I’m doing a live interview Friday (today) — listen in

April 6 8 Comments latest by Wise Bread

Quick link: Listen to me being interviewed, live, for an hour starting at 11am Pacific today (Friday, 4/6).

I’m being interviewed by Pamela Slim (who was one of my most popular Friday Entrepreneurs interviewees ever) today at 11am Pacific. This will be a live interview and you can stream it online, free.

We’ll be talking about iwillteachyoutoberich, PBwiki, my book deals, and my thoughts about entrepreneurship. I’m usually bad at keeping secrets on live interviews, so I might let a few things slip about future plans here.

The interview is today and will be streamed live.

• Time: 11am-12pm Pacific
• Date: Friday, April 6th (today)
• Details about the interview here
• Direct link to the streaming interview here

If you miss it live, there will be an archive of the chat up there soon after the interview.

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

8 Comments latest by Wise Bread

Nicole’s Bridal and Formalwear at Tanforan has poor customer service

April 3 52 Comments latest by George

[This is part of the IWillTeachYouToBeRich Week of Discontent.]

Last week, I needed to be measured for some formal wear, so I went to a tux shop at a nearby mall in San Bruno, CA, where I walked in and asked if they could measure my chest. This is a 30-second procedure that involves using a simple measuring tape.

It was the middle of the day on a weekday, and there was only other customer in the store. The couple who worked there (and own the place, I think) looked at me and snarled, “Are you going to rent or buy something?” I wasn’t, so I just politely repeated my request for a quick measurement. They weren’t having any of it. “We charge $5 if you’re not going to rent or buy.”

Um, I don’t think so. “I’m not paying $5 for a measurement that takes 30 seconds,” I told them, “and I’m definitely not renting here.” And then I left.

Here’s the thing: Things could have gone much differently. Imagine if they’d said, “Oh sure, we can do that.” Then, as they were measuring me, they could have tried to make a sale:

Owner: “So, are you getting married?”
Me: “No, not me, I’m too young!”
Owner: “Why, you’re a handsome man? You must have a lot of girls?”
Me: (Laughing)
Owner: “Well, when it comes time to get married, you come back and see us, ok? Here’s your size.”

And guess what? The next time I needed to get formalwear, I would have gone back there. To me, this is a no-brainer: I hardly ever go to a tux shop, so next time I need one, I would just go to the first one that came to mind–especially if I had good memories of the place. For places we go to infrequently, we’re guided by the availability heuristic, or what’s familiar to us.

Those rude owners thought of their shop as a one-time transactional shop, but I think formalwear shops can be a relationship business, and you can be sure that I’ll never, ever go back to Nicole’s Bridal and Formalwear in the Tanforan Mall. Unfortunately, if anyone searches for formalwear San Bruno or Nicole’s Bridal and Formalwear or formalwear Tanforan, this post will come up to let others know about how poor their customer service is.

Is this just the rant of an unhappy person who was trying to get a free service from a company? Maybe a little, but I think there are larger implications here. How long would it have taken to measure someone? 10 seconds? 20 seconds? Even if 10 people per day come in for a free measurement, that’s less than 10 minutes. And there’s something else.

It’s the difference in trying to make a quick buck, or treating your company as a relationship business. For example, at PBwiki, we could charge everyone for every wiki and try relentlessly to upsell them. And we’d probably make a little more money — for a while. We chose to do it another way: by giving everyone free accounts and making our service valuable enough to to upgrade. We don’t know if it’s the right answer, but so far it’s working, and I’d rather build a community of people who love our service than run a closed service that nickel-and-dimes everyone for everything. Same thing for iwillteachyoutoberich. It’s the difference between making a quick buck or trying to build relationships.

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

52 Comments latest by George

Volkswagen targets stupid people, tries to rip them off

November 28 50 Comments latest by Thank you VW for my good credit.

Well, VW certainly knows its target market: stupid people and poor people. I can only conclude that after my friend showed me a mailing he received a couple weeks ago, which helpfully asks, “Why Not Skip a Payment This Holiday Season?”

“The holidays…time to give thanks, spread joy and shop for the best sales. Now, here’s the perfect “gift” to help you stretch your holiday dollar. Volkswagen Credit is offering you the opportunity to ’skip’ your December 2006 payment on your current account listed above.

[…]

Upon receipt of your extension agreement, we will assess your account a $25.00 extension fee, payable on your next due invoice. There is no need to send money at this time.

[…]

Happy Holidays!”

In other words, skip this “holiday” payment because you don’t have enough money to pay it and buy your Christmas gifts. That’s fine! Just go buy those gifts that you explicitly can’t afford. Also, we’llchargeyou$25laterbutdon’tworryaboutthatrightnowit’sChristmasafterallhappyholidays!!!

Two things:

First, click the images to read the full text. It’s unreal. “Why Not Skip a Payment This Holiday Season?” How about Why Not Stop Being Predatory Jackasses and Stop Mailing This Kind of Thing to People, of Whom I’m Willing to Bet Predominantly Lower-Income People Will Reply? See, I can use caps too. Some marketer is feeling very proud of himself, but I’m just full of pity and derision. Also, guys, take some responsibility for yourself. If you get offers like these, throw them away. (Unfortunately, the people who actually did this “deal” are probably not reading personal-finance blogs.) Better yet, send them to me so I can make an example of them.

The front (click for a larger version):

The back:

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

50 Comments latest by Thank you VW for my good credit.

Previous Page

Next Page