News – Here's a recording I did of a conversation between myself and AOL while trying to cancel an account I no longer needed. It was old, and I hadn't used it in a REALLY long time, I just never got around to cancelling it. Enjoy!
C.K.:
Since we're owned by AOL, we gave a call to our PR department and received the following statement from AOL spokesperson Nicholas Graham:
"At AOL, we have zero-tolerance for customer care incidents like this - which is deeply regrettable and also absolutely inexcusable. The employee in question violated our customer service guidelines and practices, and everything that AOL believes to be important in customer care - chief among them being respect for the member, and swiftly honoring their requests. This matter was dealt with immediately and appropriately, and the employee cited here is no longer with the Company."
We have an interview on the way with the blogger behind Insignificant Thoughts, and we're trying to locate the former AOL employee involved. If you have more info, please feel free to email me: ck at weblogsinc dot com.
Update: Netscape Anchor Dakota Smith conducted an IM interview with Vincent Ferrari, the blogger behind Insignificant Thoughts and a 30-year-old Bronx resident, this morning. Here’s an excerpt of their IM exchange:
Dakota: What led you to post this?
Ferrari: Well, I had heard the horror stories about canceling AOL, and decided to post it. Honestly, I'm always looking for something interesting on my site, and this seemed to be something my readers would be interested in.
Dakota: For you, what was the most surprising part of the whole exchange?
Ferrari: Well first, the part about asking for my dad. I mean, I'm 30 years old, and both the card and the account are in my name.... Secondly...
Ferrari: When he told me he could "stall me" all day. I couldn't believe he was going to make me wait just so he could cancel my account.
Dakota: What happened after? Did AOL reach out to you after or anything?
Ferrari: All I got from them afterward was a survey that asked (ironically enough) if Jonathan met my needs. Other than that, I've not heard a single word from AOL.
Dakota: Did you know the guy got fired? How do you feel about that?
Ferrari: Honestly, before your e-mail, I had no idea. I don't know how I feel. Honestly? I'm not going to shed any tears for the guy. It sucks that he got fired, but maybe he'll learn from it.
Dakota: Is it just AOL, you think, or just the nature of customer service in general?
Ferrari: Well, I think it is actually the nature of customer service to be honest. I think retention people are particularly bad because they can never accept that someone wants to cancel...
Ferrari: If I'm predisposed to canceling, just let me do it. I'm not staying no matter what. Retention people are the worst.
Ferrari: I don't mind a token effort, but aggressive pursuing is really not appropriate.
Ferrari: Jonathan was definitely aggressive about it and wasn't listening to me at all.
Dakota: They must be so bored with their jobs that they lash out...
Ferrari: Well, I know what it's like. Their performance is basically "how many people did you keep today?" Under that kind of pressure, we'd all probably crack.
Ferrari: Doesn't make him a bad person, just a guy in the wrong position for his skills or whatever.
************UPDATE************
June 20th Update: Ferrari has received an official apology from AOL Executive Vice President of AOL Corporate Communications, Nicholas Graham, and Ferarri has posted it on his blog. His site went down immediately after I posted this update, but Vincent was kind enough to provide us with a copy of the note:
"Vincent,
Thank you for returning my phone call. I appreciate hearing from you and being able to talk to you - and to personally apologize for your experience. At AOL, we have zero-tolerance for customer care incidents like this - which is deeply regrettable and also absolutely inexcusable. The employee in question violated our customer service guidelines and practices, and everything that AOL believes to be important in customer care - chief among them being respect for the member, and swiftly honoring their requests. This matter was dealt with immediately and appropriately, and the employee cited here is no longer with the Company.
Vincent - please get in touch with me again in the future I can be of help at all. And good luck to you and to "Insignificant Thoughts".
Sincerely,
Nicholas"
CNBC featured Ferarri just a few minutes ago and there would appear to be another piece scheduled for 7pm EST and tomorrow morning as well.
June 21st Update: Ferarri just appeared in a 5 minute segment on NBC's Today, and they played over 3 minutes of the call. Someone submitted the video of the segment on YouTube and posted it elsewhere on Netscape. I don't think it will be there long before NBC asks YouTube to take it down.
2006-06-15 13:02:40
Typical business model for modern megacorporations. Instead of trying to improve their service so that people actually want to be there-- that's too difficult in committee-driven companies-- they continue to pander to the lowest common denominator while engaging in sharp business practices. This guy should report AOL to the Better Business Bureau, the state attorney general in their home state and the Federal Trade Commission. All three have the power to make things rough for even a group like AOL. Remember, gang. Don't make the product better. Just hardsell it.
Don't blame the rep! From what I've been told is that AOL pays these poor saps a bonus if they "save" a certain number of customers from departing their service. Remember, these guys get paid crap, and they get a carrot dangled in front of them, which alters their behavior. If AOL really cared, they would not have such a system in place. There was a similar system in place at a call center I once worked. We got bonuses for - get this - low call times. Not good service, not friendly service - low call times. Of course, the quality and friendliness of the calls suffered. So, don't blame the rep for a systematic problem.
simongzster, don't confuse the incentives this rep receives for retaining customers with his outright horrid customer service. He was downright rude and disrespectful. I managed a team of folks that did his job for several years. My experience was that while not always easy, the job could be accomplished very successfully without being rude, dishonest or in anyway as slimy as this guy was. This punk was just an ass that happened to work a customer service job at AOL. AOL did not foster his crappy attitude. And in time he would have been let go anyway. In my experience that kind of utter disrespect would have been terminated immediately. He is/was an embarressment to AOL, anyone who does customer service and most importantly to his Mother.
Maybe I was just lucky. Over the years I was with AOL twice and both times the cancellation was very easy. The last time they wanted me to consider netscape as a ISP but when I told them 'No Thanks' the operator quickly ended the conversation about it. I also had accounts with earthlink and MSN. On both of those occassions it took 2 or 3 phone calls to end my membership. The only reason this story is currently rated as number 3 today is because of the bad apples with the Digg.com community. They are trying to do nothing else but to ****** on AOL/Netscape's parade today. How childish!
I want to convey a few points regarding this. People reading this here, and on Digg, are thinking this is the ususal behavior on calls with AOL Member Services. This is nothing like what the average call consists of. I know for some thats hard to believe, because we all "know a guy that..." in reference to calling AOL and getting upset. If I was this consultant's supervisor I would immediately fire him for his unacceptable behaviors. As such, AOL did the right thing and fire the consultant. The rudeness, abrasiveness, shallow commentary, and poor customer service are 100% unacceptable. I hope AOL docks his pay for "damages", since this was 'leaked' to the net from the Ferrari member.
when you have a support organization consisting of THOUSANDS of call center agents, you are going to get your fair share of bad apples, law of averages tells you that. AOL customer care agents overwhelmingly are respectful, attempt to make a pitch to the value of the service and if met with resistance, move on to canceling the account if that is the intent of your call. Too much being made of this if you ask me and just fueled by angry Digg followers. AOL did the right thing and fired this rep, well before the story broke.
Notwithstanding AOL, canceling an account can be painful for both the consumer and the company. Typically the consumer has waited to the last possible minute to call and the company wants to keep the business. Over the years I’ve learned a few lessons that I’d like to share. If a customer rep is insulting or you feel unfair treatment then ask for the manager. If the rep refuses to fulfill any of your requests, hang up and call back. Sometimes cooperation can lead to completing the transaction too; use your best judgment. If all else fails contact the companies in writing. As for the audio clip I’m actually shocked it was true. Before seeing Nicholas Graham’s comments I would have sworn it to be a spoof. The worst experience ever for me was a company that handled my primary income. Consider when a banking system has a discrepancy and the rep has no idea the monies whereabouts. Consider that.
I must say, this is a very different approach than to digg. I am a big digg person and the ability and the willingness to add full background, like a news site, is a bit of a head turner. I like it. I enjoy the fact that you guys are trying to keep away from just copying other bookmarking sites (like digg has differentiated from del.icio.us) and made this your own. I was not impressed at first glance. If you keep this up, I will be.
Why is Netscape Anchor C.K. settling for taking a "statement" from one of AOL's PR people? Why not put some questions to the guy, like, "Do customer relations reps get bounties for retaining subscribers?" "Can a subscriber cancel service without having to go through a rep's playbook of delaying tactics?" "Based on Ferrari's experience, is AOL going to change how it handles cancellation requests?"
I had similar issues when I cancelled my AOL account. The rep was very persistent, did not listen to what I was saying, and by the end of the call (about 15 mins later!) had an obvious attitude. The words were ok, but the tone of voice was really unprofessional. By the end of the call I kept repeating the same thing "no thank you, I just want to cancel my account"... I promised myself I would never register for AOL ever again after that experience.
Vince, thanks again for being open about this. I wouldn't say you had a chip, you were very straight-forward and honest and wasn't abusive to the CSR. In my opinion, the CSR should have accepted your non-usage of the service, and just inform you of a lower price, and then just process cancellation.
I can tell you, internally, we did receive communications regarding your incident among others. You incited change. Thanks again.
Typical business model for modern megacorporations. Instead of trying to improve their service so that people actually want to be there-- that's too difficult in committee-driven companies-- they continue to pander to the lowest common denominator while engaging in sharp business practices. This guy should report AOL to the Better Business Bureau, the state attorney general in their home state and the Federal Trade Commission. All three have the power to make things rough for even a group like AOL. Remember, gang. Don't make the product better. Just hardsell it.
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hardselling, hardselling... thats not good.
hate all that things :-(
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Great idea... looks like not enough diggers are showing up to make a difference though...