Customer (no) service

My wife and I love to travel. During the last 20 years, we’ve visited all 50 states, 8 Canadian provinces, Europe, and Central America — most of the time with our kids in tow. Along the way, we’ve stayed in our share of hotels, ranging from economy motel chains to downtown high rise hotels.
We were [...]

Target misses the target

During a recent trip to Target, the cashier told me that I was randomly selected to complete a guest survey for a chance to win a $1,000 gift card. I don’t normally complete such surveys (survey = mailing list), but I guess the chance for $1,000 persuaded me.
First problem: The cashier had highlighted the required [...]

Customer service

Seth Godin has an itriguing proposal in his blog today, suggesting that customer service move from real-time to asynchronous service. He writes:
“I think the single factor that is killing this process and that is under the company’s control is this: the desire to perform all customer service in real time.
In fact, most customer service can [...]