The Customer Service Survey
Why didn't I think of that first?
Thu - August 9, 2007 04:03 PM in
According to this post at The Consumerist, Time Warner has discovered an amazing new business model: charge consumers for the advertising stuffed in with their bills.
I have to admit that it takes a lot to surprise me when it comes to retention, billing, and customer support practices. But this surprised me.
Apparently a consumer found a mysterious $0.23 charge on his Time Warner bill labeled "Adhsn Fee." He called customer service and asked for an explanation. After some research, the agent told him that "Adhsn" stood for "Advertisement Home Shopping Network," and that he was being charged for the Home Shopping Network insert stuffed in with his bill.
And that he couldn't remove the charge.
Assuming that this story is true (it must be true, since I read it on the Internet), I can think of three explanations:
1) "Adhsn" actually means something else, and the agent just made that up because he couldn't find out the answer and wanted to get the customer off the phone;
2) Someone in Time Warner's accounting department screwed up (big time!) and entered Home Shopping Network's advertising charges into the wrong billing system; or
3) Time Warner is breaking new ground in revenue enhancement technology--after all, there's no law that says you can't pass advertising costs on to customers, and if they don't like it they can cancel their accounts.
Personally, I'm betting on #1, but #2 is a strong possibility. #3 just seems a little too much out of the Dr. Evil playbook.
Posted by Peter Leppik
Apparently a consumer found a mysterious $0.23 charge on his Time Warner bill labeled "Adhsn Fee." He called customer service and asked for an explanation. After some research, the agent told him that "Adhsn" stood for "Advertisement Home Shopping Network," and that he was being charged for the Home Shopping Network insert stuffed in with his bill.
And that he couldn't remove the charge.
Assuming that this story is true (it must be true, since I read it on the Internet), I can think of three explanations:
1) "Adhsn" actually means something else, and the agent just made that up because he couldn't find out the answer and wanted to get the customer off the phone;
2) Someone in Time Warner's accounting department screwed up (big time!) and entered Home Shopping Network's advertising charges into the wrong billing system; or
3) Time Warner is breaking new ground in revenue enhancement technology--after all, there's no law that says you can't pass advertising costs on to customers, and if they don't like it they can cancel their accounts.
Personally, I'm betting on #1, but #2 is a strong possibility. #3 just seems a little too much out of the Dr. Evil playbook.
Posted by Peter Leppik
Posted at 04:03 PM | | | | |