SiriusXM Half Price

Impending Price Increase for SiriusXM

I recently received an email from SiriusXM stating that there was a fee increase taking affect this year.

Since I do a lot of driving for work, I do enjoy the XM service. However, given that there are great podcasts available for free with similar content, and I enjoy public radio, the cost has always been a little hard to swallow.

The fee increase to $175 + tax was too much. I decided that I would cancel my service.

When I called their customer service line for the cancellation I was immediately offered a half price discount.

This type of tactic is troubling to me, as a consumer. I should not have to threaten cancellation to get a better price that is available.

The fact that they can, without skipping a beat, offer me half the cost tells me something about their fee structure. I wonder if I could have done even better if I had relented a little more?

I'd like to say that I held to my principles and continued with my cancellation but their tactic obviously worked. I'm still a customer, for another year...

Penalizing returning customers. Bad idea.

Want to lose a customer quickly? Charge them $390 for returning as a customer!

Yes, that scenario is real.

Some companies have such a feeling of self importance that they think that it is a privilege for their customers to be served by them.

We have a small business client that uses a particular IT appliance in their environment. We were the reseller of that appliance and we continue to support them. Today, during the process of a normal software maintenance renewal, the vendor of this appliance came back to us with a quote of $293 dollars for the support of this appliance plus a "support synchronization fee" (late fee) of $390.

Now, I understand that there is some difficulty that arises from a customer that doesn't renew their support on time, and there is a cost to that. However, when the cost for the late fee is 1/3 more than the actual support cost. That's crazy.

To make things worse, this support is for a device that costs approximately $600 to buy new. So, that comes out to $683 for support on a $600 device. Nice.

We obviously couldn't put this in front of the customer. Small businesses today are struggling to keep their heads above the water and an unnecessary fee like this is not fair.

Our account rep went back to the vendor to argue our case. It took several communications, and an escalation to our partner manager, but eventually they removed the fee. That's great, but it should not have come to this.

Charging late fees to returning customers is ridiculous. If they were the only game in town they might get away with it. But they aren't. In two years, when the appliance is ready for refresh, we will be shopping around for better service from a vendor that wants the business.

Have any good example of bad customer fees? Comment below.

Not allowing negative comments. That's one strategy, I guess.

I am currently helping to organize a charity Adventure Race with my scouting Venturer group. One of the key items required for this type of a race are quality topographical maps. Since not all of the current trails are on the standard maps (the topo maps in our region haven't been updated since 1983) we need to customize the map with current trails and our checkpoints. 

This isn't a quick or easy task but I finally completed my customized map this week using an online tool. Phew, task complete. Now all that is left is to simply order the map and wait for it to arrive. 

Not so fast, the service that I've chosen to use (there aren't a lot to choose from) has issues in their online ordering process. I wasn't able to properly preview the map before ordering it and when it did preview, there were mistakes. 

I work in the technology industry so I understand that there are bugs in systems. I can deal with that and I am pretty patient. 

I dutifully created a service ticket online and began the waiting process. It has now been 3 days since my initial request and I am no further ahead in getting this map ordered. I have received two marginally helpful emails in response but each has taken over a day to land in my inbox. Meanwhile I wait, credit card in hand, hoping for the chance to give this company my group's hard earned money.

At the bottom of each of the support emails is a link (see image above) asking for feedback. Since I am starting to get annoyed at my service time, I decided that I should give some feedback. 

Now, I admit, the link does say "Give [insert name here] kudos!" And, I do understand what the word kudos means, but, I assumed that the link would forward me to a survey, an email form or at least a star based rating system. That would be a normal way of asking for feedback.

Nope, the link does exactly what it says. Instead of actually giving me a feedback forum I was presented with this page. I had actually given a kudos. 

Apparently, I am not able to actually give critical feedback. I managed to inadvertently give positive feedback.

I guess this is one way to improve your customer satisfaction metrics. It has done nothing to improve my actual satisfaction though.

I am heading to our local Department of Natural Resources office to buy a paper map so that I can update it the old fashioned way. How is that for feedback?

Feedback is gold...if you receive it.

Getting bad feedback sucks. Not getting the bad feedback is worse.

Recently I had a meal at a local restaurant. The restaurant has a great reputation, has won awards, has had articles written about it and everyone talks about it. I have eaten their previously with good success.

Yesterday, however, my meal was substandard. My Wild Mushroom Risotto was bland, over-cooked and the portion was too small. I'm not looking for a mammoth, over-consumption-sized meal but I would like to not have to eat a sandwich after my meal. I'm not looking for gourmet but this place is supposed to be pretty high caliber, in our little city.

Did I complain to the server, no. I was with a client and didn't want to create a scene over something as simple as over cooked rice. I wanted to keep the focus of the meal on the client, instead of my plate of mush.

The problem is, the restaurant now has no idea that a customer has gone away unimpressed. This is the worst case scenario for a business.

As a business, I want to know when my customers aren't impressed. I want to know if our service was slow, sloppy or expensive. I want to, at least, apologize for the inadequacy if I can't rectify it. I want to prevent it from happening again.

It isn't always best to complain at the moment that the bad service is happening. However, take the time after-the-fact to jot down your experience or pick up the phone and call about it. If the owner has an appreciation for the importance of service, they will appreciate the feedback.

If you are a business owner, embrace negative comments as a way to improve. Realize that the act of complaining might have been uncomfortable for the client and they probably had a good reason for making it.

I am not a problem, I am a customer

Remember that customers are not problems. They are your business. 

While on road trips I  try to eat reasonably healthy. I will regularly stop at a grocery store for a healthy alternative to the regular deep fried fair of the traveler.

On a recent stop at a grocery store I was getting some blueberries to accompany my dinner choice. When the cashier tried to ring in the order the berries would not scan into the system. She was annoyed. Muttering, she walked over to the phone and rang for assistance. Meanwhile I was left standing for several minutes waiting.

Understanding that this was not her fault, and that she was annoyed, I tried to lighten the mood by making small talk. No answer.

Once the manager came to perform a manual override I paid the clerk and said thank you. No answer.

This clerk made the number one client service mistake. She transferred her annoyance of the system onto the customer. It became my fault. All I wanted was some blueberries.

The most important thing that any customer facing employee can do is remember that customers are not problems. They are your business. Whether you are having problems with a cash register or your customer is being difficult on a contract, or whatever the issue is, they are not the problem.