car, so the car should be kept in the parking lot for me even if I was not driving it. They told me that I had paid Expedia, and not Advantage Rent A Car. Therefore, according to Advantage Rent A Car, I had not “completely” reserved a car with them. I was told to contact Expedia directly regarding this.

Advantage Rent A Cars’ only solution was for me to pay for the most expensive car

I asked Advantage Rent A Car what choices I had. They told me the only choice I had was to pay for a Chrysler PT Cruiser, which was around $50 more a day than what I had already paid. I tried reasoning logically that I did not need to pay anything more since Expedia makes reservations for Advantage Rent A Car, and that I had confirmed and paid reservations for a car through them already. I had been charged, and I could verify this with my bank, but Advantage Rent A Car did not bulge. They did not want to listen to what I said, and instead kept on insisting that I was misunderstanding the whole situation, and that I was mistaken that Advantage Rent A Car was required to keep a car for me waiting when I booked through Expedia.

I had a lot of appointments that day, and I felt as if I did not have any options. I was texting Valerie and SP back and forth, telling the whole story. I tried a few recommendations and suggestions, but nothing worked. Advantage Rent A Car did not do anything; they knew I was desperate for a car, and they wanted to make sure I paid them for the most expensive car available that day.

Advantage Rent A Car wanted me to buy car rental insurance through them even when I had that already

On top of that, I was told that I needed to buy extra insurance for the rental car. Expedia has previously told me that my current automobile insurance covered rental cars and that I did not need to pay anything extra, but Advantage Rent A Car told me that I was “wrong“, and that they did not honor any such agreements. Before this trip, I had never heard of a rental car company in California which required customers to buy rental car insurance even when they already had such a coverage through other insurance companies.

Nearby rental places had cars for almost the same price, or they were all booked

After they kept arguing for a few hours, Advantage Rent A Car told me clearly that they did not make any mistake, and that I should take up any issues with Expedia directly. I decided to check the neighboring car rental companies, and walked around for a while. Almost every place was completely booked, or the deals they had were for the same price as Advantage Rent A Car. I could have gone to more places and would have definitely found something cheaper, but I was running out of time. I had to meet a lot of people and visit a lot of places, and almost half of the day had already been wasted. I decided to go back to Advantage Rent A Car.

I had no choice but to pay Advantage Rent A Car, even though I had already paid Expedia

I paid Advantage Rent A Car for the PT cruiser and the supposedly required insurance coverage. I also paid for their gas as they charge a lot of money if one does not bring back the car with a full tank of gas. The lady at the counter who had argued all day told me that if I brought the car back with any gas left, I would be refunded for the entire tank. Since I knew I was going to drive a lot, that sounded better than paying almost $4 per gallon for a car that drank gas as if it was orange juice.

The car was fun to drive though

I drove the car around for around 6 days, and it was a lot of fun. The car handled nicely, and the seats were comfortable too. It did eat gas very quickly, though I was happy that the car was very comfortable. The PT Cruiser is like a box, so sometimes you cannot see nearby cars clearly if they are behind you by the sides. It took me a few minutes to get used to reversing and checking the roads, but once I got used to it, I was thinking that in the future I might rent similar cars for my travel needs. Also, the car was blue. I like blue!

I did not get any money back for bringing the car back with a full tank of gas

The day I had to leave, I drove back to Advantage Rent A Car. The car had a full tank of gas, but after it was checked back in, I was told that the company would not give me back any money for the tank of gas. I told the person who inspected the returning cars that someone at their office had told me before that I would get the money back if I brought back the car with any gas in the tank. I was told to come around noon to talk to that person directly, as that is when most of the employees that I had dealt with before would come in to start their workday. I had to check in at the airport before 10 am, so I simply left and decided to take care of it later via the phone.

What is the verdict? Advantage Rent A Car took advantage of a customer

I am still in the process of taking care of things. I do not think I will be renting a car from Advantage Rent A Car in the future, unless I make sure I get what I want beforehand and have something in writing from Advantage directly. Maybe I do not need to use Expedia in the future and instead need to contact Advantage Rent A Car directly. Maybe services like Expedia that act as connecting wires between customers and businesses can cause headaches. I am still trying to sort out things to figure out whether Expedia was at fault or if Advantage Rent A Car did not honor a binding contract. Expedia told me that they would refund me the money soon, after their corporate office looks into the matter.

Regardless of what happens, I now know that even if I pay for something online and have a printed confirmation, some companies still do not honor any agreements with customers due to various reasons.

Stay tuned for the next post that will tell you how Advantage Rent A Car contacted Expedia regarding my dilemma, which resulted in my hotel reservation being canceled completely!

« Show less..

Continue reading… »

What rebates really mean

Rebates mean that you pay a company a certain price for an item and that company mails you some money back later. The process described by companies is simple: you buy something, mail in a rebate form along with a copy of your purchase receipt, and then wait for the check in the mail. What most companies do not tell you is that the last part of the rebate filing procedure is where the problem lies for majority of the customers: the rebate check never arrives in the mail. Customers are then told, most of time, a myriad of reasons why their rebate claims was not processed. Majority of the customers who sent in rebate forms during the past 5 years have not received their rebate checks, and they never will.

There are companies out there that specialize in handling rebates for big companies, and many of them promise their corporate clients that they will do their best to ensure that the percentage of customers who get their rebate money back remains low. While many call such business acts unethical, many rebate processing services call that a business promise. Such and similar tactics do not go unnoticed, however. Best Buy got sued in 2004 by Ohio’s Attorney General for not honoring rebates, and that shed more light on the whole rebate scenario in the media that year.

One of my personal experiences with rebates

If you are expecting a rebate, you are usually depending on mere chance to get your money back. I purchased an eMachines system in 2004 and mailed in a $200 rebate form to eMachines, for both the computer and the Hyundai monitor that came with it. I waited for a month and then contacted their customer support, only to find out that they needed more information from me. Obviously, since it was my money, they were not going to call and say “Hey, we want to give you your money so we need more information.” Instead, I had to call them and ask about the rebate myself. After faxing in more papers that they needed, I was told to wait a month for my check to come in the mail. After another month, I was given several reasons ranging from them needing a copy of my original receipt again to them needing my mailing address again to them having to check why they had not sent out a check to me yet, and so on. I never got the rebate money back.

8 reasons rebates are a scam

Many people question why companies will not simply make the customers pay less in the first place instead of offering rebates. Following are the top 8 reasons why:

1. Most customers never send in a rebate form.

   Only about 10% of all eligible customers send in their rebate forms. Many companies depend on this. Online orders usually take about 7 business days to be delivered, and mail-in-rebates have to be mailed with the invoice, which is usually only mailed with the online orders, within 30 days of the purchase date. Thus, online customers lose around 7 days to begin with and are already at a disadvantage to begin with.

2. Most rebate forms are rejected by companies.

   Most of the rebate forms mailed by customers are rejected for various reasons by the companies. Whether it is for late rebate submissions or for incomplete forms, most rebate forms are rejected by companies and the customers are always notified via the standard postal mail, which itself usually takes several days or even weeks to arrive. By the time it takes for a customer to start sorting things out, they usually give up because of the hassle involved.

3. Rebates are used to attract more sales during busy shopping seasons.

   Companies usually go on a rebates-offer spree around the busy shopping seasons, telling customers through price tags that a certain expensive TV costs “only $199*” while that * means that there is probably a mail-in-rebate on such an item. Some prices tags do not even mention such disclosures, and people have to find later on that a rebate is involved. Rebates are simply another way of having a sale and attract a lot of people.

4. Customers lose money because of the actual price of the item at the time a rebate check is received.

   By the time it takes to get the rebate, one may have paid more depending on the value of a product. For example, if you paid $200 for a stereo system in January and got $50 in rebates after 5 months in June, you may have lost money as by June the stereo may be selling for $120 without any rebates.

5. Customers still pay taxes on all the money sent back to them while the company keeps the extra tax.

   When you pay full taxes on an item, the company never refunds you the tax you paid for the amount of money you get back in the refund. For example, if you pay $550 on a computer that comes with a $90 mail-in-rebate, any tax you pay for that entire $550 amount is lost completely, as the rebate sent back [which is the $90] does not include the taxes you paid for those 90 dollars. This extra sales tax stays with the company.

6. Most rebates require cutting the UPC label from the product box, meaning you can never return that item.

   Most companies require customers to send in both an original receipt and the UPC bar code that is present on almost all boxes for things you buy. Cutting this UPC sticker from the box means that you cannot return that item for a refund in most cases. Thus, companies that do not like honoring rebates actually make sure that you can never return the item for a full refund if you are not satisfied with your purchase.

7. Many rebate checks are never cashed or get lost in the mail.

   Almost all rebate checks are sent by standard mail and many of them get lost in the mail. Checks usually gets canceled when not cashed within 6 months. Some companies send rebate forms in unmarked envelopes or in envelopes that look similar to envelopes used by most junk mailers. Many customers simply throw such envelopes away, which plays to the company’s advantage. I am not yet sure if the companies do this on purpose, but I am keeping a track of which companies do this and will probably share my results in the future.

8. Interest is made on the rebate money by companies.

   The money that is sent back as a rebate to a customer is held for a while as interest. By the time a rebate is mailed to a customer, the company has already earned a lot of interest on that money. This is the same as a loan or the money you put into your savings account. The main difference is that in case of a rebate, you may actually never see the money you lent the company in the first place.

5 easy steps to ensure you get your rebate money

Here are 5 easy steps you can take to make sure you get your rebate money on time.

1. Most rebates require cutting the UPC code from the product box. Make sure you want to keep the product before doing that, as stores do not accept returns that have missing UPC labels.

   Since most online and retail stores do not accept returns on items where the box does not have a UPC code, make sure you like your purchase before mailing off that rebate form. If you do not like the item your purchased, simply return it and get all your money back.

2. Mail in your rebate forms right away using the correct shipping method

   Most customers never file a rebate claim, and many people send in rebate forms after they have expired. I have also waited several times before sending a mail-in-rebate, and most of the time it was too late. Send your rebate forms right away and make sure you send them either with a return receipt or a delivery confirmation. Return receipt allows you to get a receipt from the post office stating that the recipient got the mail you sent them, and a delivery confirmation also shows written and official proof that you mailed something which was received by the other person. Any of these two options can help you in cases where you have to start arguing with a company that you did send them those rebate forms.

3. Keep a copy of everything.

   This may be the single most important thing you can do when filing a rebate claim. Keep copies of everything as many companies are famous for never getting rebate forms or for losing them. If you do not have copies of all your forms and receipts and the company denies ever receiving your form, you are most probably never going to receive any rebate check from that company.

4. If you do not get anything in the mail soon, start inquiring.

   Many companies have been known to make customers wait for their rebate checks for a long time, hoping that the customers will forget about it and move on. Many customers do forget about their rebate checks until its too late. Try not to be one of those people. I know you are busy, so if you can, mark down some future date on your calendar as a day to start contacting the company and inquiring about your rebate check. Keep a track of all things on your calendar.

5. Avoid rebate items altogether

   This is the most logical step to take. Avoid items that require a rebate. If a store is selling an item that comes with a $50 mail-in-rebate, chances are there is another store selling the same item at a price that will save you exactly 50 dollars without any rebates and thus a lot of hassle. Shop around. The internet is a valuable tool to find good prices for a lot of things.

How companies are changing their policies regarding rebates

Because of the complications and complaints involved with rebates, many companies are simply trying to eliminate any headaches associated with rebates. Staples is taking an interesting approach to this by allowing people to submit their rebates online through the “Staples Easy Rebates” program. This allows customers to submit everything online instead of mailing stuff, and also helps customers keep an online record of everything submitted. Such online systems let the customers know immediately what extra information is needed before a rebate can be processed, and it also helps the company track down and fix any rebate issues experiences by a customer.

Other companies are taking a different approach by trying their best to eliminate rebates altogether. Dell is planning to end mail-in-rebates in order to further improve its image in front of customers. Similarly, after getting sued, Best Buy announced it will try to curb out mail-in-rebates by 2008. Other companies like OfficeMax have also taken similar steps. This way, a customer does not have to wait for any rebate check to be mailed to them and can save money right away.

More resources that talk about the rebate hassle

In addition to the links mentioned above, following are some resources I found useful in the past, and I think they may help you also in finding out more about the nature of rebates.

• Business Week article titled “The Great Rebate Runaround” - first published on November 23rd, 2005.
• Slate article titled “The Great Rebate Scam” - published on June 30th, 2003.
• A 5 part series written by Lyle Bateman, talking about a rebate scam involving a Creative webcam and Future Shop. The posts are titled “The Rebate Scam” and divided into 5 parts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and The finale. The author explains how even though the rebate check was received, it was still a hassle and involved a lot of risks for the end consumer overall. Published from October 24th, 2006 to January 15th, 2007.
• MSN Money article titled “Don’t get ripped off by a rebate ‘deal’.”

I hope that helps. If you have any questions or comments, please let me know or post them here so others can share their opinions also. Thank you for reading.

« Show less..

Continue reading… »

This is a randomly chosen list, so if you can think of any other tool or piece of technology that you think is not living up to its promised standard, please let me know or share it here via your comment.

1. Faster cars

   This is one thing many people love to have. However, it does more harm than good at this time. Newer cars all boast faster speeds and lower 0-60mph time frames. While having cars with capable speeds of 160 mph or more is nice, here is a question that many do not answer directly: why have such high speeds when the maximum speed allowed for most cars anywhere in many countries is only 75 mph? Having higher speeds in newer cars is actually making some people get into more accidents. Why not focus on making more room in the car, giving out more gas mileage and building an engine that needs less oil change, repairs, and other things?

2. Automated customer support systems

   This is something majority of the companies are rushing after. Calling customer support these days usually results in listening to a computer voice that usually claims it is “happy to help you.” Many times these automated support systems are so poorly planned that customers end up getting frustrated. Hearing a robotic voice say “Please enter your account number. Without it, we will not be able to assist you” is not good when you are calling to find out your account number. When properly used for the benefit of the customer, automated support systems can be a life saver, instead of simply being money savers for companies who do not want to hire additional support staff.

3. Watches with fancy features

   While watches are considered by many to dictate define first impressions, wearing a watch that has a host of dozen extra features that you do not use somehow shows to many people that you simply want to impress people through your watch and not your personality. Imagine the new features in watches today: cameras, tv, thermometers, blood pressure readers and more. While such features are nice for specific purposes and for paving ways for future advancements, they do not aid in finding out the current time. How about we add fancy features to watches that serve a target audience only, like swimmers who need to know the water depth? That way, we can all look at the time and be done with it in a second while those who need the extra features get them.

That is my list of 3 things that I think should be kept simple and made more efficient instead of making them fancier. Please let me know what you think, or if you have a list of your own. Thank you.

« Show less..

Continue reading… »

1. Make necessary shopping tools easily available to a customer.

Giving a customer all the necessary tools to find an item and its details increase the chances of that customer actually buying something. A good example of this is the discount signs in retail stores. Many retail stores usually have discounts on multiple items, and most of the times these discounts are not reflected on the actual price tags on items. Price scanners located throughout the store can help customers by allowing them to scan any item under a scanner and find out the exact prices and any eligible discounts. Without such scanners, shoppers have to go through the hassle of hunting down staff members to find out the exact prices for different things. Usually, customers will get fed up of going back and forth between the cashiers and different departments, and may end up not buying something because of the hassle involved.

Similarly, making it a nice experience for customers to browse through a store helps customers relax. Having disorganized aisles and unclear item displays add stress, resulting in customers unconsciously not wanting to shop at such stores in the future. That’s why many people I know prefer going to Target instead of Kmart, because Target is well organized while Kmart, going through a huge reorganization, looks like it survived a nearby tornado. I went to a few Kmarts last week to look for some hard drives. The staff did not even know that they carried hard drives, and it took me a few hours to look through the disorganized and messy electronics section myself to find out that they did carry hard drives, but not the ones I was wanted. I may have a trauma one day thinking of going through the dirty aisles at Kmart again while the staff follows me on a “What does this aisle carry?” discovery spree.

2. Reduce outside stress for customers

Shopping stores should act like shells. The same way the shell of an egg protects the contents and the life within, a shopping store should enclose and protect the customers from any outside factors and stress that may affect their mood in a negative manner. Stress can come from unrelated elements that may actually be seen by the store as incentives to get people to come back to the store more often. Outside noise, outside lights and outside issues should be blocked from the domain of the store itself. If that is not possible, efforts should be made to minimize any outside interference as much as possible. If a customer can feel they are in a different environment when they enter a store, they will feel mentally refreshed. Happy customers now mean happier and satisfied customers in the long run. Stressed-out customers and customers who feel rushed may actually end up avoiding a particular store in the future.

I saw a couple last week in Macy’s where the husband was happily browsing the aisles while telling his wife in great detail what he thought of the dresses she was trying on. Once he sat down in one of the waiting rooms fitted with a TV which showed CNN’s coverage of the world, his mood quickly changed and he got more serious. He tried changing the channel and found out that CNN was the only available channel. After a while, he started offering his wife shorter and more serious responses, like “That’s ugly” and “That looks weird.” In the end, his wife did not buy anything. The couple left the store empty handed, with the husband feeling more serious and the wife feeling a bit sad. All of this happened simply because of Macy’s putting a TV in the waiting room that showed something that many stress-free-wannabe customers would not like to think about when they are shopping and relaxing.

The above two steps can easily fix the issues shown in the examples that follow them. Kmart prices are cheaper than Target for many items, but a stress-free environment that saves time and hassle at Target results in many customers favoring Target over Kmart. I’m looking forward to the progress of the huge reorganizations going on at Kmart, which may result in the shopping experience getting better. Similarly, the husband at Macy’s got moody because of watching some news that he may have had a strong opinion about, and the change in his attitude resulted in the wife not buying anything. If a TV must be put in a store, Macy’s could make available some more channels so that customers could change to a channel they prefer and feel happier at the store even if they do not buy anything.

A stressed customer will not be overall happy with their purchase at a particular store, and that unhappiness is going to be reflected in the long run in the form of fewer purchases at that particular store. Offering a relaxing environment with the least possible resistance to shopping both consciously and unconsciously helps a customer associate happiness with shopping at a certain store. A customer is more likely to be happy about making a purchase at a store if the items they are looking for and any related information is easy to find and the entire shopping experience is stress-free.

« Show less..

Continue reading… »

After about an hour and a half of being put on hold, I was told that the support staff could not figure out what the problem was, and that the only way to identify and fix the problem would be to leave my computer and modem turned off and wait for the technicians to come over on Tuesday. That sounded strange and a bit illogical to me, so I decided to leave the computer on and see if I could fix the issue. I also decided to call again this morning and see if I could get someone to come today instead of Tuesday. After being put on hold again for about 37 minutes, I was finally told that the technicians would call me within 30 minutes to let me know whether or not they could come today. I waited for about an hour for a call that never came through. While I was waiting and changing a few settings on the computer, the connection came back on. Right now, everything is working fine again, and I haven’t heard anything from the technicians who were supposed to call me hours ago.

Had I left the modem and the computer off and waited for the technicians to call me, I would not have known that the connection was back on again. Time Warner has a lot to fix about their communication methods and priorities. First, I didn’t get any notification from them about the updates they were performing earlier this month, and that resulted in an unexpected service interruption. Second, even when I was told that someone would definitely call me, no one did. As a customer, I’m paying not only for the connection but also for being notified about anything that may affect the services I have. When it comes to communication, support, and my experience so far, it seems that Time Warner Cable is not good at notifications, nor is it good at followups about support issues that are critical to a customer.

Customers get multiple notifications from different departments when it comes to billing. How about notifying and keeping in touch with the customers about other things also? How about having a central help system that allows support staff in any department to find out any pending issues that need resolution? A notice could be left in that system marking any issues as either “pending resolution” or “resolved.” That will facilitate the efficient resolution of customer issues and unconventional actions takes by the support staff, such as calling a customer back. Only when someone calls a customer back would such a system allow a support issue of this nature to be marked as resolved. That way, things won’t get lost into thin air that leave the customer wondering “Do they even remember that they were supposed to call me?”

« Show less..

Continue reading… »

It’s the idea of not talking to someone in person that somehow makes some people feel that they can bend the very rules they cherish when negotiating in person. It’s like friendship for many; you pretend to be sincere over the phone to people who have been there for you, and you act sincere to people who want to use you. The same way, many buyers simply back out of a deal without letting the seller know about it. While it’s normal to back out of such a sale at the last minute, it is anything but normal for a supposed buyer to simply disappear and not let the seller know what happened.

Last week, I had a buyer who called me 4 times in 3 days and requested repeatedly that I “please keep the tv” for him till Thursday evening. Well, he never showed up, and never responded to me. Could this be because of the embarrassment he felt when backing out of the deal that he had begged so hard for in the beginning? I’m not sure. Regardless, it’s funny how only a few people take the time to call or email and say “Sorry, I’m not interested anymore and won’t be coming by at 4” instead of making someone wait and lose other sales by telling other customers “Sorry, I already promised this to someone and they’ll come later during the day. Thus, I cannot sell this to you. Sorry.”

As for the 27″ Sanyo TV and the Sanyo DVD player I was selling, after the original buyer simply vanished, someone came yesterday and paid almost twice the amount I had originally wanted. Interestingly, not all sales end that way. Maybe online classifieds should have tutorials teaching buyers how to be effective at communication, and how to be ethical when it comes to negotiating a deal along with ideas on how to gracefully bail out. When a buyer is negotiating a deal for themselves, they should know that they’re also in turn making the seller negotiate a deal for themselves. Long live free communication between buyers and sellers. Long live Craigslist.

« Show less..

Continue reading… »

If you like any of the points mentioned in this post, I’ve got a hundred more in the works. You can contact me and hire me to allow you to use these and many more points, and to have me provide consulting too.

Here is the 2nd part of that list, with 5 more plans that could help revolutionize the fast food industry.

1. Straight or gay; you simply gotta pay

   You might be charged more or given a discount depending on your sexual preference. I originally came up with this idea in order to allow discounts for people of certain sexual preferences that might otherwise be discriminated. However, the fast food corporations love this plan only if they get to charge people of any preference more money instead of giving discounts. For example, some employees suggested to me that San Francisco’s Burger King might charge more if one is not a lesbian, and that Irvine’s McDonald’s might charge more if one is gay. The extra charge will depend solely on the sexual orientation and preference of the management of the local fast food location in question.

   I’m working on this plan to make sure it’s not discriminatory, though I keep getting told everyday by all the food corporations that they’re in the food business, not in the anti-discrimination business.

2. Bow down to your sponsor or pay us

   Fast food companies will charge more when a customer doesn’t use specific products from a sponsor. This initiative is still being discussed heavily, and negotiations are far from complete. The concept is simple: a fast food chain will have a sponsor of the month, and that specific fast food chain will charge extra whenever you do not own a product from that sponsor. For example, if Honda is sponsoring the month of December at Carls Jr., every Honda driver will pay the regular price for all the drive-thru orders. All other drivers will pay extra for any menu item. Plans are also being made to include discounted or extra menu items available only to users of a specific product.

   Some have even proposed extending the idea to have sponsors from the mainstream language advocates or specific communities where speaking a specific language or looking and acting like a certain someone will earn special discounts. If it’s any consolation, the following month your own community might be the sponsor, making you feel like the superior race then. Just like before, I’ve been sent some modified plans by various religious organizations regarding charging people from other religions a lot more, or banning nonreligious people completely from ordering any food. Whether the plan is to convert nonreligious people or to starve them to death, I don’t know. While there are some rumors floating around that people who convert on the spot from one religion to the religion advocated by the sponsor of the month will get prizes and free religious books for life, I can deny all such rumors at this moment and say that these rumors have no ground to stand on.

3. Screw your city and pay us!

   You’ll be charged extra for buying at a fast food place that’s not in your city of residence. This plan requires an ID card to verify the zip code of all buyers at different fast food chains. If you live in the same city, you’ll pay the normal price, and maybe get a discount. If you live in a different city, you’ll pay extra and get no discount unless you move to become a local resident. I originally got contacted by different county officials who wanted certain members of the society kicked out, and at the same time wanted wealthier citizens to move in. We came up with several plans and this one was voted as being the best by different county officials.

4. Eat my food or pay up to feast at other places

   You’ll be charged extra for not being a loyal customer at specific fast food chains. When you go to any fast food place, you’ll be expected to know all of the menu items by heart. Hiding the menu itself is an easy way to find out who knows the menu and who doesn’t. People can still ask what the menu is, but an extra charge will be added to such orders. A discount and a gift coupon will be given to those who pay an extra “I converted” fee, which allows customers to convert from something like Wendyism to Jack-in-the-Box’ism or from Subwayism to Quiznoism. A credit card will be kept on file for each convert; if they do not come and order something on a regular basis, they’ll be charged a “defect/spy/going-to-hell” fee. Plans are also being considered to charge customers instantly when they ask what the menu items are, even if they don’t buy anything.

   An increase in graduates of criminal justice degrees is expected, as more fast food chains will start hiring security guards and detectives to chase down people who ask for menu items and then run away without ordering or paying anything. This plan is being heavily modified by me, as many religious organizations have shown opposition to such a plan saying that offering incentives to worship a fast food place may actually cause many immature people to stop worshiping God and start worshiping the big M signs. These religious people instead advocate the “Bow down to your sponsore or pay us!” plan above.

5. My Capitalist Nanny!

   This one was recommended by Jerine. I talked about this with local branches of several national fast food chains and they all agreed; kids make more mess than adults. Thus, anyone who brings children to fast food places will be charged an extra “My Capitalist Nanny” fee depending on what the kids do. If the kids play around, parents will be charged extra. If the children make a mess on the table, they’ll be charged extra. If they kids scream, they’ll be charged extra. If someone brings more than one child with them, they must make sure that each child orders something, or else there will be an extra fee. Many executives are even considering offering menu items where parents can rent a nanny from the fast food store for an hour while they eat.

   Right now, research is being done to see as to whether some children will start to realize why their poor parents always locked them in their rooms and never took them to McDonald’s anymore, and thus when they grow up, whether these children might start a psycho-stalking spree against fast food executives. Many executives laughed at such research in the beginning saying that no one gets stalked or attacked anymore, but after reading this blog about stalking and stabbing by strangers, and being used and being lied to by friends, those executives are slowly realizing that they should take precautions. Right now, research is also being done to see whether renting nannies would be a good idea or not. Some have even suggested offering hot nannies to take care of all people regardless of their age, but this has been heavily criticized by parents who say that the old freaky executives just want to live out their sick fantasies through such plans.

These are the other 5 points I’m working on to make sure it’s easier for corporations to establish and promote different types of healthier relationships with all the communities. You might also want to read more about the Fast food business annoyances to get a feel of what the fast food industry is like at the moment.

What do you think about these points overall, or any of these points? As for me, I’ve eaten too much Pizza Hut since yesterday. It’s time to take some rest. Thank you for reading.

« Show less..

Continue reading… »

It was very easy to sign up. I called 1-888-TW-CABLE [1-888-892-2253] and was told that some technicians could come to my place after 10 days. My SBC renewal date was coming up, so I decided to call again after a few minutes to get some other person on the line to help me. I called back after about 3 minutes and was told that someone could come over in 2 days. That was great. So far, calling Time Warner over the phone to get a new service was a good experience, and very fast.

The contracted technicians came and hooked up the new cable to the house. The technicians gave me a receipt and told me that they had no welcome package or any other paperwork for me, as the service was so easy to use. For me, that was fine as I already knew how to use the service. However, I wondered how new customers who had never used a broadband connection before would get started without a welcome package. For me, though, the service worked flawlessly and it was at least 3 times faster than the dsl connection I had from SBC.

On Tuesday, December 5th, around 3 pm, my internet connection dropped suddenly. I called the Time Warner helpline and heard an automated recording that talked about the entire Adelphia network in my region being upgraded at that moment, and the possibility of the entire process continuing until 11 pm, Thursday. The recording also told callers not to call regarding any connection issues until then. For me, that was unacceptable and a good example of bad communication. One of the last things a company would want is for customers to panic, and having no internet connection all of a sudden without any notice or a warning surely results in many customers who go crazy. I didn’t get anything in the mail regarding this, nor was I emailed anything. I could live without the connection for a few hours, but being prepared for such a thing is better. Unexpected surprises that are unpleasant are, well, unpleasant. The connection did come back on for me after a few hours on the same day, and it’s been good since then.

Communication is the central key to any good relationship, whether it be a one on one relationship or a business relationship. The recording on helpline did address my specific question right away. Even then, however, I would prefer a message coming from the businesses to the customers notifying them of any outages in advance, instead of customers reaching out helplessly to the businesses asking them about any sudden emergencies or issues.

Has anything similar happened to you? What is your outtake on this?

« Show less..

Continue reading… »

I asked him if the oil change done in that 30K car service would be “of the exact same premium quality as the $19.95, using the same premium oil and the same tools?” He responded with a confident “yes“, telling me that it would be “exactly the same thing you expect from Honda.” I then asked him that if the 30k car service specialists could just do an oil change since, like he said, they were qualified to do that. The look on his face was a very interesting one at that exact moment. He looked at me for about 2 seconds, then opened his mouth to say something, while breathing at the same time, and looked at the side wall without moving his head or saying anything; I’m guessing he regretted answering my question with such enthusiasm. After a few seconds he said that those 30k specialists were required to work on the 30k service customers as a priority, and that they already had customers waiting in line to get a 30k service. I could see no cars waiting anywhere other than the ones that were already being worked upon. I left the place, hoping to get up early tomorrow morning and going to a service center nearby.

What’s up with businesses not wanting to be more flexible? They can use the services they already have, utilize any resources that are available, like those 30k specialists who were not all busy, and use them to have another satisfied customer and a little bit more money? Those mechanics work there fulltime as Honda specialists, and thus get paid by the hour, regardless of how many cars they actually work on. Management could avoid having too many customers on certain days to give the mechanics a break for the rest of the day, which can be understandable on some levels. However, the management staff was willing to put those mechanics to much more work, which would take hours compared to a 20 minute oil change, when that work brought in $130 instead of the $19.95. Thus, if money is the focus, why not get something instead of nothing?

This narrow-minded approach to doing business would work great when you’re selling only one service, or only one specific product which cannot be customized. However, if you have more than one product or service that overlaps with other products or services offered by you, it is wise to teach all staff to be more flexible into customizing a service or a product to meet the need of a customer, who otherwise would not be a customer.

« Show less..

Continue reading… »

Imagine owning a small business store where a customer walks in looking for an item that they want under $4. If you don’t have any such item below $4 but have similar items that cost $4.50, which of the following responses would you want to give to that customer?

1. “Sorry, we don’t have anything below $4“
2. “Sorry, we don’t have anything below $4 but we have something close, and it costs only $4.50“

You would probably think that option number 2 above is better of the two answers, offering a customer something close to what they want and also being helpful to them at the same time. Even if the customer does not use that alternate solution, the customer will remember that you were helpful and that you cam came close to fulfilling their requirements, instead of thinking that you did not fulfil their requirements. Most businesses do not realize this. If a customer comes in with a specific request for something, many businesses rarely say anything other than “Sorry, we don’t have that”, thus turning the customer away. Offering alternate solutions to customers can be one of the best methods to have satisfied and loyal customers.

I recently went to a Wendy’s store around 9 pm and was told by an employee standing at the main door that Wendy’s was closed. As I was pulling out of the parking lot, I decided to go through their drive-thru and found out that it was still open, and would remain open until a few hours later. The store employee who told me to basically go away knew I was referring to dining inside the store, though he did not know if I was willing to do a drive-thru or not as an alternate. He thus risked losing me as a customer by not offering me the alternate solution that his store could offer for my needs at that time.

One should reach out to a customer in different ways and not only address their direct needs, but also be creative and thoughtful enough to offer alternates that would satisfy the exact needs of a customer in ways other than what the customer specifies. That involves flexibility and the willingness to think more and taking extra steps to make the customer happy, instead of looking for easy and direct sales all the time.

« Show less..

Continue reading… »

Last year I presented you with a list of “10 interesting annoyances about Fast Food chains” that I thought was interesting to know. With almost every business aiming for profit and cuts in customer service, it seems that the old trend of a win-win situation is changing, where before both the seller and the buyer used to get the most out of a deal. Today, it’s a win-almost-won situation, where the businesses are winning, yet the customers are starting to lose more on every deal.

If you’re an executive at a corporation, you can hire me to bring these and many more plans to your company and let you use them, and at the same time provide consulting for each of the points to get the maximum output possible from each plan. Please contact me with details. Here is my list of 5 plans introducing new charges that you may see at fast food places in the near future. I call this list “Bes Z’s Top 5 new plans for fast food places.” When used properly and under my strict expert supervision, these plans can be used in many ways by management of different food corporations to bring in more revenue.

1. Wipe your mouth for a dollar

Napkins will cost extra with any order. Currently, many fast food places charge for giving you extra condiments like ketchup or mayonnaise. You pay for good quality burgers; why not pay for good quality napkins to wipe that ketchup off your face? Very soon two classes of fast food eaters will emerge because of this new plan. One will buy their napkins at the fast food, and the other will bring their own napkins. Sales of Levi Jeans is expected to soar, as people will prefer wiping off the mustard on their jeans rather than their dress pants.

2. Eat the greens or lose the dough

Having no vegetables on your burgers will cost extra. Vegetables are good for you according to many paranoid people, and soon parents will have lobbied and successfully convinced all fast food chains to require kids to eat vegetables. If it’s going to happen anyhow, why not use the plan right now to start charging extra if one decides to remove that tomato or lettuce? What better way to eat healthy food than to have healthy vegetables on an oil-soaked fast food burger? Also, remembering not to put an onion on a burger requires extra thinking on behalf of the fast food management; thus, having a customized burger with no vegetables reduces productivity. On top of that, if companies don’t put vegetables on burgers, the burgers are going to look extremely small. That’s not good, and also unacceptable.

Want no veggies? You gotta pay for your decision now. So far, many groups of parents show me their support for this plan. Veggies never tasted so good, and they never looked so expensive either. This plan will help in changing the traditional “Capitalistic” image of food corporations to the new “Capitalistic and helping our children eat veggies” image.

3. Buy it and go away or it’s more you gonna pay

Dining inside a fast food place will cost more, and having the food to go will not carry any extra charge. While there are still more people dining inside fast food places than in their cars, very soon you’ll be charged for even entering the premises or for eating inside. Cleaning the mess you left on a table requires a lot of courage on behalf of the cleaning staff, who have to refrain from crying while they wipe off the stains left on the tables by things dripping off your mouth. Even people who come into the store and buy stuff to take home sometimes pick up extra napkins and other things from inside the store and affect the #1 “Wipe your mouth for a dollar” plan above in a negative manner.

On top of that, hiring the cleaning staff wastes a lot of money; money that can be spent by the corporations on better things. For this plan to work I’ve created the “walk-thru” service, where people who don’t want to pay extra in order to dine in have to order food at an outside window and not be able to enter the store. Both the drive-thrus and my trademarked trademark walk-thru window will cost less than what it would cost to eat inside.

4. Use the bushes in the back or pay up front

You will be charged for using the restrooms. Eating food at someone’s house is a good thing, but using their restroom to lay waste everywhere is simply rude. Fast food places were created to fulfil your desire to eat, not your desire to go unload your stomach. A new cashier stand will be placed in front of all restrooms, where people will have to pay upfront in order to use the restrooms even if they already paid a lot for food in the same store. I’ve been approached by a few diaper companies to help them start a few lineups of adult diapers, as people will pay for diapers that will help them not use restrooms at fast food places when my plan is executed by the fast food companies.

I’m in the middle of negotiations between diaper companies and fast food corporations about my plan to have fast food places sell diapers along with food items, as part of a meal, at discounted prices. Some technical details, such as finding a place where a customer would put on the diaper, are still being worked out. Fast food places also have yet to plan any concrete countermeasure to the smell that will start brewing at their stores because of customers wearing diapers and not using restrooms all day long, though I’m working on that vigorously.

5. Stalk your sexy cashier legally for a small fee

You’ll be charged extra for choosing the gender of the cashier. Since innovation happens every century or so at big businesses, the best new thing is to give your order to someone while feeling sexually aroused at the same time. Sure, it’s considered sick by many people, but there’s money to be made here. This also reduces the chances of any cashier becoming surprised when being hit on by a customer, or vice versa, since everyone will already know they will definitely be stalked afterwards; it’s going to become a legal right, as the customer will be paying pay for the service.

Some additions to the plan were suggested by fast food companies in the early stages of this draft that allowed customers to pay an extra fee, in addition to the initial additional charge, to find out things like the working hours of an employee or their home address. I didn’t find such plans to be safe, though, so the fast food places scrapped any such additions to the plan. To execute this plan, fast food places will allow customers to stand in two main lines: “For women“, and “For men.” The female line will have female customers and male cashiers, while the male line will have male customers and female cashiers. I’ve been approached and requested by several Gay and Lesbian community representatives and groups to accommodate their members into the plan also. I’ve upgraded the plan to allow having four lines instead of two: “For women“, “For men“, “Men for men“, and “Women for women.”

I was also approached by a few religious organizations who recommended I have separate lines based on the religious preference of a customer. At this moment, I cannot accept any such plans because of childhood memories of standing in lines based on religion and class, and also because many people objected to religious people stalking people of the same religion. However, some religious people had no problem stalking people belonging to a competing religion, and that’s what totally freaked me out. Also, when it comes to money, corporations don’t care about one’s religion. However, corporations do care about sexual preferences and stalking people, as that’s the new fad that’s seen as a positive thing by many people today, and thus has a lot of potential to bring in huge amounts of money.

There are no plans yet to introduce separate lines for transvestites and transsexuals yet, though I’ve been approached by such organizations as well. They should be addressed in the later part of the plan drafting.

These are the top 5 plans I’m working on to make it easier for corporations to do business while giving unique services to their customers.

What do you think about the above points? Is there any point or plan that should be added or analyzed further? As for me, I’m going to eat Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) now, so I’ll stop here. If you liked any of these points, I’ve got a hundred more in the works also; you can contact me and hire me to allow you to use these and many more points, and to have me provide consulting too. Thank you for reading.

« Show less..

Continue reading… »

The bank can claim, as it has been proven, that since you yourself gave the credit card information, you gave the site permission to use that information with your consent. Thus, the bank cannot perform a chargeback [reverse the charge] for you. In the story cited, however, the charge was reversed.

A chargeback is a credit card transaction that is challenged by a cardholder or merchant bank and sent back through interchange to the bank of account (cardholder or merchant) for resolution. Usually, this is the only last line of defense of retrieving your money if your credit card has been used without your approval. However, the recent trend of banks asking for more information than before regarding credit card theft report shows the frustration of the banks from going through the process of contacting the companies who have placed the charge and to get the money back. Usually, when the bank gives you back the money [which is usually within 10 days], it is doing it from its own pocket till the dispute is resolved.

Businesses, including banks, have figured out that providing too much protection in things which maybe avoided, should be avoided to keep costs down in times where economy is not performing at its fullest. However, the banks are not fully leaving the customers side. This is a small test to see if the process of siding with the customer 100% in the case of a wrong charge can be changed. Such a change will mean less headaches and more money for the banks [as they will not have to pocket the customers accounts with their own money, even if the chargeback is not successful] and less for the customer.

Consumers should be more careful in using their credit cards, doing as much as possible to avoid trying cards at new places [whether online or offline] without being ready to loose the amount being spent, in worst cases. Relying on a chargeback, even if your bank guarantees it, can be a time-consuming process. A recent chargeback process initiated by me with my bank resulted in around 15 days for a chargeback to be reversed, a myriad of phone calls to the company [in UK] that placed the charge, and a paperwork that took more time to fill out than what you fill at a hospital for a new patients checkup.

« Show less..