Archive for September, 2006

My other car is an Enterprise-Rent-A-Car

September 25, 2006 at 11:44 am · Filed under Bricks and mortar, Customer Service, Loathe, Surveys

That’s what it says on the license plate holder of the sedan I’ve been renting since a few days after my car was stolen.

When I first went to Enterprise to get this rental, the guy who helped me handed me the keys and asked, “Would you say that you’re completely satisfied by the service you’ve received?”

I haven’t even sat in the car yet. I guess I’m satisfied.

“If you’re not satisfied about anything, give me a call,” he said.

Later that afternoon when I was already at work, this guy’s manager calls me to ask, “Are you completely satisfied by the service from Enterprise? Because if you’re not, I will do what I can to make sure you’re completely satisfied. Are you sure you’re satisfied?”

Again, all of this sounds fine on paper. But the first time I was asked, the question already felt like a script. The phone call was borderline offensive.

I want sincerity with my customer service.

Badgering me to see if I’m “completely satisfied” makes me feel like less of a customer and more like someone who’s going to answer a survey in the near future. A survey that increases the size of their bonus or the number of Branch-of-the-Month plaques on their wall. The Enterprise staff I encountered seem more obsessed with hearing that I’m satisfied rather than making sure I really am satisfied. There’s a difference.

The iconic line, “Would you like fries with that?” isn’t recited because McDonald’s is making a suggestion from their menu. They want to sell you an order of french fries!

Are you truly caring about the customer or serving your own needs? We can tell.

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Advertising Critic looks at MySpace

September 12, 2006 at 11:32 am · Filed under Internet Advertising, advertising, word of mouth

Interesting essay on the advertising potential within MySpace by a self-described 26-year-old with disposable income.

MySpace

Though I think if MySpace were to become filled with advertising from restaurants, cafes, and bars, it would feel like the kind of bombardment I feel when driving my car and seeing billboards or — Wait. I don’t have a car. (sob)

My point is, there’s a threshold when too much advertising becomes a major turn-off and the supposed target audience is able to tune it out. Then only the ridiculous or the sublime stands out, but that still doesn’t guarantee someone will purchase the product. That’s my theory. That’s what I’m exploring in my blog, among other things.

Full disclosure: Yeah, of course, I have a MySpace page. I don’t use it. I’m not, after all, a teenager.

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I miss my car

September 12, 2006 at 10:57 am · Filed under Customer Service, Dislike

I miss my car and the things in it when it was stolen last week.

I had the urge all of yesterday afternoon to wash my car. Each time the thought crossed my mind, I’d remember with a pang, “Someone stole my car.” Someone stole my car and drove it away and when they checked the rear view mirror, they could see the dirty rear window.

No word yet from the Oakland police.

I’ve heard many stories in the past week about other people’s stolen cars and how they were eventually recovered. None of these stories, however, featured a Honda Civic.

Carl asked me, “Why don’t you have a rental car?” I said I didn’t spring for the three bucks a month or whatever low price it is to get insurance that provides you with a rental when something happens to your car.

But tonight I get in the snail mail a letter from Geico, my insurance company. It contains the blank form I need to fill out and get notarized, etc.

To my amazement, the letter also says:

Once coverage and the theft of your vehicle are confirmed, you are eligible for reimbursement of transporation expenses for car rental. These expenses are limited to $25.00 per day, up to a maximum of $750.00. The transportaion expense coverage begins 48 hours after the theft of your vehicle is reported to us and the police.

For crying out loud! You mean I could’ve been driving a rental since Saturday?

This evening I walked one and a half miles from the BART train to a friend’s house so I could borrow her car for tomorrow.

All this time, I could’ve been driving a rental?

And this I found out in a letter sent by snail mail despite having three separate conversations with different GEICO representatives?

I guess since they’re picking up the tab they didn’t feel the need to tell me about it right away.

Sheesh.

See also: The Fast (car thieves) and The Furious (me)

[Update: The next time I spoke to my claims rep on the phone, she apologized to me. That mollified me.]

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Aquapod is bottled water for children

September 11, 2006 at 11:14 am · Filed under Marketing

My seven-year-old niece showed me her new water bottle — it’s the Arrowhead Aquapod. A new rounded 11-ounce bottle of water targeted at kids.

Yes, they went through all that trouble to get parents to buy their kids bottled water. They even went so far as to create a website with Flash games. Though I’m not going to go there or lead my niece to it.

Arrowhead Aquapod water bottle aimed at children

While it looks like a spaceship, don’t forget it’s another piece of plastic about to go through the river of recyclables. As conflicted as I am about it, I do think the bubble shape is cute and appealing.
Arrowhead Aquapod

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The Fast (car thieves) and the Furious (me)

September 9, 2006 at 1:04 pm · Filed under Materialism, Online Purchases

My car was stolen earlier this week in East Oakland. I don’t know why anyone would target my car. It’s a 10-year-old Honda Civic DX sedan with an exterior in poor condition. Someone thought my scratched up and dinged car with 121,000 miles was worth stealing?

When I filed my police report at the Oakland PD, the officer said, “Did you see the movie The Fast and the Furious?”

The original? With Vin Diesel? Only five times.

“Those tricked-out Hondas in that movie? It’s like that. You can take an old Honda from the salvage yard, then take the parts from a car like yours, then trick it out,” he said. He went on to describe cars with customizations and upgrades in the thousands of dollars. Yet the whole scenario seems implausible for my Civic.

1998 Honda Civic DX sedan

The Honda Civic. Is it an affordable, energy-efficient car for the middle class? Or is it the base for a street race car of an Asian gang member?

I bought the cheapest yet most reliable vehicle I could afford back in 1996 and it has served me well all these years. That car means more to me than anyone else on the planet. I bought it for $12,000 on autobytel.com. At the time I was only the second person I knew who purchased a car through the Internet. There wasn’t much on the Internet in January 1996.

As far as I’m concerned, my car is worth $10,000 even though an honest assessment at the Kelley Blue Book website says the figure could be less than $2,000.

Even as my car depreciated over the years, its objective value remained more than anything I’d paid for anything else. Last Tuesday I lost my most expensive possession. I’ve also lost my primary means of transportation. Worst, the car wasn’t empty when it was stolen. I had irreplacable things in it that you can’t put a price on, such as a journal and notes for one of my writing projects.

Since discovering my car was stolen, I’ve been strangely calm. Maybe I’m still in shock or denial? My best friend says I’ve never been a materialistic person. On the contrary, I’m quite materialistic though in a specific manner. I understand the value of an object when you have it and use it, but I’m able to let it go.

Someone stole my car. I’m cranky, but I’m not crying over it.

I do harbor the hope that someone took my car for a joyride and I’ll get it back in a couple of days. Public transportation in the East Bay can be inconvenient and time-consuming.

The Oakland police officer told me my chances of recovering my car are 80%. The chances it’ll be stripped is 100%.

Perhaps my car, even as I write, is already undergoing a transformation from humble commuter vehicle to sideshow superstar.

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Product placement

September 4, 2006 at 2:44 pm · Filed under Like, Online Purchases, Product Placement, Surveys

The other day I was watching Spike Lee’s “Inside Man” on DVD and in one scene, Denzel Washington’s character walks past a prominent Pepsi vending machine. Product placement! Pepsi must’ve paid big bucks to make sure we see their brand on the big screen.

I believe product placement happens all the time in magazines. A couple of months ago Vera was done with her copy of Real Simple magazine and she passed it on to me. Inside, I saw a picture of a Powersquid, the next generation in power strips. Here’s what it looks like.

Powersquid white

It was so pretty I WANTED it. And doesn’t it make total sense? With the bulky power adaptors we use these days, we waste outlets on standard power strips. The PowerSquid in the photo above costs about $50.
A few weeks later, I searched online and purchased a Power Sentry 5-Outlet PowerSquid Power Multiplier, a much cheaper PowerSquid (about $12.50) in a different color. (I ended up buying it on Amazon.com because I already have a login there.)

black and yellow Powersquid

Strangely enough, I haven’t used it. It’s been sitting on the floor next to my bed since I purchased it online. This is what it would look like if I ever use it.

Powersquid with bulky adaptors plugged in

This is an instance where the strength of the product idea and the product’s placement in a magazine combined to make me purchase product itself. If I hadn’t seen the photo in Real Living magazine, I don’t think I’d know about the PowerSquid today. I haven’t seen any advertising for this product anywhere else and no one I know uses one.

Now for the rest of the story.

A few days after I purchased this Powersquid, I got an email from the seller asking me to fill out a survey. Now I don’t mind filling out a survey every now and then especially if I think the requester will find my feedback useful.

Here’s what’s funny. The link contained in the email for the survey takes me directly to the seller’s website, not to the survey. I don’t think they’re trying to drive traffic to their website with this lame stunt; I really believe they have a survey somewhere. I just can’t find it.

I tried to email them using a link they specifically provided for contacting them. However, it led to a form where I’m forced to register a password to contact their customer service. I’m tired of registering all over the World Wide Web for stuff I’m going to access only once. I didn’t continue.

I’m not sure what kind of return response companies expect from their customers by sending out survey invitations, but if the survey can’t be found easily, that response rate will be zero.

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