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Microsoft Lets Me Cancel XBox Live Subscription - Why Is that News?

Back when the XBox first came out, we bought one for Christmas, and I signed up for an XBox Live account soon after.

It was for my kid, so I really wasn't paying much attention when I listed birthday, and all the other personal information.  What a pain.  After that, every time I tried to edit the account, it would insist that I go through and confirm about 20 details in my account, including the credit card number I used.  Well, I don't know which credit card I used, and I can't find the bills for that month. Pardon me while I wait a year to see which credit card the renewal shows up on...

So when I tried to cancel the account, I anticipated an unpleasant experience.  Once again, the online service wouldn't authorize me as the account holder unless I answered every detail precisely correct (I set the account up four years ago).  If you get something wrong, it doesn't let you know which of the details is wrong.  Augh!

So I call the toll-free number, talk to the computer for a while, answering various questions, and finally I get through to a person.  A person who wants to assure me how easy it is to transfer the account to an XBox 360 (that's assuming I could get it to believe I'm the account holder).  I'm informed the account already automatically renewed itself, so I'm the proud owner of another year of Xbox Live! 

I explain I don't want to transfer the account, I want to cancel.  I have to explain that a couple of times, but finally the guy on the other end agrees to cancel the account.  And, surprise, he was able to get me a refund, that will be credited to my card.  Which is great, because it means I don't have to write a whiney post about how ripped off I feel.

It's all good for Microsoft.  Son Number One already received a subscription card for a year of Xbox Live on the Xbox 360, so it's not like they aren't making money from us.

What Does this Say about my Confidence in Customer Service?

So why do I feel it's noteworthy that a large company with millions of customers behaved decently, and refunded money for a subscription renewal I didn't want?

That says something about my low expectations.  It would not have surprised me at all if they had tried to make me eat the renewal fee, since I'd carelessly failed to notify them by the appropriate date, blah, blah, blah.

I've had almost universally positive experiences with customer service lately, yet I still get a sinking feeling every time I have to deal with someone.  They almost always make a half-hearted attempt to brush me off, in case I'm a pushover, or I really want to be convinced not to pursue the issue.  Otherwise, I always get the refund, or the exchange, or whatever I'm asking for.

Maybe I need to anticipate a positive experience.  Nah, then you can guarantee I'll end up in small claims court fighting for my money...

Tags: customer service, retail, expectations, employees, microsoft, xbox, refunds

Picktonmania: Remembering the People Who Died and their Families

It's been a relief in the past couple of weeks to see media coverage shift briefly to stories about the women who went missing over the years in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.  For years, with some notable exceptions, the focus has been on the man accused of killing 26 women.

Most of the stories show that the families lost their daughter/sister/mother to drug addiction long before they disappeared.  But I didn't notice that making the loss any easier to handle for the people left behind.  It was a wrenching fight to get the police to pay attention to the large number of missing women.

Then, once there was a suspect, the pig farmer became the centre of attention.  Even when a story was about a victim, the headline generally referred to the accused murderer.

The coverage to come will include a lot of details about body parts and the depressing lifestyle of the "drug addicted prostitute".  I hope the journalists covering the case remember to talk about the victims as real people, with real families and friends.

Tags: picton, vancouver, murder, pig farm, victims, crime

With a Wink and a Nod to Spinal Tap...

Brown Communications got a grudging pat on the back from AdRants' Steve Hall for their latest self-promotion on their storefront billboard.

This one features an amplifier volume switch that goes up to 11.  Brings back memories of Spinal Tap, the great mockumentary that showed Christopher Guest how it's done.

In Spinal Tap, the heavy metal rocker enthuses about the fact that after fudging the number on his amplifier, it now goes "one louder" than the others.

Nice to see the other Saskatchewan marketing/digital/PR blogger get some attention.  Nice one, Derek.

Tags:  saskatchewan, outdoor, promotion, advertising, browncommunications, regina

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My Winter Ordeal (10 Feet from the House)

Twenty minutes ago I was stumbling around in the snow, ice crystals coating my glasses, my fingers getting colder and colder inside my leather gloves. 

The car battery was dead, and I was trying to convince our mini-van to move another four feet, so I could stretch the jumper cables through the hedge from the van idling in the neighbour's driveway.

By getting both vehicles as far into the snowbanks as possible, we finally were able to stretch the cables far enough to get the engine started.

I'm sitting inside, nice and warm now, but for a few minutes I was reminded what's it's like to be out in the bitter cold, fighting with a piece of equipment, or trying to coax a vehicle out of the snow.  There's a point where you feel so damn cold and exhausted, you start to work out a survival strategy for getting to cover and staying there until someone can get you.

I was a long way from that point, plus I had a cell phone in my pocket and was 15 feet from the front door of the house.  But as I was blindly shuffling in the snowbank trying to get my hands to grasp the jumper cables correctly, I had a flashback to times I've been off the beaten path in bitterly cold conditions.

You get this intense focus on the task at hand, to keep your mind from running scenarios of sliding the car into the ditch, or missing the footpath you need to take back to safety.

When I worked as a reporter in Whitehorse, CBC Radio's Peter Carr told me about the time he was headed across a small Yukon lake on showshoes.  The ice started to open up behind him.  His frantic, exaggerated movements helped keep him moving forward in the snow, ice and water enough to get to safety. But he was one misstep away from becoming an item in the news the next day.

Every winter a few people get stuck in the snow on the Canadian or American prairies and are found dead within a mile of their car.  They cops tell us to stay with the vehicle, but something about the human mind convinces us the simpler solution is to just hike to the main road for help.  If we were young and fit, and dressed in parkas, ski pants and snowshoes like Peter was, we probably could get to the road and flag down a passing car.

You see the solution not far away.  You can't imagine how draining the cold and the wind and the snow drifts will be until you're too far away from the car to get back safely.

Last week, we couldn't believe the weather was above freezing.  This week, I'm glad I'm not on the road.  Hell, I'm glad I'm not in the driveway.

Oh, and thanks, Joan, for helping with the boost.  I owe you a nice bottle of wine.