Nibbled News

Sales Receipts -- Effective Feedback Tools

" If a diabetic, on his way to buy insulin , is killed by a runaway truck, he is the victim of an accident. If the truck was delivering sugar, he is the victim of an oddly poetic coincidence. But if the truck was delivering insulin, ah! Then he is the victim of an irony." -- George Carlin.

Consumers often bemoan the fact that no one ever listens to or respects their concerns and complaints. Retailers according to these folks are out for just one thing: profit and the customer be damned.

In many situations there are no feedback mechanisms by which a customer can either complain about or praise the quality of the service or product they received from a particular retailer.

Many businesses today now offer customers the chance to either praise or critique the quality of service they received at their place of business. Astute consumers will notice that their receipt now includes a website address to which customers with a gripe or concern can express themselves and hopefully have their opinions heard, appreciated and ultimately acted upon.

The one irony in this scenario lies in the fact that not many consumers will visit the company website and express their concerns. They are either not reading their receipts fully or are dismissing the site as patronizing and not worth their while visiting.

Bookstores, large chain grocery stores, computer retailers, pharmacies and national retailers offer cash rewards and other incentives to those folks who will visit their site and tell them about their in store experiences. Many folks still resist the temptation to visit the site no matter how appealing the incentive offered.

Three weeks ago Sarah , a single mother with three young children, is one such person who often hesitated to express herself no matter how insistently her friends and family encouraged her to do so. She is a working mother and as such tries to maximize the dollar return she receives for money spent.

She had purchased a package of sweet and sour spare ribs she planned to cook for her family and inlaws. The top layer of the platic wrapped container displayed two ideal cuts of the ribs. The package offered a four dollar discount and she gladly purchased the meat.

When she opened the package at home she discovered that she had been scammed. The second layer of the ribs was laden with fat and the quality of the meat not top grade as she had expected it would be. She felt betrayed and ripped off by her favorite grocery store. She has been shopping there for many years and her customer club card describes her as being an "elite" customer.

She then decided to visit the grocery chain's online website site and express her dismay and outrage that the meat department would engage in such deceptive marketing practices. The in house meat department had processed the meat and labelled the meat as the store's own product. There were no middle men involved in the preparation of the ribs.

She expressed her dismay and opinions freely, frankly and forthrightly. She said it helped her to vent all the negative feelings she had against the store. At the time she was doubtful that the large national grocery chain would either appreciate or act upon her comments and critiques.

Recently she received a letter of apology from the store's regional manager in charge of customer relations. The letter heartily apologized for the poor quality of the meat she received. She was also offered a one hundred dollar gift certificate from the store and the private telephone number of the store's regional office should she have any other concerns or critiques.

In her opinion the letter was sincere and not merely patronizing. The manager hoped that this negative experience would not dissuade her from continuing her long term relationship with the outlet. He told her that she was a valued customer of the store. The incident would be investigated and the involved parties spoken to and handled.

Sarah was grateful that she took action and visited the site. She encourages other folks to also visit similar sites and offer their experiences and opinions in this public forum. She added that she will now scan all future receipts for web site addresses and will visit them if she experiences similar situations in the future.

People living on fixed incomes, retirees, widows , students and others know the importance of getting value for their dollars. They also must realize that they need to make their voices heard by way of these company web sites.

To stoically suffer in silence or gripe your dismay to family and friends is no longer acceptable in today's fast paced, consumer oriented world.

A Bad Day For A Birthday - February 29th

"People love to admit they have bad handwriting or that they can't do math. And they will  readily admit to being awkward. "I'm such a klutz!" But they will never admit to having a poor sense of humor or being a bad driver.'  ---   George Carlin

 

Folks born today, February 29, enter the world plagued with a social handicap. They face the difficult decision of determining exactly when they will celebrate their birthdays with friends and family. It helps if you were born with a sense of humor.

The slap on the backside the doctor gave them in the delivery room on that special recorded day of their entry into the world is easily forgotten. The actual date of their birth is a social reality that they must come to grips with and eventually accept. 

Many accept their fate stoically and with a somewhat reserved sense of humor. Others feel that fiendish calendar creators and mathematicians have doomed them to a lifestyle as carefree as Peter Pan's -- never growing old too quickly.

A friend of mine Craig celebrates his birthday today. He admits that he is 64 years old. The candles on the top of his cake belie the fact. His wife accomodates his wishes and carefully places 16 candles on his homemade cake. It's his sweet sixteen party and  he can easily blow out the candles with one deeply inhaled breath. 

Craig and a number of other folks he has met online share this birthday dilemma.  They have not as yet formed a local support group to celebrate their uniqueness but they do send online birthday cards to one another as freely and as easily as the rest of us do.

Being born on the last day of February might technically excuse a person from not really having to act their age. Biologically, these folks mature at the same rate as the rest of humanity. The only difference is the acutal chronological registering of their birthdate. What do you do when you have to wait four years to enjoy a slice of birthday cake and ice cream?

It would be a nice gesture if greeting card companies would create a special card noting that the recipient is a unique individual who just happened to be born on an unusual date. It's tough buying a regular card for a person who has recently turned eighty but can only celebrate the day every four years.

Happy birthday wishes to all those celebrating today!

Four Cent Phone Bill Hilarious But True

"Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It is what the client or customer gets out of it."   -----    PETER DRUCKER

 

I used to think that  those humorous television commercials which jokingly insinuate that many telephone providers are actually money-hungry charlatans whose sole purpose in life is to extract as much money as is humanly possible from their long term, contract obligated customers were merely stretching the truth in an orchestrated manner. Now, however,  I tend to whole heartedly agree with their overall accusations.

I recently received a long distance telephone charge of four cents from my former service provider. The total length  of the call was rated as being one minute but that duration of time was enough to generate the charge. It was a call made on December 31 to a family member who was not at home at the time. Their answering machine had intercepted the call. 

I had signed up for a new service provider effective January  2012. The shabby service offered by my former telephone service did not warrant me to continue paying its exorbitant monthly rate. The company had also offered internet and televison service as well. I had been on a one year trail contract. The total package expired the last day of 2011.

In January I received what I thought was the final bill from the former provider and sent in my payment by the 15th of the month. This week I received a letter from the phone company informing me that I owed the grand total of four cents for services rendered. The letter indicated that if I chose to ignore paying the outstanding amount I would be charged a $25 administrative fee.

I was shocked that they would waste so much time, effort , paper and administrative effort to ferret out the four cent charge. I wondered how I was going to pay this charge: cash, cheque, credit card charge or visit my bank and have them process the amount.

A telephone call to my former service provider was not that enlightening. The female associate I spoke with explained to me the options by which I could settle this outstanding amount. She recommended that I settle the account by making a one time Visa payment over the phone at this time. This she suggested would be the easiest way to settle up. I thought easy for who me or the phone company.

I decided a few days later to go to the bank, have the charge taken from my account and settle the debt that way. The female bank teller was amused that this phone company would pursue such a triffling amount in such a costly and aggressive manner. 

The contract I had signed with the former service provider offered quality service at an affordable price. But the unreliable service forced me to contact their customer support staff once a month to correct faulty and flagging internet and television reception.

I had been with this telephone company for the past 25 years and had never had a late fee charged to my account. This past year has opened my eyes to the fact that even the high profile telephone service providers need to perform a bit of rethink and reevaluation of the way they service and retain customers.

TV Ads Overly Concerned About Body Hair

“There's a reason why forty, fifty, and sixty don't look the way they used to, and it's not because of feminism, or better living through exercise. It's because of hair dye. In the 1950's only 7 percent of American women dyed their hair; today there are parts of Manhattan and Los Angeles where there are no gray-haired women at all.”
― Nora Ephron

 

 If you watch any amount of late night television you will eventually begin to notice that many advertisers are beginning to zero in on a major problem that is currently plaguing many, many people these days and apparently growing to pandemic proportions.

What is this threat that is affecting the lives of a great number of men and women these days? Namely,  the absence or the over abundance of body hair. Men and women are actually afraid that they have either too much or not enough of it in all sorts of places on their bodies.

Female viewers are constantly bombarded with a number of gadgets that are guaranteed to rid them of unsightly body hair from their arms, legs, faces and of course that most embarassing of all places the area immediately adjacent to their bikini tan line. 

Lotions, creams, high tech shavers and of course lasers are actively promoted daily to assure women that their concerns are being taken seriously by national advertisers. Informative infomercials employ the services of well known actresses who readily offer their own personal endorsements for the products reliability.

Many of these alleged panaceas even promise that unsightly leg hair and embarassing stubble will be gone forever with just  a few months faithful use of their laser enhanced system. The hair according to the advertisement will be effortlessly removed without the pain and suffering the competitor's hair removal system offers.

Men with thinning hair are also offered quick fixes which will make them look vibrant, sexy, dynamic and desirable. The actors in this commercial sport a full head of hair after supposedly using the restorative process for only thirty days.  They claim that their appearance and their overall confidence has been boosted. Attractive females rave about the new found confidence a full head of hair offers a man.

The commercial warns that this process is not for everyone. I suspect that men will readily shy away from a hair restorative system that requires that an acrylic product resembling human hair be surgically attached to their scalps. The cosmetic affect might be pleasing to the eye but can the invasion on a person's pain threshold and pocketbook justify the expense

A person viewing these "info"-mercials should realize that actors are supposedly portraying real people and events and what is viewed on the television tube is not always the gospel truth. We all want to look our best but we all should take a few minutes to realize that our personal assets are not dependent on an advertisers agenda.

 

 

 

 

 

Sipping A Brewsky Helps It All Make Sense

Several months ago, a friend told me that when he was cleaning his garage he threw his back out. I told him it was probably over enthusiasm. Sometimes when you're cleaning you get carried away and throw out something you intended to keep."  --- George Carlin.

How many folks do you personally know who rush headlong through their daily routines without ever taking the time to reflect on their lives or the way in which the many absurdities of life actively impinge on their actions and overall happiness?

Few people ever schedule some personal quiet time in which they just sit, relax, listen to themselves think and appreciate the day for what it truly is: a unique opportunity to enjoy another day of existence in an ever changing, challenging yet ever evolving universe full of promise and hope.

Back in the day old men would sit on creaky wooden porches in their rockers and relax, philosophize and probably gripe about the hand life has dealt them. It was therapeutic in that they were able to let off some pent up steam. This was something that their fathers and their fathers fathers had probably done at the end of their own work day.

Marshall Dillon, the hero in the television series "Gun Smoke", knew the importance of taking things easy and relaxing at the end of his day. He visited the fictional Longbranch Saloon in Dodge City where he, Miss Kitty and Doc would sip  a brewsky and reflect on the day's activities.

When I was a university student I enjoyed a cold glass or two of beer to help not only commiserate about the day's activities but also to make some sense out of it all. The student pub was the place where one could easily relax, socialize and plan for the immediate or long range future.

Today beer sipping and quiet reflection have become a lost art. The possibility of becoming an alcoholic has been drummed into everyone's awareness. Beer manufacturers in their televised commercials seem to encourage foks to over indulge in their imbibing. When you're drunk as a skunk you can hardly stand up let alone think about the day's activities.

In these fast paced, uncertain times it is necessary to unwind, reflect and take life a bit easier. The pot bellied stove and the old fashioned general store have gone by the wayside. Quiet reflection and quiet time should not be compromised due to life's anxieties and demands.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Safeway Lagging Behind On Product Quality

The traditional mom and pop grocery store has these days almost been  entirely replaced  by the mega markets promoting their bulk buying offers and huge discounts meant to entice and secure customer support and loyalty.

We trust that the modern day players in the burgeoning food industry will also adhere to the same standards of quality, freshness and safety that the local entrepreneurs subscribed to.

Sometimes this trust is naively placed into outlets that care more about profits then customer safety and satisfaction. Many times there are too many fingers in the operational pie to guarantee anything substantial for the consumer.

Last Thursday the 19th of the month  I visited my local Safeway outlet and purchased a package of extra lean ground turkey breasts. There was a two dollar deduction listed on the front of the prewrapped package.

The contents appeared to be pink and wholesome and I looked forward to enjoying it in a chili recipe to be served on the upcoming weekend. The freshness label indicated that the product was good until the 28th of the month.

Saturday evening I noticed that a clear liquid had somehow mysteriously formed and accumulated inside the package. I had not placed the carton in the freezer but on one of the fridge's inner shelves. This was a procedure I had done for years.

The package was opened gingerly and the excess mositure was drained away. The chicken did not smell tainted so it was placed on an electric fry pan. It slid easily out of the container. A few minutes after the heat was applied a white, odorless ooze began to appear around the fringes of the bulky slab of the ground chicken.

As the electric fry pan started to cook the meat more and more of the white goo encircled the meat. After a few minutes the fry pan was turned off and the chicken was thrown into the garbage bin. It seemed to be too risky an item to eat.

I suspect that the product had been previously frozen and thawed and then placed in the meat section for sale. I did not know how many times this had been done. A number of times in the past whenever I had bought the same product and frozen it at home for later use the same reaction had occurred in the fry pan but to a lesser degree.

There were no external markings on the outside of the plastic wrapped container warning a customer that the product had been previously frozen. The two dollar discount seemed to justify the fact that the product had been handled somewhat badly.

The product line, Eating Right, is not processed in the store. It is an item mass merchandised and handled by a national conglomerate. Somewhere along the line the product may have been frozen during transport and then placed on the shelf in the meat section for sale.

Chicken has traditionally been associated with salmonella. This alone should inspire large retailers like Safeway to place a higher emphasis on caution when selling this product for consumer use.

I wrote an email to the Safeway business ethics division detailing the problem I had with this product line. I tried contacting the local retailer via their customer complaint hotline but their site has been experiencing technical difficulties the entire weekend. Go figure.

 

 

  

Shoddy Tech Support Plagues Giantmatrix

 

Online software companies promise potential customers that their product is second to none and that their product 's technical support team will go out of its way to assist you should you experience problems with their products.

One company whose after sale technical support is sorely lacking is Giantmatrix (www.giantmatrix.com) whose product "Anti Tracks" offers consumers hours of software frustration, little or no product support and of course questionable marketing strategies.

In November of 2011 I purchased an  online version of Anti Tracks from Avangate the seller of the software. I received an email notification that once my order was confirmed I would receive the payment receipt and "detailed product licensing information" in separate emails.

The followup email I received informed me that I should register my product at the Avangate website (www.avangate.com) so that I would be able to view my order details, gain access to my online shopping history and "re-download licence keys/codes".

An email indicated the download site to obtain the program. No product codes were ever included with the emails. At the time I thought nothing of that fact and installed the program. That was my first major mistake.

The program loaded successfully and promised to protect my identity and personal information online. After I initiated the program two things happened which I did not expect:

1.  I was unable to access any website due to server failure.
2.  My computer crashed and I had to do a computer restore.

I had to perform a computer restore two more times after the initial software conflict. I had downloaded a copy of the program and placed it on a DVD for safekeeping. When I installed this copy the computer once again locked up. An onscreen error message informed me of an error occurring because a product cover page was missing.

I sent an email to the customer support team and told them my situation. I also told them that I had not received the licence keys or special codes in any email from them. I requested the product codes to unlock the product.

I received a short email telling me to go to another website and download another version of the program. No product codes were included at this time but the name of the program was listed a "Anti Tracks - complete version". I still do not know what that means.

Naively I followed their instruction, downloaded the program and hoped for the best. Again my web browsers were unable to access the Internet due to server errors. Two more times the program crashed my computer due to software complications.

I again contacted customer support and have  been waiting now for a reply for about two weeks. Apparently a customer has to purchase "download protection" from the company to avoid such frustrating situations. A reputable company should have to resort to this type of after sale customer extortion to ensure that their product will continue to function as promised.

 In the past week or so I wrote to the sales department at Avangate asking for a refund for the product. I also sent an email to Gianmatrix explaining my frustration with both their problem plagued product and shoddy technical support.

From this experience I have learned not to trust an online software company who requests that a customer purchase "download insurance portection" to guarantee them the right to have future downloads should their product fail to perform. 

This is definitely a situation of buyer beware. The best policy is to do your online research about those companies who toot their own product horns a little too briskly.