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The Conversation These Days

It seems that someone has actually hit the mark and wrote a book about, in the midst of hearing the wonderful line "you are a valued customer", how devalued customers have become and the rage that is growing from what I hear. The customer comes first is now pretty much a myth or urban legend in the eyes of many, but there was a day, not so long ago, when it was key to business.

A few posts back, I posted a real conversation that I had with someone from Magic Jack. In case you don't know what that is, it is a company that has a USB port jack, you plug into your computer and voila you have phone service for the mere charge of $40 a year and $20 for the following years, minus a few pennies to make it sound under the rounded off ten mark.

Why I won't buy one. They are having customer service reps on the phone whose English is as bad as what you can see a few posts back in the original cut and paste dialogue and saying that they are in Fla. If these reps are located in Fla, I wonder how they got work visa's or green cards allowing them to work from the level of their English. Whatever the deal is, the company is willing to hire people who can't do the job, who are relying on scripts that they don't understand, after hearing certain key words. I would not be surprised, if the computer system has some kind of voice recognition thing to look for certain word patterns and suggest what to read. Now, wouldn't that be spiffy.

Think it is not possible. Yesterday, on a talk show, I heard that the new answer the phone and politely put the customer on hold systems can measure the level of a customers irritation from reading the decimal level and the emotion in one's voice. It seems that their is growing customer rage, but also unhappiness on the part of customer service people who want people to RTM(read the manual). Ever try and be a lay person reading a manual written by a tech person who knows the field. Personally, I have always thought they should have us plebians (though they don't) write the manuals, which is one of the main reasons for the wave of people who don't RTM.

But, getting back to Magic Jack. Let's say there is a loophole and they are based in Fla., but have Magic Jack located somewhere--God knows where. What does that tell you? It means that, they are using their poor English for an excuse for a loophole error, so they do not have to admit that really they are in the middle of the of outer Mongolia.

When you start to think about this, you now have a situation where people can call from outer Mongolia and you can call there for the price of a local call, and you never know that you are not talking with a U.S. based firm or person, etc.. Why? You can send the MJ anywhere in the world. The idea is that if you have a friend overseas or family that you talk to often or would like to, you send the jack, they plug it into their computer giving them a U.S. phone number, and suddenly, when the MJ is plugged into their computer, they get to call the U.S. for free. Why? Magic Jack gives out U.S. numbers, so you send the MJ to Iraq or Afganastan. They plug it into their computer, and you are so used to call centers being out of the U.S. that you don't realize that you are now doing business with, who?????? And, that is the million dollar question! Is this a good thing?

Think about it. We already have little Johnny running around from what age with a cell phone? and Cheryl saying, "I'm sleeping over Jane's tonight." And, do you have Jane's mother phone number, and does she even have a landline, anymore? Does she even know if Jane is home or if Cheryl is with her. Get the picture.

OK If the thing works, and I have friends who say that it does, you have cheap phone service. You really can't beat the price, but do I want to support this companies premise. This companies premise is what shipped all the jobs overseas. Their premise is that we don't care about anything, but saving a buck.

I was just finishing a conversation with a major phone service provider in my area. In fact, another disgruntled conversation with them, and telling them that I was considering purchasing the MJ. They said do I really want to be on an unsecure network. Well, it was only about a year ago that they were hacked into themselves, and then there is the new Visa Card that my bank sent me, because one of Visa cards major customers database was broken into, stealing thousands of people's card numbers, and so my new card. This reminds me of the plug and play systems that everyone jokingly called plug and pray.

Okay So then I talk to my friend whose mother has the MJ--whoose mother who I had just spoke to a few days before about her MJ--and I am now hearing that, she is getting crossed lines, hearing other people's conversations and she lives across from the no longer World Trade Center, where security is still at a maximum. You start to wonder, because this all gets so fictionlike after a while, did my present phone provider follow my calls and figure it was that person I spoke to with the MJ or were they listening to my calls?

And then, they tell me that MJ runs on public lines and not secure systems. What does that mean? They say that within a year they are going to be able to port numbers, so where are they getting these numbers from anyway. How are they finding out that those numbers that hey are giving out are even available. Hello anybody home. Where is the source to get the numbers they are giving out.

I can deal with the fact that for some people, just like some virus software, the MJ is not going to work well for one reason or another. And though this seems to have gone a bit over the top, I can deal with difficulties because of someone not speaking standard English. After all, I taught English in Asia for ten years. But, do I want to be getting phone calls from some hideout in the middle of the Brazillian jungles and not know where I am calling or receiving a call from. I don't think so. And, do you know where your children are tonight, when they call you on their cell phone? Get the picture.

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