Serving Bread

For the past year, I’ve had a frustrating experience with my AT&T Internet. The line is inconsistent and drops often. I have called technical support numerous times, spending hours on the phone, going through the same motions time after time, and yet my issue never got resolved.  I have even had technicians come out to my house three times, but the internet was still acting up.

I was fed up. On Wednesday night, I called yet again and I told the technician that nothing she suggests ever works, and in a moment of lost judgment, I asked her to cancel my account. Now, I’m not sure if I really meant it because cancellation would have meant new email addresses all around—not something I wanted to do.

But instead of transferring me to the cancellation department, she transferred me to the customer retention department. I was no longer talking with an anonymous person in Bangalore, India. But now, I was talking with Cindy who lives locally. Cindy tells me, “Eddy, my number one concern is to keep you as a customer because you’ve been a valued customer since 1996.” (I don’t even know that I was a valued customer for over 10 years)

Long story short, she sent me a special DSL technician (usually costs $200) for free. He came out the next day and replaced/upgraded my modem for free. In addition, she took $10 off my internet bill for the next six months.

Most businesses know that they are in fierce competition for customers. But customers may often be aloof to that. I’ve been living with bad internet for a year, and I could have easily switched to a different company. The same goes with our wireless provider, our car insurance, our credit card companies, etc…. The lesson here is that we should make businesses earn our business.

Shop around for a better deal, threaten to take your business elsewhere, and don’t settle for anything less than excellence.

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