We are REALLY sorry, now about that hard sell?

Some weeks ago I received the attached message and new credit card form Citicards: Security Notice I was not happy to hear that my personal data may have been compromised, but at least I live in a State that requires that a company tell me when such an event happens. In too many places that is still not the case and such an event can be quietly forgotten, more than six years after California became the first state to require such disclosure. … If one of my clients is ever in that situation my advice is to apologize, be contrite and ask what the company can do to make amends. … And to add insult to injury, I can no longer download transactions from my Citicard account into Quicken which I use for my business and personal finances. 12 weeks later, I still can’t.

It’s the Experience……

As it happens I was driving – via the Mojave desert and a few days of photography on the way down, and Yosemite for more pictures on the way back (you can see the results at www.brearleyphoto.com) and so chose my arrival to coincide with a drive through the Mojave National Preserve. … I get that she was completing something for the previous guest, but no greeting, no smile, no ‘I’m sorry, this is going to take me a moment’, I stood there, ignored whilst the people after me who were ushered to other clerks departed for their rooms.

Can you give your customers away?

This of all relationships was the most personal and close to home – my entire financial data and life – was simply passed on to someone I didn’t know – and I was told after the event. … I got a (very) strangely written form letter – it didn’t say so, but I got the impression that they were being obliged to close down by Ford – which said that there were two alternative Ford dealers close by.

Exceptional Customer Focus

I tried out Filemaker’s new personal database, Bento, and am not only delighted with the $49 product, but also the service and support. All this in spite of some really, really horrible messups that would usually be reported here in much stronger terms. The story: I downloaded the preview version and was impressed enough to…

Respect!

I’ve been an admirer and customer of Nordstrom for many years and have always loved the service. I’ve bought Faconnable clothes there and at the Faconnable flagship store in New York. I’d always suspected a strong connection between the two, as the receipts form the NY store (which is exclusively Faconnable) carried the Nordstrom name….

With good grace….

Happy New Year (singular, I am after all, a Brit. and we celebrate the singular not the plural!) Subway has some great commercials around, and as part of my sensible eating regime (It IS a New Year) I have been walking from my office to the local Subway and back and buying the ‘Sub of…

KQED the last word?

It’s interesting how much I enjoy the programming of NPR and how much I abhor the commercial / process side of what has become a large, impersonal, disconnected corporation. I keep ‘making allowances’ and finding excuses on KQED’s behalf, and then they work extra hard to show that they are totally disconnected. This is my…