How to lose credibility in one easy lesson
I read an article in a recent issue of Success magazine the other day where Guy Kawasaki offers 10 tips for startups. I'll admit I didn't really know who Guy Kawasaki was. In fact, I don't think I'd really heard of him. But I the article was good (read it online here) and I thought I might buy one of his books also. So the next day when someone retweeted something from him, I figured I would follow him on Twitter as well.
Following Guy Kawasaki on Twitter lasted just over 24 hours. Why? Because of repeated tweets. Guy seemed to be posting the same links over and over and since I try to read everything that is posted on Twitter by the people I follow, I found it nothing short of spam. For the first handful of repeated tweets I figured that it was probably just an error, either by Twitter or by an API he was using. But then I discovered this:
@GuyKawasaki How to avoid my repeat tweets http://om.ly/bzNw
(original tweet is here)
Long story short, Guy has decided that he should post his tweets four times, eight hours apart to ensure maximum coverage and click convergence. And if you don't like it, you should go to the source or just unfollow him.
Yes, I know Twitter is an open service and that users, without breaking the terms of service, are free to use it as they see fit. But the general consensus is that you shouldn't use Twitter as your RSS feed. Furthermore, like good content is to natural SEO, the best way to ensure followers read your posts is to make sure your posts are worth reading. And that you aren't spamming people. If you have good things to say people will seek out your stuff.
So Guy Kawasaki might have lots of followers at any one point in time, but I'd be curious to know what his turnover is like. And for the record, I've decided against buying any of his books -- I don't need advice from someone more concerned about how many people are hearing his message for a true messiah is happy if he's helped just one person.
Mediocre support from Rogers Wireless
It's funny. I've been a Roger's wireless customer for almost four years. It's actually been longer, more like seven or eight years (with a switch to Telus in between) but in the recent past it's been four years. That may not seem like a long time but in terms of financial impact it's actually huge because for three of those four years I was the decision maker for a corporate account. And a corporate account that spent a lot of money.
In any case, Rogers seems to have forgotten that inside sales, that is, sales that come from existing customers, is bigger than new customers. Whether those new customers are brand new mobile customers or customers coming from another provider, those customers are, nine times out of ten, looking for a deal. Existing customers like me, well we're looking for a deal but we're here. But we are also willing to spend. Yet when it comes to keeping us happy, it's a full FAIL.
As I mentioned, I've been a Rogers customer in one form or another for at least four years so when my current device, a BlackBerry Bold 9000, crapped out I thought they'd take care of me. Instead, I got the run around on the phone and after a string of phone calls and two and a half weeks of wait time I got a replacement. A week longer than normal and two weeks longer than I was used to in the corporate world. But that was only after I used Twitter to reach out and complain. And even though the replacement delay was Rogers' fault, I was only offered a small compensation.
Long story short on my replacement, according to Rogers, was that they were out of stock on Bold 9000s. And they lost more replacement order. Or the replacement order didn't go through properly. Whatever the case, that's where someone with some clout should have said "let's offer this guy the next model up". Or something.
So when this evening my replacement Bold decided that a couple of keys would fall off, even though I take great care of the device and keep it protected at all times using the faux-leather case, enough was enough. I was angry -- I'd waited 2 weeks for a replacement device and the replacement device they send me starts losing keys after just a month of light use? I kid you not -- my BlackBerry Bold sits in the charging station for most of the day while I work, coming out only when I have meetings or in evenings (like tonight) that I'm expecting something. And of the four years I've been using a BlackBerry device I'd never had any keys just "fall off". But, in classic fashion, and as expected according to the postings on the Internet, my "refurbished" BlackBerry seems to have been substandard and here I am again.
To make matters worse, I called Rogers Tech Support immediately only to find that their system is down (maintenance or otherwise) and I should call back.
So Rogers, I leave it up to you now -- do you go out of your way to make me happy (a brand new Bold 9700 would be best but at this point I'd settle for a brand new device period) or do you allow me to continue to feel mediocre and hope that when my contract is up at the end of the year that I stick it out with you instead of moving over to some other mobile provider?
The ball is in your court.
Update: I was contacted by via Twitter by someone from Rogers and they are going to escalate my issue. We'll see what the end result is.
