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Last week, two things went wrong with goods and services I attempted to purchase.
I ordered a bunch of books from Topatoco, a webcomic merchandise company. They are great about shipping--you get confirmation emails when things ship with UPS tracking numbers, and an order placed on Tuesday arrived on Wednesday. But they shipped me the wrong books. I sent an email right after I opened the package, which was responded to within an hour. They admitted the mistake, told me to keep the incorrect books, and immediately sent me a new set, which shipped the next morning and arrived the day after that.
Granted, I'm biased to like Topatoco and give them the benefit of the doubt: I've met their founder (he's a nice guy, if a bit insane) and know they only have a few employees. They have the goofy manner you'd expected from a company run by and for comic artists. But their response was spot-on perfect for any company.
Also last week, Comcast "upgraded" their network and it stopped communicating with my modem. Spontaneously. At 6pm on a Thursday. After navigating through a phone tree (which, after seven years, still can't connect my phone number with my account), I get a very nice tech who obviously hasn't been told anything about what his company is doing. Now, I can't complain about their hiring practices: The tech obviously had a bunch of tricks to try to get the network to recognize the modem, and was very good about trying to get me service, but he was hamstrung by his company's policies. Comcast knew I had an old modem--they charge me a rental fee every month for it--and knew they were upgrading their network. Apparently, I was supposed to be notified that I'd need to replace it. They didn't notify me, but that's beside the point: They SHOULDN'T just notify me, they should have mailed me a new goddamn modem a month ago! This was an entirely foreseeable problem that they made no effort to prepare for, instead causing me inconvenience and costing themselves more money.
I was given the option of picking up a new modem at a service center, having it mailed, or having a tech come out. As this was Thursday night and I don't own a car, no option would get me back online before Monday. And then I have to request a credit to my account for the four days they're not providing service, or they'll just happily charge me. And no aknowledgement that they made a mistake that should be made up to me, just a "we'll do what we can" as if there was no fault.
And granted, Comcast's long history of uncredited outages, technical problems, bad-faith charge structures and monopoly practices has me biased against them. But just contrast: One company makes an unforseeable/accidental mistake, admits it, makes up for it. Another company makes an entirely preventable mistake, admits nothing, and has yet to rectify anything. I'll totally buy from Topatoco again. If I ever have the option to get comparable-speed internet from any company other than Comcast (read: If FIOS comes to my area, or mobile broadband catchs up) I will switch as fast as I can.
I ordered a bunch of books from Topatoco, a webcomic merchandise company. They are great about shipping--you get confirmation emails when things ship with UPS tracking numbers, and an order placed on Tuesday arrived on Wednesday. But they shipped me the wrong books. I sent an email right after I opened the package, which was responded to within an hour. They admitted the mistake, told me to keep the incorrect books, and immediately sent me a new set, which shipped the next morning and arrived the day after that.
Granted, I'm biased to like Topatoco and give them the benefit of the doubt: I've met their founder (he's a nice guy, if a bit insane) and know they only have a few employees. They have the goofy manner you'd expected from a company run by and for comic artists. But their response was spot-on perfect for any company.
Also last week, Comcast "upgraded" their network and it stopped communicating with my modem. Spontaneously. At 6pm on a Thursday. After navigating through a phone tree (which, after seven years, still can't connect my phone number with my account), I get a very nice tech who obviously hasn't been told anything about what his company is doing. Now, I can't complain about their hiring practices: The tech obviously had a bunch of tricks to try to get the network to recognize the modem, and was very good about trying to get me service, but he was hamstrung by his company's policies. Comcast knew I had an old modem--they charge me a rental fee every month for it--and knew they were upgrading their network. Apparently, I was supposed to be notified that I'd need to replace it. They didn't notify me, but that's beside the point: They SHOULDN'T just notify me, they should have mailed me a new goddamn modem a month ago! This was an entirely foreseeable problem that they made no effort to prepare for, instead causing me inconvenience and costing themselves more money.
I was given the option of picking up a new modem at a service center, having it mailed, or having a tech come out. As this was Thursday night and I don't own a car, no option would get me back online before Monday. And then I have to request a credit to my account for the four days they're not providing service, or they'll just happily charge me. And no aknowledgement that they made a mistake that should be made up to me, just a "we'll do what we can" as if there was no fault.
And granted, Comcast's long history of uncredited outages, technical problems, bad-faith charge structures and monopoly practices has me biased against them. But just contrast: One company makes an unforseeable/accidental mistake, admits it, makes up for it. Another company makes an entirely preventable mistake, admits nothing, and has yet to rectify anything. I'll totally buy from Topatoco again. If I ever have the option to get comparable-speed internet from any company other than Comcast (read: If FIOS comes to my area, or mobile broadband catchs up) I will switch as fast as I can.
