🚀 go-pugleaf

netvoice2003@yahoo.com (NetVoice2003) wrote in message news:<3c80a309.0307282154.677a423f@posting.google.com>...
> I have several complaints and suggestions about the quality and
> content of programming offered by your service.  I hope that my
> suggestions will help your cable company gauge the needs of its
> customers better.
> 
> 1.  Program content on most channels caters to teenagers and ignores
> its older viewers.  I know of few teenagers who pay the cable bill.  I
> know that the teen demographic is important to marketing interests,
> but the exclusive focus on them results in a diluted product for the
> rest of us.
> 
> 
> 2.  Programming has become stale and dumbed-down.  How long are the
> cable channels going to bore us with psychics, tornadoes, shark
> attacks, WWII, and forensic crime shows?   Programming is limited to a
> very narrow range of topics.  Content is always at the basic, Sesame
> Street level.  Even if the topic is interesting, the same basic
> material is repeated--like those dull National Geographic specials--it
> is like never getting past the first three pages of a book.
> 
> 3.  Reruns of reruns of reruns.  The cable channels need new movies
> and programs desperately.
> 
> 4.  Cable channels show programs that have nothing to do with their
> stated specialty.  The Discovery Channel is obsessed with forensic
> crime shows; that channel is supposed to be a science channel.  The
> Bravo channel now is adding gay programming having nothing to do with
> its stated cultural programming label.  The History channel slips
> stealth porn shows (just look into the schedule) into its lineup in a
> desperate, cynical effort to attract viewers.  I do not object to that
> type of programming for those attracted to that material, but that
> stuff should be on other appropriately-labeled channels.
> 
> 
> 5.  Cable channels show inappropriate, offensive and obscene
> commercials and promos during children's and family programming.  I
> saw a 'Silence of the Lambs' promo during a Star Trek TNG show that is
> viewed by young people (the promo is about a cannibalistic serial
> killer).  On the same cable channel, I saw 'Spike' channel stealth
> porn promos (stealth porn is disguised as legitimate programming, but
> is a cheap attempt to grab male viewers) during the same Star Trek
> program.  Is there no one minding the store at the FCC or the cable
> programming operations?
> 
> 
> 6.  Endless infomercial scams.  Don't be a vehicle for these consumer
> scam operations.  It makes the business world look bad and it makes
> your cable company look bad.  I respect the rights of legitimate
> businesses to advertise but as the one that pays the cable bill in
> this house, I don't want to pay for a blizzard of infomercial
> rip-offs.
> 
> 7.  Lack of academic level content on your system.  How about
> university lectures on mathematics and physics?  How about a course on
> English literature?  You have depravity (Howard Stern) on the
> Entertainment channel; but differential equations and Melville are
> banned in a de-facto sense.  C-Span channels address this issue
> somewhat, but those channels have a very narrow focus (current events,
> US History).
> 
> 
> I buy your cable service for internet access and for a disabled member
> of the household.  I would not purchase the service for the cable
> channels; the programming is stale, boring, and in some cases, weird. 
> I do find that there are some very good programs and movies on your
> service, but these are mostly reruns as mentioned above.  I am sure
> that fresh, quality programming exists out there; try the Mechanical
> Universe and the follow-up, the Mechanical Universe and Beyond, the
> BBC series, I Claudius and House of Cards, to see what I mean by
> quality programming.  Lastly, remember that, as the saying goes, the
> customer who complains is my friend.
> 
> 
> NetVoice2003

No no no.....

 That was before corporate elites have come to the conclusion that
there are demon consumers.

 And now that we have those nice RFID chips replacing the
barcode....they're gonna know if you're a "demon"customer.

  I think globalism is finally starting to bear her beautiful fruit.

Facing their demons 
To face demons, firms dump maxim
By Bruce Mohl, Globe Staff, 7/27/2003  
When a customer is put on hold a long time, given snail-like service,
or offered less attractive prices, at most companies it's inadvertent.
But at a growing number of firms, it may be deliberate.
That's right. Companies are using poor service as a behavior
modification tool to transform an unprofitable customer into either a
profitable customer or a former customer.
In the most extreme cases, companies dispense with the subtlety of
behavior modification and tell a customer straight to his or her face
not to come back, as Filene's Basement did recently with two sisters
from Newton who, in the Basement's opinion, made excessive returns and
were chronic complainers.
Larry Selden, the coauthor of a new book called ''Angel Customers &
Demon Customers,'' said one way or another, companies have to deal
with their demon customers.
''The bottom 20 percent of a company's customers -- the demon
customers -- can consume 75 percent of its profitability,'' he said.
''It isn't necessarily the customer's problem. In the vast majority of
cases, it's the company's problem.''
Selden and coauthor Geoffrey Colvin of Fortune Magazine turn on its
head the old maxim that the customer is always right. They say
companies need to view themselves as investing in a portfolio of
customers and figure out which of those customers are profitable and
which ones are not, and why. Then a company can target its products
and services at the profitable customers and either help the
unprofitable ones become profitable or get rid of them. In other
words, the customer is not always right.
Determining the profitability of a customer requires the gathering of
a lot of detailed information, including the products or services the
customer buys, the ones returned, and all interactions with staff.
Supermarkets track a lot of this information with their loyalty cards.
Credit card companies already know everything their customers buy and
now subscribe to credit reports on almost a daily basis to learn their
other financial moves.
When companies apportion all of their costs, including capital
expenses, to individual customers, Selden said, they are often stunned
to learn most of their profit comes from a very small group.
Toronto-based Royal Bank, for example, told Selden 93 percent of its
profits came from just 17 percent of its customers.
Those angel customers, the ones returning the greatest profit, need to
be kept happy. Fidelity Investments, for example, told Selden its
phone system uses technology that identifies the caller, and if the
caller is a highly profitable customer he or she is automatically
routed to service representatives with training in that customer's
particular interests.
But the flip side also applies. If the caller is unprofitable, he or
she may be put on hold while more profitable customers are served
first. The delay serves as an incentive for the unprofitable customer
to go online, where service costs are far cheaper.
Other companies use other behavior modification techniques. Federal
Express and other firms charge unprofitable customers higher rates.
Catalog companies stop sending catalogs to unprofitable customers.
Royal Bank told Selden it would trace a check for an unprofitable
customer in three to five days, a service it would do in one day for a
profitable customer.
Chris Hoofnagle, deputy counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information
Center, said most customers would never know they are being
manipulated. ''The way in which you can be treated differently is
almost undetectable,'' he said.
In rare cases, Selden said, a demon customer cannot be converted to
profitability and must be banned. Selden said Fidelity banned a
customer with a $500,000 portfolio who was keeping three of its
financial advisers busy all the time.
''Not managing your demon customers can have a huge cost,'' Selden and
Colvin write. ''They may not be demons as individuals, but they are
killing your stock.''
Several retailers declined to comment on their policies, but Rick
Segel of Burlington, a former retailer and author of the ''Retail Kit
for Dummies,'' said he disagrees with Selden's philosophy. He said
every business has ''bottom feeders,'' but retailers have to learn to
live with them.
''A customer is a customer. I don't care what business you're in,''
Segel said. ''We open the doors and whatever comes in comes in.''
Restaurant closings Boston's Inspectional Services Department
temporarily closed 44 restaurants during the first half of 2003 for
sanitary code violations, including the Cafe Marliave twice and Q-Vin
once.
Some of the 44 shutdowns were the result of fires or electrical
problems and most involved small food establishments. But some of the
temporary closings involved more prominent restaurants, including Fire
& Ice on St. James Street, Mantra on Temple Place, Trattoria il Panino
on Franklin Street, and Ramrod on Boylston Street.
Cafe Marliave, 10 Bosworth St., was shut down in January and again in
June, both times for food contamination and rodents and insects. Andy
Pesci, the manager, said that in January a nearby water main break led
to rats' fleeing basements in the neighborhood. The June problem was
caused by the unexpected failure of a walk-in cooler, he said. Q-Vin,
545 Boylston St., was closed in June for rodent infestation and
general unsanitary conditions. Danny ''D.J.'' Joo, the manager, said
all the reported deficiencies had been addressed.
The city doesn't list shutdowns -- its most serious punishment -- on
its restaurant inspection website at www.mayorsfoodcourt .com, but it
generally does tell how many serious infractions were reported in an
inspection.
The Ritz Carlton hotel at 15 Arlington St. was slapped with six
serious violations during a May inspection. By contrast, the
Ritz-Carlton Boston Common had no violations in March.
In nearly each case, including the temporary shutdowns, the
restaurants corrected the problems immediately, were reinspected and
reopened.
Bruce Mohl can be reached at mohl@globe.com
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/208/business/Facing_their_demonsP.shtml