Why Big Companies Fail

This morning I heard the news that Eastman Kodak filed for bankruptcy.  Yes, you heard it right.  Eastman Kodak, the Goliath of the photo industry has failed.  Eastman Kodak, the company that discovered digital cameras wasn't smart enough to figure out that the future was digital photography.  Basically put, the high salaried executives couldn't get their heads out of their asses and let their company fail.

I'm reading Steve Job's biography now.  It is a very insightful book, not only about Steve Jobs personality (he was an asshole) but about his frustration with dealing with companies like Eastman Kodak who couldn't or wouldn't get their heads out of their asses because of arrogance, inertia and incompetence.

I am typing this blog on a Steve Jobs product, an iMac computer.  I use an iPhone.  I also use an iPad.  These are almost perfect consumer products in that they are very user friendly and ahead of the curve in anticipating the consumer's need in the 21st century.  Whatever Steve Jobs personal failings as a Feel Good manager of people (he was terrible), at least he had a vision of where and how consumer products and customer service should be in this day and age.

This morning I experienced another example of corporate arrogance, hubris, and incompetence.  Last January I signed up with Comcast for my Internet service.  Previously I had Verizon (yet another example of corporate arrogance, hubris, and incompetence) but I discontinued their DSL service because it was so unreliable and slow.  My only other choice was Comcast, the local monopoly.

Me with my Comcast paperwork, ready to sink into the Labyrinth of Frustration with phone calls this morning

I did not want to use Comcast because of my previous dealings with them when I moved into my new home in November of 2006.  I won't bore you the reader of my nightmare experience of just trying to get service set up on my new house but suffice it to say I was glad to be done with them.  I signed up with Verizon, and while they didn't have the arrogance of a monopoly company their customer service wasn't much better (too automated) and it was SLOW.  Rarely a week went by that I didn't lost my Internet service at least once.  After several years of constantly rebooting my modem and going through the Menu Hell of calling Verizon, I finally relented and signed up with Comcast in January of 2011.

Last March I got my first bill in the mail.  Of course it was wrong.  They charged me too much.  I called them (another Menu Hell by the way) and they said I wouldn't be receiving a bill because I had a credit.  Okay.

The months roll by.  Then I got to thinking last November "That credit must have been fulfilled by now."  I  still haven't received a bill.  I checked my credit card billing.Yep, there it is.  They're charging my credit card.  Funny, I don't remember giving authorization for that.

I meant to call them but with my Prostate Drama and the holidays rushing upon me I didn't get around to it until just this morning.  I call to find out why I'm not receiving a paper bill.  Yep, I was in Telephone Menu Hell again.

I heard that Comcast is losing about half a million customers a year.  I heard that they were "doing" customer service now.  Hey, BIG WHOOP!  So I call expecting to get an immediate answer to my phone call like I do when I call Apple support.  HA!  Foolish boy Ron!  I go through the menu options.  You know how it works.  "1 for something, 2 for something else, etc."  I finally choose "4 for other."  Then I"m on hold.  No surprise here.  So I stay on hold for about ten minutes and finally I get someone.  I tell her my problem.  "Why am I not getting a paper bill?"  She tells me that I'm getting "e-bills."  Funny thing about that, I don't remember authorizing "e-bills."  I asked her where the e-bills are going.  She tells me to my e-mail account.  I tell her that I don't get any Comcast e-bills to my e-mail account (which is AOL).  She tells me they go to my Comcast e-mail account.  Oh, and what account might that be?  I didn't know I had one.

She tells me I have to talk to Internet support.  Okay.  She transfers me.  Yep, you guessed it.  I got a long silence then a message from the telephone operation "If you would like to make a call...."  OH I'M NOT SURPRISED.  Comcast hung up on me.  And not for the first time either.

So I hang up and go through all the menu options until I get someone in the Internet department.  After another fifteen minutes I get someone.  I explain my problem and she tells me that she can't help me because she is in billing.  Yep, I'm back to Square One again folks!

Me patiently waiting on hold - at least I wouldn't be talking to someone from India

I patiently explain to her (barely surpressing my anger and frustration because I KNEW this would happen) and tell her I want to find out what my Comast e-mail account is so I CAN SEE MY BILLS!  I told her I've already been through the Phone Transfer thingy this morning so DON'T TRANSFER me to a dial tone.

She transfers me to another number and I wait another 10 minutes then I finally get someone.  We're going on 45 minutes now folks just to find out where my bills are.  This is why I didn't call last November.  I knew this would be an ORDEAL.

I talk to the new person.  I explain to her that I don't know what my Comcast e-mail account is but I would like to check my bills but I don't want Comcast to be my default e-mail account on my computer.  You know how that works with these companies, you check into them and the next thing you know Bing is your default search engine and not Google.

She assures me that Comcast won't be my default e-mail account unless I choose it.  She walks me through how to get to my Comcast e-mail account, providing me with a password which I didn't know I had.

I get to the Comcast e-mail and yep, it is not a user friendly e-mail site.  No surprise here.  Except for Apple and Discovercard, most Internet sites are notoriously non-user friendly.

With the Comcast representative on the phone (and she didn't sound happy probably because I didn't sound happy), we go into my e-mail account.  Only last month's bill is there.  Uh, how about LAST YEAR'S bills.  Oh, for that I have to do to Comcast's website under "ACCOUNTS".  We're up to an hour on the phone now folks.  Just to find out my bills.

After some more laborious searching around their Internet site I finally found my bills from last year.  Yep, they were e-billed.  I asked her why I was e-billed without my permission.  She said that the (excuse me, I just got an automated call from Comcast to answer a Customer Satisfaction Survey)...I'm back.

She told me that the customer service technician who installed my Comcast equipment last January should she explained to me that I would be e-billed through my Comcast e-mail account.  You know what?  He might have explained that to me and maybe I missed it.  I don't think so.  But I could be wrong.  One thing he did do, he installed the equipment in a timely manner and my Internet provider service is MUCH BETTER than it was with Verizon. Since last January I only had to reboot my modem once which was a VAST IMPROVEMENT over Verizon's service.

But still, sloppy customer service by not informing my of the way I would be billed.  And then I still had to jump through all these hoops this morning just to get it straightened out.

Comcast may be on a new path to improving their customer service but quite frankly, after this experience I don't see it.  I get a better Internet connection with them (faster than Verizon but still not as fast as FIOS that I had at my home in Pennsylvania) but there is no excuse for this laborious procedure that I had to go through this morning just to get a paper bill in the mail.

I think big companies fail because sometimes they get too big.  They're like a huge ship, they can't turn around without sinking the whole ship.  They're especially prone to failure when they become a virtual monopoly without competition because the first thing that goes is customer service and the first thing that appears is the arrogance and the "take it or leave it attitude."

I hope Apple never gets like that.  Steve, I miss you already.

Incompetence

So yesterday I called Verizon.  I jumped through all the required hoops regarding my poor Internet connection.  The technician said he would send me a new modem.  


I got the modem today.  IT IS THE WRONG MODEM.  I needed a wireless modem (as I told him repeatedly yesterday).  So what do I get, the single modem.


I call Verizon again.  I jump through all the hoops of the telephone menu system that Verizon requires one to endure.  I'm hitting the pound (#) button over and over again.  Then I get a real person.  They promptly put me on hold.  I take out my journal and make my daily entry (I have the time).  


A technician comes on the phone.  I explain my problem.  He puts me on hold while he "checks my account".  I'm on hold a LONG TIME.  He finally gets back on the phone and says he's going to connect me to the billing department.  He tells me they will take care of replacing my modem.  Now I'm in the vortex of hell.


After holding I get someone obviously from India.  The heavy accent in which I can only understand every third word or so.  The women sounds like she's talking from the bottom of a well.  She asks my address.  She asks my name.  She asks for my telephone number.  Here I go jumping through the hoops again.  Finally we get to the problem at hand.  She tells me it will cost me $60.95 to replace the modem.


SAY WHAT?


I impatiently inform her that I have a service contract.  She asks for my address again. AGAIN!  I tell her "I already gave it to you!  Why do you want it again?"  She says something I cannot understand.  I tell her she has a heavy accent and I cannot understand most of what she is saying.  There is a silence.  Then she tells me she needs a mailing address. 


Then we get into the charge.  I ask her "Why am I being charged for a new modem?  I have a service agreement on this modem that I have ALREADY PURCHASED."  She puts me on hold.  She comes back.  She tells me there will be no change.  The new modem will be delivered within 3-5 business days.  




She asks for my e-mail address so she can send me a return label for the wrong modem that they sent to me.  I'm still waiting for that e-mail.  


Why is it that I have the feeling that I'm going to be charged for this modem?  Huh?  Huh?




So here is where I am now.   The old modem is now working, albeit I still have a very slow Internet connection.  I'm waiting for my replacement modem which may or may not work.  


I wasted another two hours on the phone this morning with Verizon.  My arm is hurting.  My appointment at the orthopedic unit is 35 minutes from now.  


I'm outta here.

Here We Go Again

For the last several months I have notice that I cannot watch a You Tube video without it pausing. I’ve also noticed that the past several months that my Internet downloads take a long time to download. Here we go again. I’m about to do battle with my Internet service provider, Verizon.



Sunday I did a speed test. As I suspected my Internet speed wasn’t up to 3 MB as I was promised and what I’m paying Verizon for monthly. Instead my Internet speed varies between 200 and 500 kbps. This isn’t the high speed Internet service I’m paying for.



Here we go again. Sunday I started the series of phone calls that is necessary to resolve this problem. I don’t to bore the readers of this blog with all the hoops I had to jump through until I got a real person. The “real person” was Sanjay in India. Someone who I could hardly understand his English. That torturous phone conversation ended with Sanjay telling me I had too much on my Startup and that was affecting my Internet speed. I’m not a techie but I knew this was a ridiculous explanation.



Yesterday I took the plunge again and called Verizon. Again, I jump through all the hoops until I finally got a real person. This time it was a man from Canada. At least I could understand him. Again, I answered all the questions on his script. We did another speed test which confirmed that my Internet speed is SLOW.



This time he’s going to write up a ticket. Then he transfers me to a real technician. This guy is Mr. Smooth. At the end of the conversation, after I answer all the same questions and go through another speed test, he says “Someone will contract me if it is NECESSARY to do so.” What? I DON’T HAVE THE INTERET SPEED THAT I AM PAYING FOR!



After almost three hours on the phone yesterday morning, I am no further along than I was when I made my first phone call on Sunday.



So now I await the call from Verizon.



I’ve been here before. When I first moved here in November of 2006 I went through the nightmare of Comcast. I dumped Comcast and got Verizon. That is my only choice in the area, Comcast or Verizon. That is some choice isn’t it? That’s competition.



Stay tuned.

I'm Not Perfect

After 67 years of experience, learning and plodding along on this earth I figured I was pretty near perfect. However, an incident at work tonight proved such is not the case. I made a stupid, careless mistake.

A guest called at the front desk of the hotel where I work. He wanted to make reservations for Memorial Day weekend in our most expensive suite. Business being the way it has been this past year (the economy has been sucking in case you haven't noticed) we needed all the business we can at the hotel to make up for lost business during the winter months. I checked my calender to see what day Memorial Day fell on. Yep. May 30th. I checked my computer reservation screen. We already had booked the VIP suite the guest on the phone was requesting. I told the guest I was sorry but we had booked the room for the 30th of May.

It just so happened the owner of the hotel had stopped in and was sitting in the office behind me and overheard my conversation. He double checked the reservation screen on the computer and discovered that the VIP suite was open for the Memorial Day weekend of May 23rd! He yelled at me "Ron! That suite is open Memorial Day!" I looked and darn if it wasn't. I had my dates wrong. I looked at my calendar again and sure enough May 25th was also listed as Memorial Day. I looked at the Memorial Day listed on May 30th and read the small print this time: "Memorial Day" (true.) I knew right away I had made a mistake. It was a good thing that the owner happened to stop in and caught my mistake. However it didn't look to good for my competency in making reservations. I knew I was going to hear about this. And I did.

I made the reservation and the guest was happy. But, I know I would hear more from my boss, the owner of the hotel. And I did. About an hour later he stopped in and told me "Ron, you're going to have to be more careful with your dates." I explained to him how I made the mistake. He wasn't buying it. He told me "Ron, I know you're very conscientious but if you're going to work here you're going to have to know this information. The guests expect you to know it. Your excuse is not acceptable." That stung but of course he was right.

My feelings were hurt. I felt like going off into a corner to lick my wounds. There was no way out of this. I was wrong and he was right. He had every right to chastise me and refuse to accept my lame excuse. I'm an adult and I should know when the holiday weekend falls, especially in my job as a front desk clerk at a hotel. Still, no one likes to be reprimanded, especially me.

In my long work career (since I was 4 or 5 years old) I have strived to perfection in every job I've ever undertaken. I have never knowingly did a sloppy or half assed job. Still, I have made my share of errors over the years. Every time I make and error I think to myself "Well, I'll never make that mistake again." And, most times I don't but I do manage to find new ways to make errors. I would like to think at my advanced age (67), that I was pretty much done with making errors. That's what I would like to think. The reality is proving to be much different. Reality pretty much smacked me in the face tonight.

This week the owner is calling a staff meeting. I heard through the grapevine that we're going to have to take an etiquette course. I think this is probably so we at the front desk will be more professional and bring in more business by our increased customer service skills. Funny thing. I thought I had my manners pretty much down pat. Well, there is always room for improvement because as I learned today, I am not perfect.

The Week In Between

Christmas is over. Santa is gone back to the North Pole and the carolers have hung up their coats and scarves. In only a few days, the New Year will be celebrated around the world. This is the week between Christmas and New Years that is effectively a No Man’s Land. Almost all of the original TV programming is gone from the tube. The talking heads are, for the most part, off to sunnier climes. Not for them the cold winter chill of New York City or Washington, D.C. Reruns of old and tired programs contaminate the airwaves. We don’t have a choice. You will watch that umpteenth running of “Lockup!” on MSNBC whether you like it or not.

Having just come off of a five day stint of working at the hotel, I am exhausted. Not that the hotel was full, it wasn’t. However, whenever one is behind the front desk one is on call for the strangest questions and requests. This year it was to arrange silk flower petals on the wedding night bed for two of the hotel’s guests who were married earlier in the day in Rehoboth Beach. You think arranging flower petals in the shape of a heart on a king size bed is easy? Try it sometime. It took me about three times to arrange those flower petals so the heart didn’t look retarded. Do they teach this skill in hotel hospitality school? I must have been off that day. Arranging the white flower petals leading to the Wedding Night Bed was a much easier task. That only took two tries.

Today is Recovery Day. I don’t go back to work until New Year’s Eve. Last year it wasn’t bad at the hotel, unlike when I worked at the Hampton Inn in Exton, PA. That was an adventure on New Year’s Eve (possible subject for a future posting when I’m in a reminiscing mood.) Recovery for me usually means either eating or spending money (notice how sexual activity is not involved in Recovery – I’m past that.) Today it was shopping. Bill and I first hit Loew’s and did out part to get the economic recovery going. Next it was Staples. I needed a flash drive for my new computer and I wanted to get laser labels for my hanging files. The Big Story this year is that I’m finally organizing my files. No more piles and piles of paper that I have to dig through when looking for a bill or receipt. I used to keep things in great order but that got knocked out or whack when I moved from PA to DE. This is the year I get back on track. Staples had flash drives but they cost too much, as do most of the items in Staples.

Next store was Radio Shack. I got a flyer advertising flash drives with 40% off. The Rehoboth Radio Shack is located in the same shopping strip as Wal-Mart. Next stop, Radio Shack. Upon entering Radio Shack, it didn't look too promising. The Bored Clerk cast his sleepy eyes at me and grunted "Uh." I kid you not. He grunted at me. I asked him if he had flash drives. He did. He came around the counter and I took my measure of him. He was about 19 years old, skinny as a rail (about 5'8" and weighing in at maybe 120 soaking wet.) His pants were hanging fashionably right below the crack of his ass. He had a dingy white shirt and a cubic zirconia earring in his left ear. He slinked over to the display rack on which the flash drives were securely secured lest someone make off with them (does Winona Ryder shop in Radio Shack?) He seemed to become more antimated when I asked him if my 1 MB USB port could handle a 2 MB flash drive. But alas, it was only a temporary condition. After I chose the flash drive I wished to purchased, he unsecured it and took it off the rack. He slide back to the check out register (I swear, I didn't see him lift his feet when he "walked" back to the counter) and checked me out. Satisfied with my purchase, I left him to his own private hell standing behind the checkout counter of the Radio Shack store which had no customers. I guess the economy is also affecting the drug business, thus forcing Mr. Lethargic to take a job working for The Man.

Then, it’s off to Wal-Mart. What shopping day can ever be complete without a trip to Wal-Mart.? The store shelves were pretty well picked over as far as the selection of Christmas merchandise at 50% off. I don't need anything anyway but you never know. It might be “ON SALE” and who can resist a SALE? Not me, that’s for sure.

I went back to the photo department to pick up a photo mouse pad I had ordered a few weeks ago and also some reprints. The tired old queen who was working back there saw me coming so he positioned himself behind the photo processing machine so he couldn’t see me and thus have an excuse not to wait on me. This is an old trick often used by bored and lazy retail clerks who hate their jobs. I took out my receipt and waited patiently. I would wait him out. I saw him take a slight peek around the corner of the machine a couple times. He saw that I was there but I was determined to wait him out without the expected usual histrionics or drama.

I know the drill. Another store clerk, one more responsible, came by and said “Are you being waited on sir?” I told her “No.” She went back and got Old Nellie. He comes around the corner with a scowl on his sour face. He asks “Can I help you?” I told him I was picking up pictures. He asked “1 hour turnaround?” I know why he asked because he wanted the opportunity to tell me "THEY’RE NOT READY YET!" I said “No, it is an order that was sent out” and I handed him my receipt. He took it and, as he turned around to check the filing cabinets of processed orders, threw an unmistakable I Hate You Look at me. He came back with the envelope with the pictures. I told him I also had a mouse pad that I was picking up. He gave me an “Aha! Look" and said triumphantly “It’s not on this slip!” As sweet as I could (think Olivia DeHavilland in “Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte” when she tells Bette Davis that she isn’t crazy after Bette just saw a severed head of her lover bounce down those dusty southern mansion steps), I said “No, it was on another order. You have it here.” Again, as he turned I get the Evil Eye from him and he returns to the cabinet containing the finished orders. He finds it and brings it to me without saying a word like, uh, I don’t know, maybe “Yes sir, here it is. I found it.” No, nothing. I slide my credit card through the machine. I slide it through backwards. Why not? Just a little sly aggravation on my part. I can play the game as well as la Cage Folles can.

I was just too tired to do the Angry Customer Being Mistreated By A Rude Employee routine, I just want to get my mouse pad and get out of there. I just want to go home. However, not before making a quick stop to Food Lion to get some bananas and buy my week’s supply of Power Ball tickets.

This story is getting too long so I’ll shorten it up a bit. In Food Lion I was in line behind a man who had to be at least 95 years old. Mother of God, save me. Talk about having one foot in the grave. This guy not only had one foot in the grave, he was sliding in and hanging on by his his fingertips to the grave's edge and the dirt was slowly crumbling away. He didn’t know where he was or what planet he was on. The cashier totals up my few items. She asks me how I want to pay. I say "By credit card." She looks at me with a big question mark across her face. I'm about a foot from credit card reader but Lazarus is standing right in front of it, still trying to figure out where he is. I tell her, "As soon as he moves I'll slide my credit card." She gives me a tight smile and we wait until Moses decides to part the Red Sea. Eventually, Methuselah moves, walking out of the store spladle legged, like he had a load of poop in his pants (which he probably did.) Get me out of this store and home, please God.

I'm home now. Safe from most forms of aggravation (there is still Bill and the random annoying phone call - and I just got one while typing this posting.) All I have to do now is write this blog, eat lunch, take a nap and hopefully I will be calmed down enough so I won’t be that irritable when I meet my friends at the Purple Parrot tonight for Burger Night. I plan to have one or, perhaps two apple martinis. Usually one apple martini relaxes me and mellows me out. For me and the sake of my friends, I’m hoping that I’m Mellow Ron tonight.