The Sony Vaio is by far the worst computer I have ever owned

This review is for the Sony Vaio VPCCW2 series notebook computer.

At first glance it appears to have everything you would want in a notebook computer. It’s a nice size and color. It has three USB ports. There’s an HDMI connection and, most importantly (at least for my purposes at the time I purchased the computer) it accommodates a “fire wire” to help convert older analog video to digital.

Sure, it wasn’t the cheapest notebook computer at Best Buy. But it was a Sony! I mean, that’s a brand you can trust. Right?

Wrong.

My Sony Vaio has turned off spontaneously twice already this morning because:

• The battery only lasted for a few months.
• The power cord stopped functioning after about 6 months.
• The aftermarket (replacement) cord that I purchased at Best Buy for about $59.99 worked fine for a few months but now it has to be held in place perfectly in order to function (but I don’t think the cord is the problem).

I wish this was all that was wrong with this computer!

• One of the three USB ports stopped functioning the day I brought the computer home!
• The “left click” button has become incredibly insensitive and has to be tapped very hard in order for the computer to understand the command.
• The monitor has a high gloss screen so you can literally see yourself in it. If there’s a window or TV behind you it’s very distracting.
• This computer runs HOT! If you leave it on your lap you will eventually have to move it because it becomes uncomfortable.

Sure, I could have brought the computer back to Best Buy and had the Geek Squad try to fix it. But you know what? That would take a day out of my life and I’m a busy guy. My time is valuable and I count on my technology to work for me.

The bottom line is that I will not but another computer from Sony. It was simply poorly made, in my opinion. Too bad there are no lemon laws for computers.

You can make the mistake of buying a Sony Vaio by clicking here.

Filling out a deposit slip is ridiculous but don’t say anything or you won’t get your phone back

I can’t remember the last time I wrote a check. It happens very infrequently. I pay the vast majority of my bills online and I certainly don’t have my checking account number memorized.

Occasionally I need to deposit checks into my checking account. When that happens, my preferred strategy is to use an ATM machine. In fact, the one I use the most often scans the checks and adds them up for me. I just have to confirm that the total is correct.

This seems very easy to me. The card reader scans my check card and identifies my account so the computer knows exactly who I am and I simply push the button that corresponds to my checking account.

At no time am I asked to enter my checking account number.

A few months ago the ATM machine was out of order for whatever reason so I went inside the bank. This is Wells Fargo which bought out Wachovia (which had been bought out by First Union but they kept the name).

The sign behind the counter reads, “We have one powerful business rule. It is concentrated in one word: courtesy.”

I went up to the counter and presented the checks to the teller. She asked me to slide my card in the card reader, which I did. Then she said, “Did you fill out a deposit slip?” and I said, “No.” She rolled her eyes, took a deep breath, with a subtle shaking of her head and proceeded to fill out a deposit slip.

I felt embarrassed. I said, “Sorry, I normally use the ATM machine.” A tight smile crossed her lips and she said, “No problem.” On the way home I got to thinking. Why should I be made to feel like an ass because the ATM machine wasn’t working and I forgot to fill out a deposit slip for the teller?

So, fast-forward to July 3 (the day before yesterday). I had a check I wanted to deposit into my checking account and I didn’t want to use the ATM machine because I knew July 4 was a holiday and I wanted the check to clear as soon as possible.

I walked into the bank, grabbed a deposit slip, and filled it out, minus my checking account number. I waited in line, approached the teller, and said, “Hi. I have a check to deposit. I’ve filled out as much of the deposit slip as I could but I don’t know my checking account number. Can I please slide my card?”

She seemed surprised and said, “Umm… yeah sure.”

I slid the card and said, “You know, the last time I was here I didn’t fill out a deposit slip and the teller wasn’t very happy with me.”

This attracted an authority figure of some kind. I’ll call her “the woman with the attitude” who possessed that special passive aggressive demeanor that lets you know you’re causing a scene in a place where decorum is expected at all times.

She wanted to know if there was “a problem”.

“No, there’s not a problem, I was just explaining that last time I was here I didn’t fill out a deposit slip and the teller seemed annoyed with me.”

“I’m sorry you felt that way.”

“Thank you. I’m curious. Why are deposit slips necessary? They’re not required at the ATM machine.”

“You are welcome to go outside and use the ATM machine.”

I’d like to pause here for two reasons. First, to point out the obvious. This is not the way to handle a customer complaint. This is willful escalation. Second, I feel that I owe the reader an explanation of why deposit slips are disrespectful to both customers and employees of the bank.

To assist me, I’m going to quote an article about Toyota’s lean methodology. This is from an article about Denver Health but I’m going to substitute the word “customer” for the word “patient.”

“Lean is a systematic approach to continuous improvement based on the car company’s manufacturing experiences and quality improvement efforts. It’s founded in a fundamental respect for people and the belief that continuous improvement involves the identification and elimination of waste that takes up time, resources and money.

Examples of waste include unused human talent, unnecessary waiting, inventory, transportation, defects and processing. The theory behind Lean in healthcare is that eliminating unnecessary and non-value-added activities means that [customers], who ultimately determine value, can receive the best possible care through sound processes.

In addition, staff members can deliver [customer] care and services in an effective and efficient manner, all while respecting their talents and efforts.

Consistent with Toyota’s Lean philosophies, [enter company name here] officials believe waste is disrespectful to society because it squanders resources, is disrespectful to workers because it asks them to perform non-value added work, and is disrespectful to [customers] because it asks them to endure processes with no value.”

So, in my opinion, deposit slips are disrespectful to customers and bank employees because it’s a non-value-added activity, an unnecessary bureaucratic process, and importantly, it sets up potential problems between customers (like me) who don’t always suffer non-value-added activities silently, and employees who are not policy makers who are stuck in a flawed system who may take their frustration out on customers (like me) who don’t follow the process.

Back to the story.

“Yes, thank you. I’m aware that I’m free to use the ATM machine. I’m just asking why the ATM machine doesn’t require a deposit slip but the tellers do.”

The authority figure, in her best talking-down-to-a-third-grader tone of voice, explained why the deposit slips are necessary (they need a piece of paper to document the transaction) and I gave my counter-argument (can’t you just give me a receipt and keep one for yourself that shows the account number?) I saw that we weren’t getting anywhere so I threw in the towel.

The bank teller who patiently waited while this went on said, “Would you like a receipt or would you like it emailed to you?” and said, “I’d like to have it emailed to me.” So I selected that option on the little screen and said, “Are we done?” and she said, “If that’s all you need today.” I said, “That’s all.” She said, “Thank you” and I walked out to the car.

But there was a problem. I couldn’t find my phone.

I remembered placing it on “silent” mode prior to walking into the bank. But, before I walked back inside I wanted to make sure I hadn’t absent-mindedly put it into one of the cargo-pant pockets of my shorts or let it fall between the seats.

No, it was definitely missing and I didn’t have it.

So, I walked back inside the bank and now there was a big line.

I scanned the area where the deposit slips are filled out. Nothing. I walked to the side of the counter and looked at the area in front of the bank teller I had used. No phone.

My bank teller saw me looking around and raised her eyebrows (not in a negative way — more like “Is everything okay?”) and I said, “I can’t find my phone and I know I brought it in here with me. Could you please get the manager?”

You guessed it! Enter “authority figure with an attitude” and begin Act 2.

Now she’s just unapologetically rude.

“I can’t seem to locate my phone.”

“Well it’s not here now.”

“I had it with me when I came in the bank.”

“Well I don’t see it.”

“All right, well why don’t we check the security footage on one of these cameras and see if we can determine what happened to it?”

“No, we don’t do that” (or something like that).

Deep breath.

“I’m not leaving without it.”

No response.

“Why don’t you do me a favor and contact the sheriff’s office so we can get to the bottom of this.”

“If you go sit in that chair over there I’ll get the manager.”

“I’ll wait right here.”

“FINE!” Woman with the attitude exits stage right and slams the door.

The (much nicer) bank teller says, “Would you like me to call your phone?”

“Yes! Thank you. Maybe someone will answer it.”

I give her the number and seconds later a bank teller about four stations down holds up my phone and says, “Hey! Is someone calling this phone?”

The bank teller says, “Is that your phone?” and I say “That’s the one!”

The other bank teller says, “You left it by the deposit slips.”

In other words, had the woman-with-the-attitude made even the slightest effort to locate my phone she would have found it within seconds.

Not cool.

Now, I will anticipate some of your objections.

“Maybe if you had been nicer the woman would have tried to find your phone.”

Judges? Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt.

Did I question a process at the bank? Yes. I didn’t kill anyone’s first born child.

“Maybe it was the way you said it.”

Maybe. Or maybe I just had the audacity to question why a deposit slip was necessary.

Either way, a customer is a customer. Some will follow your rules, both written and un-written, some will question your processes, some will complain when they are treated rudely, others will simply do business elsewhere.

How you manage customer complaints is a very important part of customer service.

Businesses can’t afford to dismiss customers that rub them the wrong way, especially when it’s more ego than merit.

Consider this advice from How to Handle Customer Complaints from Inc. Magazine.

“Customer feedback is a “gift,” says Ann Thomas, a senior consultant at Performance Research Associates, a consulting firm in South Bloomington, Minnesota, that deals with customer service-related issues. “I can’t fix the problem unless I know about it…”

“As frustrating as it is to be the customer with a complaint, it’s no delight being the business representative who gets yelled at for a problem likely caused by something or someone else. But, Morgan cautions, don’t take it personally. “People say stuff, and they call us names, and they say we’re incompetent. Listen to them fully without interrupting, if possible, and then help them.”

Further, don’t respond to accusations or offensive complaining in a way that perpetuates the argument…”

I certainly didn’t call anyone names or suggest anyone was incompetent, but you get the idea.

This complaint, even if delivered under the wrong set of circumstances, could have been easily handled with a gentle smile and a sense of humor.

“I know it’s silly but banks are slow to change. Let me fill that out for you.”

It’s not rocket science.

Or, better yet, embrace new technologies like this service from Chase that allows you to deposit checks from the comfort of your own home by using (you guessed it) the camera of your smartphone!

No deposit slip required.

Update: Wells Fargo made the 2012 Customer Service Hall of Shame.

Verizon should be ashamed of premium texting scam

It should come as no surprise that the cellular service industry has ended up in my cross hairs. I consider them, along with the airline, banking and private insurance industries as the top “anti-consumer” industries.

What makes them “anti-consumer”? The fact that the really don’t care about you or me. They view customers as cows to be milked as opposed to rare and lovely birds that might be attracted with the right habitat.

So even though Verizon is often considered to offer the best customer service of the major cellular providers, that’s not saying very much.

This past May I started to receive some text SPAM on my iPhone. They were called Trivia Alerts from IQ Power and they looked like this:

They were very annoying but I know better than to respond to unsolicited SPAM. I’m certainly not going to engage them by texting HELP or STOP even though it said “rates may apply.”

I knew I didn’t ask for these trivia alerts so I simply made a mental note to check my Verizon Wireless phone bill, thinking “there’s no way they can charge me for unsolicited SPAM.”

Wrong.

So I called Verizon and complained about the problem. After an annoyingly long conversation during which time the customer service rep blamed me for experiencing the problem by suggesting that I must have signed up for the service the charge was removed and “premium texting services” were disabled from my account.

I was not happy with Verizon. I wondered how many millions of dollars they earned from this scam. I mean, how many people actually read their cellular phone bill?

Imagine my surprise when the next bill was issued.

Once again I contacted Verizon. Once again I was blamed when the customer service rep suggested that I had “done something” to sign up for the service!

“Really? Do you honestly believe that ANYONE in their right mind would sign up for “trivia alerts” to the tune of $9.99/month?”

“Some people do.”

“No. They don’t. And I didn’t either. So stop blaming the victim.”

“Well sometimes you sign up for something like a contest or a raffle, or respond to something on Facebook, and by doing so you’re giving consent for them to send you premium text messages.”

“I’m very careful with my personal data and I don’t sign up for those sorts of things. I don’t allow Facebook apps to have access to my data, and I only give out my phone number when it’s absolutely necessary, like when I reserve a hotel room or something of that nature.”

“At some point you must have given authorization.”

“Prove it. I want a forensic analysis of my account and I want to know exactly when, where, and how I allegedly signed up for these text messages.”

“Well I didn’t do it.”

“No. But your company is allowing it to happen. Why do you suppose that is?”

“I’m sure they’re making money from it.”

“Bingo. As a customer I find that to be outrageous.”

“Well it says here that premium texting services were disabled for this account so I’m not sure why it billed again. But I’ve [tweaked the flux capacitor] and it shouldn’t happen again.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Have a wonderful day.”

Lowell McAdam, CEO of Verizon (photo credit – modified)

Does anyone honestly believe that Verizon Wireless doesn’t know this is happening to its customers?

If you knew your customers were being taken advantage of, would you do something about it, or would you reluctantly remove the charges for customers savvy enough to catch on, but only after blaming them for experiencing the problem?

This goes against all of the values that lead to good customer care in the first place, which is why it’s an excellent example of what makes a company or industry “anti-consumer.” If nothing else, Verizon serves as a good example of how not to behave.

My experience flying Delta Air Lines

I’ve done a lot of business travel over the years but I’ve rarely participated in frequent flyer programs. That only makes sense because I don’t mail-in rebates either, even if it could save me hundreds of dollars. In fact, even if I did mail in a rebate there’s an excellent chance I’d throw the sealed envelop with the check into a basket and not open it until long after the check is expired.

I don’t like being exposed to needless bureaucratic processes because it’s disrespectful to customers (or students, employees, citizens, etc.). This is a key pillar of lean manufacturing and one that is often forgotten or only receives lip service from management to the detriment of both the business and its customers.

As a side-note, this is where it helps to be in a relationship with someone who does not share your personality traits. Kelly doesn’t mind mailing in rebates, so when the salesman says, “And there’s a rebate!” and I say, “Who cares?” Kelly says, “I’ll mail it in!” and I say, “Fine. You can keep the money.” At least it comes back to our household. She opens her mail before it fills up a laundry basket.

As anyone who has done any traveling over the past decade could tell you, airline travel has gone from bad to worse, to the point where now it sucks royally. It’s a key factor in why I started this blog. I need a place to vent over the stupidity of airlines and air travelers. I’m generally an optimist but air travel could make a misanthrope out of the Dalai Lama.

The bottom line is that I’m so frustrated with air travel that I’ve decided to attempt to obtain status on an airline just so I can be brought up to sub-par treatment. Frankly, I think the idea of creating layers of importance for customers is infuriating. But the message has gotten through loud and clear. If you don’t have status on an airline, you’re just lucky to have a seat on a plane so sit down and shut up.

So I decided that going forward I’m only going to fly Detla Air Lines so I can try to earn status in their SkyMiles program. That means that I’m not going to fly directly out of Hilton Head Island anymore because that’s U.S. Airways. Rather, I’ll fly out of Savannah and connect in Atlanta. When other organizations book my air travel I tell them, “I fly Delta Air Lines and here are the exact flights I want.” My experience so far is that travel agents love me for this because it saves them time and effort.

In fact, this is exactly what happened for my recent trip to Dallas to meet with the American Heart Association. My reservations were booked through a third party and everything went smoothly. However, I didn’t have a seat assignment. This is a problem because I need to be in an aisle seat. I would rather change flights than sit in a middle seat or by the window with a stranger sitting next to me.

In the old days this would not be a problem. You would just go online or call the airline and tell them you’d like an aisle seat and they’d say, “No problem. You’re all set.” (This is assuming of course that you booked your flight far enough in advance.) But not now. The seat assignments are blocked out from low ranking customers like me.

I like the Detla Air Lines app for my iPhone but what good is it if I can’t pick my seat? That’s not to say I couldn’t upgrade my seat to a “preferred seat” or “economy comfort”. They’d be happy to charge me extra for an aisle seat toward the front of the plane or in an exit row. But as much as I hate sitting way in the back, I’m not going to pay extra to sit toward the front unless it’s First Class. This is just one of the many ways (including baggage fees) that the airlines are trying to wring every last cent out of air travelers.

In case you’re wondering, this happens to me every single time I fly Delta Air Lines. Here’s how I handle it. I get to the gate exactly 1 hour before the flight is scheduled to depart and ask the gate agent if they can please change me to an aisle seat.

So far, 100% of the time they’ve said, “Sure! No problem” and printed me out a boarding pass (which is exactly what happened on this trip — both ways).

Now, you might say, “Hey that’s great customer service!” but I can’t join you (even though the gate agents on this trip were very nice — especially the one in Savannah who greeted me with a big smile and was very helpful). Here’s the problem. They were solving a pseudo-crisis that never should have occurred in the first place.

I don’t blame them. I place the blame squarely on the shoulders of the CEO of Delta Air Lines Richard Anderson.

Photo credit: delta.com (modified)

Perhaps some people don’t get stressed out worrying about whether or not they’re going to get an aisle seat or whether or not they’re going to find a spot in the overhead compartment for their carry-on luggage, but I do. Baggage fees have resulted in more people carrying bags on the plane and finding a spot in the overhead compartment like Lord of the Flies.

This is why I sometimes check a bag and walk onto the plane with nothing but my iPad. It’s worth $50 dollars ($25 each way), the inconvenience of baggage claim, and the risk that the airlines will misplace my luggage to avoid the dehumanizing experience of competing with the unwashed masses to get on the plane first to find a place for my bag. Or, like my recent trip to Las Vegas, I’ll buy a First Class ticket. But I shouldn’t have to.

Delta Air Lines did not create human nature. They just reveal it. I do not believe they are worse than any other airline but they certainly aren’t better (Update: a recent survey shows Delta has improved since 2011 but still not doing particularly well in the area of customer service — in fact none of the U.S. airlines are). I believe they allow this disgusting mob-like behavior to occur so they can reward their “special” customers (First Class, Medallion, Delta Sky Priority) by allowing them to board the plane first.

So, now it’s June 21 and I have 9,204 Medallion Qualification Miles and 8 Medallion Qualification Segments. I’m not even half way to the 25,000 MQMs or 30 MQSs required to achieve Silver Medallion Status. I don’t fly quite as much as I used to but I do have at least 3 or 4 more business trips coming up in 2012. I’m not one of the “road warriors” the airlines salivate over. I’m just a customer. There must be others like me who wish they were valued more by the airlines.

By the way, in case you are wondering, there are approximately 17 small pretzels (plus a pretzel fragment) in the little pretzel bag, which is more than I expected. I’d also like the guy sitting across from me who doesn’t listen when the flight attendant tells him to power down his Kindle that he’s a self-important jerk (no really — she meant everyone but you), and the only reason I didn’t say something is that I probably would have ended up escorted off the plane by a Sky Marshal.

If anyone has tips for dealing with the airlines please leave a comment.

I wanted to join you Angie’s List but I just can’t do it

Having grown up around health care I’ve always been fortunate in that I can easily get the “inside scoop” when I need a doctor or surgeon. I feel sorry for people who visit from out-of-town and end up needing unexpected surgery and don’t know anyone from the local medical community. They’re at the mercy of whoever happens to be “on call”.

Picking a mechanic can be the same way, although the stakes are lower. It took me over 10 years of living on Hilton Head Island to find Island Tire on the north end of the island. So far I’ve been mostly pleased with their service (with the exception of one customer service mishap that I will probably end up blogging about because it’s a common mistake made by many businesses).

But picking an accountant is scary! This is my life’s finances we’re talking about here. I don’t want to pay too much for the service but I don’t want bad advice either. I want someone who is accessible and gives me personal attention but I want someone who knows what they’re doing, which means this person will probably be busy.

If my accountant is busy with much bigger accounts will he (or she) care about me and my finances or will I be an afterthought?

Last week I got a flyer in the mail from a local construction business that said, “Now on Angie’s List!” Being somewhat of an internet geek and social media specialist I realized I didn’t know very much about Angie’s List so I decided to go check it out.

When you sign onto Angie’s List the landing page lets you know right away that it’s a website you don’t get to interact with unless you register.

You’re greeted by the words “get the best service”! Well, that sounds good. Then a checklist. Companies can’t pay to be on Angie’s List! Reviews come from people like you!  Exclusive discounts! Ratings and reviews in over 550 home repair and health care categories! Live call center and help if a call project goes badly!

What you don’t see at this point is any indication that Angie’s List costs anything.

So, I clicked the “Join Now!” button and filled in the form with my zip code, email address, and I selected a password.

Now you are directed to the screen where you are presented with the cost structure.

There’s a hyperlink near the top that says, “Why pay?” I clicked on the link and it explained that yes, there’s a membership fee, but it helps ensure reliable data, it provides  actual staff and support, it enables publication of their award-winning monthly magazine… Okay, okay, okay.

At the bottom you see in bold print “110% money-back guarantee”.

But, I wasn’t prepared to “join” another Consumer Reports type website at this point so I just pushed the “back” button on my browser until I was all the way out and hoped that Angie’s List hadn’t made a mental note of my email address.

HAHAHAHA! 🙂

A few days later I received an email from Angie’s List entitled “Just for you – An Exclusive Discount from Angie’s List!” 25% off with promo code REVIEWS13.

Can you imagine? That’s really amazing. A discount just for me. Exclusive.

Then a week later another email. This one entitled, “Oops! We meant to give you a bigger discount!” This time 40% of promo code FOX62.

Now I was really curious so I thought to myself, “Oh, what the heck? I’ll just check it out and use it for a while so I can post a review of the service on my new blog.”

So, I logged back on to Angie’s List, selected the 2 year membership, entered the promo code, and got ready to proceed with the transaction.

Then I got to the very last click.

Auto-renewal. That low-life business practice we hoped had been thrown on the scrap heap of history along with Classmates.com.

Sorry, Angie’s List. I wanted to join you. Sort of. But I just can’t bring myself to give you my money. I was willing to overlook the fact that you took my email address prior to disclosing that you weren’t free, and I even chuckled when I found out that people who signed up right away paid 40% more than I would to receive your services.

But I can’t deal with something as scummy as mandatory auto-renewal. I’ll take my chances with a word-of-mouth referral.

Lowes and Home Depot Fail – G & J Equipment Rental to the Rescue

Kelly and I moved into our new home on the golf course in a beautiful gated community a few months ago. The house was in foreclosure and and was a little bit distressed but overall it’s a great house and we got an incredible deal.

Although the home has lots of beautiful azaleas, they had not been pruned in some time. The property has lots of pine trees and the yard was completely covered by pine straw so I’ve been trying to bring the lawn back to its original condition.

Just keeping it raked and watered (with a little bit of weed and feed) did wonders for the yard so it was time to do some edging and cutting and take out the weeds between our back yard and the golf course.

I went to Lowes and I was ready to buy.

After standing around for about 20 minutes next to the lawn mowers and trimmers I started to feel impatient. So I went over to the help desk in that section (which was deserted) and pushed the call button, but nothing happened. There was no sound or light to let me know the command had been received so I pushed it again with no response.

At this point I was becoming frustrated.

I walked over to the customer service desk and wouldn’t you know it? There was a line. I felt my blood pressure rising. I struggled with the idea of standing in line so I could ask someone to ask someone else to give me the time of day so I could give them my hard-earned money.

I almost left but I changed my mind after deciding it would only be fair to speak with the manager. I went back to customer service and waited in line.

“Do you have the manager’s business card? I’d like to correspond with him.”

“I don’t think he has a business card.”

“Okay, what’s his number?”

“Umm… Call this number and try this extension.”

So on my way out to the car I called the number.

“Commercial sales” (or something like that) came the reply.

“Yes, may I please speak with the manager.”

“Hold a second.”

Phone rings again.

“Lowes customer service.”

I recognize this as the voice of the person who gave me the business card with the manager’s extension in the first place.

“I’d like to speak with the manager please.”

“I’m sorry but he’s not in.”

“Okay, when will he be back.”

“I really don’t know.”

“May I have his voice mail?”

“I don’t think he has voice mail. May I take a message?”

“That won’t be necessary.”

I got on my iPhone and asked Siri for a general contact number for Lowes. After lots of searching I finally found a phone number for customer complaints.

By the time I got to Home Depot I had been on hold for 10 minutes and gave up.

Weak.

So, when I walked into Home Depot I had visions of being greeted with flowers and attentive sales people ready to cater to my every desire.

HAHAHAHA! Yeah, right.

I spent some time looking at the lawn mowers and string trimmers (with and without attachments) including gas powered and electric, but no one came to see if I needed assistance so I went to purchase some other items.

I will give Home Depot partial credit for the nice woman who offered to direct me to the eye bolts and the gentlemen who offered to direct me to string.

For some reason no one was willing or able to offer me assistance for a much bigger ticket item. As a consequence I took my business elsewhere.

Finally, at the recommendation of a friend (thanks, Joe) I drove to an out-of-the-way business called G & J Equipment Rental. It would be impossible to overemphasize the difference I experienced here. They are an authorized dealer for Stihl (pronounced steel) which makes some very high quality gas powered equipment.

From the moment I arrived the friendly staff acknowledged me and offered to answer any questions I might have. After looking around for a while I did have some questions. The staff — how else can I say it? — knew everything there was to know about gas powered lawn equipment.

After a lengthy discussion that went over all the pros and cons of each model I selected the Stihl KM 90R Professional Use Power Head with the FS-KM Brushcutter with Grass Blade.

I asked the salesman if he could remove the grass blade for me and attached a heavy-duty string trimmer head, and he was happy to oblige, so I ended up with a beast of a string trimmer with a nice accessory blade which was less expensive than buying each separately as removable attachments.

That’s great customer service! But G & J Equipment Rental was just getting started.

The salesman took me in the back to their shop (where they provide maintenance for all of their rental equipment and landscaping fleet) and proceeded to show me how to take it apart, how to switch accessories, how to replace string in the trimmer head, how to start it, how to maintenance it, what kind of fuel to put in it, how to winterize it, and when to replace the spark plug.

There’s more!

He put fuel in it and had me follow him out back where he proceeded to trim a rocky area on the side of the building and — you can’t make this stuff up — mauled a bush with it — just to show me how much abuse the heavy duty string could take without breaking!

I have never seen so much enthusiasm or pride in a product before in my entire life. It was a privilege to watch. Finally, he told me that if I purchased a 6-pack of Stihl mixed fuel or oil that Stihl would double the warranty from 2 years to 4 years.

“Who does the work if it breaks?” I asked.

“We do. Just bring it here and we’ll fix it for you. But it probably won’t break because this is a quality piece of equipment.”

As I was providing my personal information to the check-out clerk (who also clearly knew a lot about lawn equipment) the salesman came back with the spare parts for the grass blade which he had tied together with string so I would remember the order in which the parts go on the head.

They said they would mail in the warranty information for me to make sure it got to Stihl. Finally, the salesman walked me out to my car and encouraged me to come back if I have any questions at all, or if I just want to hang out and talk about lawn equipment.

I was absolutely blown away by this customer experience.

G & J Equipment Rental has no social media presence whatsoever. Not even their own website. They’re just doing it the old fashioned way and treating every customer like a member of their own family.

Did I pay more than I would have paid at Lowes or Home Depot? Yes, I did. Was it worth every penny? Yes, it was. Because this piece of equipment will last, it’s expandable with many useful accessories like the articulating hedge trimmer, I learned a thing or two about equipment maintenance that I didn’t know, and I was treated like a valued human being.

Video sharing apps for Facebook are worse than SPAM

The new video sharing apps on Facebook are terrible in my opinion.

In the first place, what was wrong with dropping a YouTube video in your news feed if you want to share content with friends? That way, I can watch the video if I desire without being asked to share my “basic info” and “email address” with a third party app. I feel the same way about news story sharing apps.

Secondly, (and I guess this is an appeal to my Facebook friends), do you realize these apps are making you look like total perverts? I mean seriously! I have no problem with you watching videos called “You won’t believe what this woman wore to the beach!” or “Coed gets a Brazilian bikini wax” but do you REALLY want all of your Facebook friends to know about it?

Call me crazy, but in this day and age I feel that reputation management on the internet is important. Think about how your video choices portray you online, especially when you’re careless with your privacy settings. Frankly, I’m embarrassed for you.

I’ve even considered the possibility that these apps are simply malware spreading viruses because some people I really respect have (apparently) been watching things that would make Jerry Springer blush.

Once again, I don’t care what you watch. Honest. The issue here is whether you really REALLY want to broadcast it on your newsfeed.

As an article at Forbes.com recently observed:

New Socialcam users should be careful with their privacy settings, since they can sync and log in to their Socialcam accounts through Facebook or Twitter. If you’re not careful, all the embarrassing videos you’ve watched could automatically be published on your Facebook timeline for everyone to see. Most of us occasionally click on an article that we wouldn’t want others to know we were reading (10 Best Ways to Treat Acne, anyone?); we like having the option of controlling what we share with others. Fortunately, you can manually select who gets to see your videos in Socialcam’s settings—just be sure to remember to tweak those defaults.

Or, be smart and “just say no” because you don’t need third party apps to do your sharing for you. That’s what used to be fun about Facebook. Remember?

If you need more reasons to think Socialcam is creepy see this post from The Next Web.

United Breaks Guitars a win for customers

I just read a story at Forbes.com that really captured my feelings about social media and how it has the potential to transform anti-consumer industries. Here’s the direct link to the article.

Saving Customer Service With Social Media — And a Song!

In a stroke of genius, David Carroll’s song United Airlines Breaks Guitars takes its rightful place in the social media hall of fame!

You can watch the video here (over 12 million views and counting).

The Wikipedia article about the song is here.

A couple of things stand out.

First, Carroll’s branding of the message is brilliant! United breaks guitars. Period. This is powerful as a stand-alone statement. It reminds me of another story from late 2010 about the woman who started a blog called Alaska Airlines Hates Families after she was denied a seat on a flight because she had to run to the bathroom to clean up a baby’s dirty diaper.

The messages are simple, direct, memorable, and shocking at face value. It makes you want to lean more. How does United break guitars? Why does Alaska Airlines hate families? Then, once we hear the stories, we are angry on behalf of the customer. We feel the injustice along with them.

The obvious lesson for both United and Alaska Airlines is that both situations could have been handled with a little bit of humility and tact. Instead, both airlines suffered a humiliating PR debacle.

That’s the power of social media.

After United Breaks Guitars got over 150,000 views on the first day, United contacted Carroll wanting to “right the wrong”.

After initially defending their actions on Twitter, Alaska Airlines received a backlash from its customers. The blog was discontinued after the family received compensation.

Point. Game. Match.

As a side-note, anyone think this guy looks like the actor David Morse?

Travel blogger takes United out to the woodshed but most readers aren’t impressed

I recently established a news alert on Google for the search term “customer service” and this headline caught my eye.

United Airlines Hell First-Class Style

Just about anyone who has ever traveled has been abused by the airline industry in some way. It’s one of the industries I describe as “anti-consumer” (along with cellular providers, banks, and the private insurance industry).

What makes this blog post remarkable is not that a travel blogger had a poor experience with an airline (who hasn’t?) but that he stood there and started recording the gate agent with his smartphone and taunted her while she ignored him.

The video was uploaded to YouTube.

The airline has since issued an apology and offered compensation.

My intent here is not to take sides in the dispute because I wasn’t there and I know better than to judge this incident based solely on the YouTube video (although judging from the comments many think he was being a jerk).

What I find most interesting about this incident is that it demonstrates how Web 2.0 has changed power the dynamics between industry and consumers. The tools of social media (blogs, Twitter, YouTube, etc.) level the playing field by empowering consumers to document and share negative experiences.

In an age where smartphones are ubiquitous and videos can go viral in a heartbeat, all companies need a strategy to deal with customers who are no longer inclined to suffer in silence.

Update: The final word from the travel blogger about the incident can be found here.

Authenticity and Corporatized Communication

A major barrier I see for most organizations and their social media strategy is their inability to engage in authentic communication. In other words, they sound fake. There are many reasons for this but the number one reason is fear. No one wants to make a mistake.

Let’s face it. Not saying something just because it happens to be on your mind is often good advice! Better to remain silent and risk appearing the fool than open your mouth and remove all doubt. Right? Well, that depends. What is your goal? If it’s to connect with others (and engagement is a very important part of a social media) you have to be real which involves risk.

One possible way to circumvent the difficulty is to have the various members of the social media team post or blog under their own names and make it clear that their opinions are not necessarily those of the organization.

I was recently involved in a “Twitter Party” with the American Heart Association for EMS Week and someone following the #WeHeartEMS hash tag wanted to know the correct energy setting for an older defibrillator (a device that shocks a sick heart). Naturally the AHA wanted to give the correct, evidence-based information but that wasn’t entirely clear simply because we didn’t know exactly what kind of device the gentleman had.

One of the participants in the Twitter Party who works for the AHA (and happens to be a good friend of mine) said, “The lethal dose for defibrillation is zero.” In other words, more important than nitpicking over the exact energy setting is making sure that the device is available and rapidly deployed when needed, because if you don’t shock a patient who’s in cardiac arrest they will almost certainly die.

I thought it was a great answer! Spontaneous, funny, and certainly true. It turns out that the AHA recommends 360 joules for older monophasic devices. We suspected as much (and confirmed it by frantically looking through the guidelines) but my friend’s off-the-cuff reply simply would have worked better from a social media standpoint.

Why? Because it was real. It was authentic. Behind it was a man who had dedicated his life to minimizing the death and suffering associated with cardiovasular disease.

Who would you rather engage with on Twitter?