The Rebate Wars
Just as I’d resolved to write happy positive posts for a few days and give the whole “service snafu” thing a rest (Geez, Mary, enough already!) - I get an email asking how the writer can finally get his rebate from Verizon. Then I’m over at Emergence Marketing reading about Francois’ rebate issue with T-Mobile (in which he links to another very unhappy T-Mobile customer). And so it goes.
We’re not all just a cranky bunch of malcontents (although I - ahem - have my days). Customers are not just dissatisfied - they’re enraged, which isn’t healthy for humans or business. It’s fortunate that most people are basically good and law-abiding - otherwise, branch offices across the land would be smoking ruins and CEO effigies would be hanging from many a lamp post.
The thing that makes me so irritable is - IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THIS HARD! All those rebates - the data is already in the system - and the bills are sure flowing on a regular basis, so they know we’re customers. Verizon, T-Mobile and the rest already have all the information they need to send out the rebate. The whole “cut the original barcode from the box, only submit original signatures, three copies of this, that…bla-blah” is a ridiculous process and one designed for service avoidance.
The Bottom Line for the Big Boys (T-Mobile and the rest): Why not clean up the internal process and make sure the third parties (the ones who actually process those rebates) have a commitment to providng service. Use your systems to keep customers, versus focusing solely on keeping their money.
Side note: My recent rebate from Verizon went through without a hitch. I was amazed! And, it came within a few weeks, versus “6 to 8.” So, the system can work (But, yes, I had to send in the original bar code and so on.)
Now, back to thinking Happy Friday thoughts…
Got a service star or snafu story of your own? Tell me about it!
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Tags: customer service, T-Mobile, Verizon, marketing, marketing troubleshooting, rebates
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