Frugal Intuition

Pardon my absence this week, folks.  I’m out of town visiting family.  While I’ve been here, my news-loving relatives have had on CNN nearly non-stop.  Mostly I try to shield myself from all the negativity (and I’m often criticized for being ill-informed, but happy people live longer and they never tell good news), but last night I couldn’t help but look up as the announcer began talking about Dell.

In response to a myriad of customer complaints that they were unable to understand a word spoken by the customer service representatives, Dell is now offering a service at a charge of $12.95 a month or $99 a year to guarantee customer service from an American.  Yes, we now have to pay extra to speak to someone who actually speaks our native language.  This is one of the most apalling and ridiculous things I have ever heard.  I usually know more about computers than the people at customer service do anyway, and I’m expected to pay extra?  I don’t think so.

This is the kind of thing that makes me appreciate companies who do provide customer service to Americans BY Americans.  Companies like Atmos Gas and whoever it is that puts out the Endnote software.  Nice, polite, incredibly helpful.  They’re the people I don’t mind calling with a problem.  I know there are other companies out there who fall into this category, and I charge all of you to let customer service people know when you’re happy with them.  They hear it litle enough in what is usually a thankless job.

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