Letters to the Editor
Re: The CRM Cynic: Customer Service is a Bitch (The CRM Loop, Aug. 25)
I believe the real problem here has nothing to do with Comcast’s call center. The root of the problem is much earlier in the process. I don’t know much about Comcast’s operations, but I’d be willing to bet if they fixed the things customers complain about, they wouldn’t have customer service problems at all. Customer service should be built into the product instead of something you try to clean up after the customer has already had a bad experience.
Bradley Day
Re: AOL’s Settlement with Eliot Spitzer (The CRM Loop, Aug. 25)
Thanks for your article on AOL cancellation practices. I see the Attorney General of New York is levying a fine against AOL for the very practice I suspected. It was even more egregious than I suspected. I was charged an additional $46, for two months service after trying to cancel. The AOL telephone service rep was downright nasty and uncooperative. I’m located in Missouri. Should I file a complaint in Missouri? Although New York levied a fine, the fine is minimal compared to the millions of fraudulent retention fees garnered by AOL. AOL is probably laughing at the fine.
Here are a couple of other scams being ran against consumers.
How sad that the very people who are struggling to mend and correct their credit ratings fall victims to a scam. Even credible TV stations like MSNBC often provide free advertising believing these free reports are a consumer service. I investigated several of the free services and found they all charged a fee if you didn’t opt out of the service. I still get weekly reports from one service and cant get them to stop sending them. I will probably get some surprises on my credit card soon.
Several other practices irritate me. Whenever a consumer signs up for automatic billing, it’s consumer beware. They won’t stop debiting your account even after you try to stop. AOL is a perfect example. I tried for over two months to cancel AOL but they absolutely wouldn’t stop. The service rep tried to get me to continue and wouldn’t hear my request to stop the service. He was obliviously on a commission to convert cancellations into continuing service and a cancellation would hurt his performance statistics. I went directly to my credit card company and asked them to stop but they said the directive had to come from AOL. Even though I initiated the authorization, I couldn’t stop it.
Another practice I find appalling is the gouging of customers by credit card companies. Credit card companies are charging 29% interest which even surpasses the old Mafia-based loan sharking rates. They then only require a minimum $10 payment to sucker the consumer deeper into debt. If payment is one day late they charge a $29 late fee which is outrageous. The consumer is being gouged by financial companies and has no one protecting them. The few nonprofit consumer interest organizations don’t have the deep pockets and resources the credit card companies have with their armies of attorneys and legalize fine print.
John Barry
