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Should I Stay or Should I Go?

12 July, 2010 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

I found a great internet service.  It is called Carbonite.  For £36 a year they back up all my data onto a server in the US somewhere, probably a nuclear bunker in deepest Ohio.

My data is safe, it is cheap, they have to do very little work.  Everyone was a winner.

Until I had to renew my subscription.

Then Carbonite insisted my subscription had run out, even though they had cashed my cheque.

I dropped them an e-mail, they asked me to phone them in the US.

This I did and sat on hold for 30 minutes (international rates) waiting to talk to somebody, fortunately “my call is important to them.”

Carbonite’s customer service agent resolved my issue very politely, but I would like a refund, I don’t know how much a half hour call to the US costs but I guess it is the same as the annual subscription.  Plus of course my time.

They refused a refund, but I am given the option to cancel.

Do I stay and run the risk that I have to talk to the polite American next year, or should I go and find another supplier?

And what would that do for their sales?

Photo by Alexander Andrews on Unsplash

Filed Under: Blog, Operations Analysis Tagged With: customer focus, poor service, revenue generation

About the Author

James Lawther
James Lawther

James Lawther is a middle-aged, middle manager.

To reach this highly elevated position he has worked in numerous industries, from supermarket retailing to tax collecting.  He has had several operational roles, including running the night shift in a frozen pea packing factory and carrying out operational research for a credit card company.

As you can see from his C.V. he has either a wealth of experience or is incapable of holding down a job.  If the latter is true this post isn’t worth a minute of your attention.

Unfortunately, the only way to find out is to read it and decide for yourself.

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