🚀 go-pugleaf

Phred <ppnerkDELETETHIS@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:c27je6$1q0nq7$1@ID-151056.news.uni-berlin.de...
> Irene <girlsrule@hotmail.com> wrote

>>> I am in customer service, and during training, I was advised
>>> it costs a company something in the order of 7 times more
>>> to try to win back a *lost* customer(or aquire a new customer)
>>> than to try to retain an existing customer.

>> My father was in a service business for more than 40 years,
>> and I remember, vividly, him making that same comment many,
>> many times. Another comment he often made was, "the best
>> way to keep a customer is with a quality product and quality
>> service". I am not sure that  business practices such as those
>> exist within any large corporation, any longer.

> I think the problem we have with the PC industry is that the margins
> just aren't there now to support the type of "personal" service many
> of us became accustomed to expect over years past.  And even if
> the percentage margins were still there, the actual dollars aren't.

And its MUCH easier to compare prices too. In the past
most couldnt be bothered running around comparing
prices. Is much easier to do that using the net now.

> Once upon a time my "ideal" PC system (i.e. including VDU and
> printer) always seemed to cost $4000 (talking Oz dollars here -- you
> yanks may have had it better).  Hell!  I even managed to sell my
> original 8088 system after three years for $2000.  (Largely because it
> had a "huge" 30MB HDD instead of the standard 20MB of the time. :)

> Now, you can get a damn decent system for about $2000.

Depends on what you mean by decent. There are
plenty of $1K systems now which are perfectly
adequate for web browsing, word processing etc.

> Meanwhile the cost of everything else, including labour,
> has been going up and up.  (Try buying a new higher-
> performance car, or a better house, for half the price
> you would have paid for your old one 15 years ago!)

That last isnt really that useful tho.

> Companies like Dell have a survival strategy of huge turnover to make
> up for lower margins as much as possible.  That wouldn't work even if
> the unit cost of subsequent service and support remained the same!

> To be fair, I guess there has been some scope for
> reductions here due to more reliable components,

I doubt it. The failure rate is now so low that that route is gone now.

> and more experienced users.

Who dont need an operation like Dell.

> But these positives are countered to some extent by
> more complex systems leading to more "problems",
> for even experienced users; and are overwhelmed
> by the increased cost of labour to provide the support.

Yeah, just had a quirk with ShittyBank's online banking
where one of the PCs couldnt logon and the other could.
They werent interested because one did work fine.

> It's really no wonder such companies are trying to cut
> back on unit support costs any way they can!  (Mind
> you, I agree with Irene that making a reliable quality
> product to begin with would be a good place to start. :-)

When the product isnt that, its normally not for want of trying.