My wife is one of those people that considers bill paying akin to religion. Me? Let’s just say that I’m more of an “I’ll get around to it when I get around to it” kind of guy. When you have a customer who wants to pay you, it’s a good thing, right?
Not so much with our cable company, Comcast. You see, in their environmentally friendly corporate state of mind, they went paperless. Trouble is they really weren’t clear about how this was happening.
Seems they sent an email saying that, unless you checked some box, your account was going paperless. Now, that might be OK if we already did business via email, but my wife and I don’t. We don’t Facebook them, we don’t Tweet them and we certainly don’t send them emails. Seems a bit strange that they would start here, eh?
After my wife spent 30+ minutes on the phone with a customer service rep asking what the extra $24 charge was, and being told how she could see that charge online, she gave up. That’s right, there’s no detail online; no detail, no money.
Sound Familiar?
Have your vendors changed the rules on you in the last few years? Is “going paperless” environmental stewardship or just another way to save on postage? Do you do their order entry too? Betcha they rewarded you handsomely for that move…
Understand Your Power
My wife has it right (I’ll never hear the end of it for that!). She’s the consumer and she has the power. Too often, we give that right up because we fear the repercussion.
Right now, your vendors will take your orders on a cocktail napkin. There is no reason for you to go into an online system that was touted as making your life easier, just to do business with them.
What if you had a system that allowed you to order everything you sell from one place? And, like a lot of dealers are doing today, you told your manufacturer to adapt to it or you’ll make a change?
And, of course, you’ll take the higher road. You will elect to tell them in person rather than email, because you want to see the look of disbelief on their face!
