Friday, March 28, 2008
BLOG-I'm all for customer service--however, ...
I'm a stickler for treating people -- my clients, fairly and without gouging
or nickle and diming them. I also bend over backwards to meet my commitments.
With that said, I am not, however,
idly sitting by (like the Maytag repairman) waiting to pounce on your call. You can't just walk into your doctor's
office or even your corner mechanic without an appointment and say "hop to it." I was scheduled to have a follow-up
signing this past Monday. Unfortunately, the lady had a medical emergency and was forced to leave town. The company just called
me to advise that the lady was back in town -- without asking my schedule or availability, I was told to meet with her and
finish up the signing today. Replying that I had no availability today, the cordialness quickly turned to a cold shoulder
and the call was cut short.
This lady has been waiting on her structured settlement since earlier this month and
does not have a problem waiting one more day for me. However, for the person receiving the commission this month or next
month does have a problem.
[end of blog]
10:43 am mdt
Thursday, March 27, 2008
BLOG-The nitty gritty of profits
With gasoline over $3.00 a gallon and continuing to rise and milk, eggs, and every
other consumable in our lives costing more than a few months ago -- running a profitable business takes a lot more number
crunching than ever.
You better know at any given moment the exact cost of running a business -- your business.
I just quoted a price for a mountain signing off the top of my head -- which is a big no-no. The company countered for $25
less and when I said no, they asked "can't you work with me?"
After getting off the phone, I crunched
the numbers time-wise and mileage-wise. The two end results were pretty close, however, roughly $100 more than my initial
quote -- which is why you should never just throw any ol' number out there.
Had this company not
bickered over $25, any profit on this signing could be compared to a drug dealer putting the profit up his nose, only I would
have been putting it in the gas tank.
[end of blog]
10:31 am mdt
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
BLOG-Some people would -- and do call me anal ...
Anyone that knows me either personally or through my writings, knows that I'm
a stickler for customer service and I don't tolerate incompetence.
I've been arguing with one of the big
show insurance companies for a year -- an insurance company that, by the way, we have paid our money to for more than 25 years
-- a company that has insured all our vehicles and residences. A company that we have only filed one roof damage claim due
to hail -- a company that it would actually be quite an eye opener if I actually sat down and figured how many dollars
we have actually paid in premiums -- which is why I'm not going to do it because it would just make me angrier.
At any rate, I finally had my fill with being just a $ sign to them, so in the middle of February I gathered up all
our policies and made an appointment with an independent agent. As a small business owner, I try to support the small guy.
All of our different policies come due at a different time throughout the year and she wanted to have them all come due at
the same time. I wasn't too keen on the idea of dishing out the money all at once, but what the heck.
I was
with the independent agent for over an hour as she reviewed all the info I brought in and in asking additional questions.
This was a Wednesday. She assured me that she would shop around for the best deals all that day and the next, and get
back with me on Friday. My mistake was not pinning her down as to WHICH Friday she would get back with me. I let that Friday
as well as the next Friday go by and no phone call, no email, nadda. Finally, I contacted her the next Monday, nearly two
weeks since our meeting. She apologized and assured me that she was working on it. Another week-and-one-half passes and I
call again. She assured me that we still had some time, as the residence policy didn't expire until March 30. It was at
that moment that I decided I wasn't calling her again to check on the status of her insurance shopping.
I looked
at the calendar today, Wednesday, March 26 and realized that the insurance policy on the house was set to expire on Sunday
- FOUR days away, or three days depending on how you calculate today and Sunday. I decided to take matters in
my own hand and made one call to the organization that represents old people -- turning 50 does has its benefits! In a matter
of TEN MINUTES on the telephone, we have a new insurance company and new policies all away around -- and even saved close
to $1,000 in yearly premiums.
Whether the independent agent calls me back is still up in the air. Her lack of initiative
and concern boils down to losing some really good insurance money -- her loss and our gain!
Just goes to show -
keep the client in the loop and don't leave them dangling because you aren't the only show in town.
[end of blog]
2:33 pm mdt
Friday, March 14, 2008
BLOG-Following up on the frivolous lawsuit of John Ritter's death
A month or so ago I wrote about John Ritter's wife suing two of her husband's
doctors for their negligence as being the cause of Ritter's death.
The verdict of the trial just came
down. The jury cleared both the cardiologist and radiologist of negligence in the diagnosis and treatment of John Ritter,
who died of a torn aorta in 2003.
"Jurors found that the radiologist advised Ritter to follow up with treatment
by a physician after a body scan two years before his death. Ritter didn't follow the order. ... Ritter had calcification
in three coronary arteries."
As I originally said, money can't bring back a life!
[end of blog]
2:06 pm mdt
Monday, March 10, 2008
BLOG - Cell phone telemarketing spam
From what I hear, I've been pretty lucky in that I've only received four
junk text messages on my cell phone. Last Saturday, however, I was spammed twice in just a couple of hours. Actually, the
text messages weren't from telemarketers but rather from web pages stating that "I was crushed on ..."
From what I've read about the spamming problem, telemarketers are now using text messaging to get around the National
Do Not Call Registry. From their own web page or e-mail address, within seconds they can broadcast one text message to hundreds
of random cell numbers.
I don't know about the other carriers, but Verizon has the option of keeping unwanted
messages from being sent from specific e-mail addresses, domain names and websites. You have to create an online account,
if you don't already have one, go into text messaging, text blocking and you can block all messages sent from e-mails
and the web. You can also enter/block 15 individual e-mail addresses, web sites, domain names or wireless nicknames.
Text messages sent from cell phone to cell phone are not affected. However, if you have a Blackberry or receive text messages
from other Blackberry phones, you probably want to check how this block affects the phone(s).
[end of blog]
8:44 am mdt