As you may have noticed, I didn’t put together a blog post over here in this blog yesterday, even though it was one of those days… I actually have a couple of draft entries I’m hoping to be sharing shortly, but the main reason why I didn’t blog was because I needed to apply one of my all-time blogging principles: don’t blog if you’re upset about something. Is not worth the trouble. So, instead, I decided to take it easy and unwind for the rest of the evening, pondering how I may be able to put together this article today. Things have been rather busy at work, and it is only now that I have a chance to share these few thoughts over here. And here I am.

The title of this blog post may sound a bit too harsh, but, to be honest, it eventually falls short. And by far! What I’m about to share over here in the next few paragraphs is a story. A story featuring yours truly. A story that shows how a true loyal customer, fully converted (Without becoming a fanboy yet though), has finally had enough with not being treated as such. A customer. I know that good (Forget about excellent) customer service is very rare nowadays, but what I experienced yesterday is way beyond any kind of the poorest service you can experience … Ever!

Thus, you may be wondering how can you kill the Apple brand with a single word, right? Well, it involves movistar: the Spanish mobile carrier that has got the exclusive to distribute the iPhone in Spain. To give you a little bit of background of where I come from, take a look into this very revealing article that my good friend Dennis Howlett put together over at Irregular Enterprise under the title "The Case of the Missing iPhone 3GS’s". Quite an interesting read, for sure!

From the article itself you can see that a whole bunch of us have been waiting, anxiously, to get our hands on the latest model from the iPhone: the 3GS one. Ever since it came out in July most of us have been patient enough to wait for it to become available in the movistar shops. It never happened. At least, to the levels of coping with the demand good enough. And that’s the beginning of my story. If you’re not interested in reading further about it you can stop at this point. However, I’m sure what I am about to share is not a unique experience, so, hopefully, it may prove useful to others, as, after you finish reading through it, it’ll help you save about one hour of your time, and your frustration, which is what I went through yesterday. For nothing.

It all started with a phone call from a local movistar shop, where I was told my already booked a couple of weeks ago iPhone 3GS 32 GB was ready to be picked up. This was the seventh shop that I have been to to place my reservation. And, finally it was there. So I went to the shop hoping that I will be able to exchange my current 3G iPhone for the 3GS one, in exchange of points and some cash, perhaps. The lady who attended me was very very helpful, so we started with the procedures. And after a few minutes she tells me that she cannot go forward, because I first needed to call the Customer Service Centre and request that my contract be "unlocked" and that way we could move on.

I called them and I spent a few minutes talking to a customer representative telling me I couldn’t get the new terminal, because my contract wasn’t expired yet. In fact, I could only ask for a new one three months before the contract expired. And to date, I would still need to wait for six months. Ouch! Of course, I was not ready to wait for another three months (After having waited already for three months for the new terminals to arrive). So I was ready to terminate the contract, right there, and pay the penalty. Then I could get the new terminal, with a new number. I would be okay. Or so I thought.

After talking to the customer representative, and one of his colleagues, I eventually found out that I could not terminate such contract and pay the penalty. I was not allowed. Apparently, we are no longer capable of terminating the contracts we sign with vendors freely by even paying the corresponding fines, if applicable. We’re just stuck with them for as long as the contract is there. And mine is still running for another six months. Not looking good so far…

Thus after an interesting conversation I had over the phone and, which I’m going to skip over here (You can imagine what it must have been like…), I ended up in exactly the same position as I started: a contract still running for another six months, not being able to terminate it, even though I was very willing to pay the fine for it. And the iPhone 3GS 32 GB mobile phone waiting for me on top of the desk… Frustrating…

Okay, I decided to be a bit more creative then, and since I just have six months to go I decided to purchase another mobile number, with a new terminal, the 3GS one; so I spent the following few minutes with the lady from the shop filling in all the paperwork, and after a little while she is ready to click on the final window on her computer and she gets a lovely message telling her that I am not capable of having a second line, i.e. a second mobile phone with movistar. WOW!! Really? I can not have two different terminals, two differing mobile numbers, from the same provider, even though I am willing to pay for it? How fascinating! NOT!!!

Obviously, she cannot go any further. If I want to have a new terminal from them I won’t be able to have one till that contract of six months left expires. Now, *that* is what I call customer service! Indeed! NOT!!! So you can imagine, how, by now, I am rather frustrated, not only because I want to be able to upgrade my iPhone 3G, but mainly because I’m no longer in control of the contract that I myself signed and very willing to pay for whatever the penalty. So what’s the point? Is that how you, as a vendor, want to treat your customers? I hope not! More than anything else because movistar is already doing it! And we would just need to have one seriously bad customer service experience in a lifetime!

So, there you have it. My story. The story of a loyal customer who is no longer planning on purchasing a new mobile terminal from a company like movistar. No matter which terminal. The story of a loyal customer who is even considering, very carefully, moving away from his current ADSL provider, because it is part of the same company. So my search has started. And probably there will not be a way back! At least, not until they change and start learning what decent and good customer service is all about.

You may be wondering by now how does it affect my relationship, as a converted and loyal customer, with Apple, right? Well, after four iPods, one 3G iPhone, two MacBook Pros, one Time Capsule, and a couple of other Apple gadgets, that relationship is now destroyed. Completely. It is probably going to be a long while before I purchase any Apple product. As clear and simple as that. By the time I am "eligible" again to purchase this 3GS I will probably have a new mobile provider, with a new terminal. Hopefully, with a vendor that understands what good customer service is like. One with which I would not have got a strong feeling that I have been ripped off all along. One that has managed to earn my trust and loyalty, versus destroying it all together in 1000 pieces in a split second, just because they decided to partner with the wrong vendor. Yes, dear Apple, that’s how you have managed to destroy your prestigious brand with yours truly with a simple word: movistar.

(Oh, don’t worry, I won’t expect an answer, nor will I want it either, from you, my no longer dear Apple, and certainly not from you, movistar. You have already done a fine job yesterday in turning me away for a long while from you both, to the point where I would also be sharing these very same experiences with those very same folks who are about to make the same mistake I made over nearly a year ago. Hopefully, they won’t go that far!

Thanks, but no thanks! Hope you will learn one day how to treat your customers properly, because right now there is plenty of room for improvement, starting with making much better decisions altogether about  who your business partners should be. Perhaps movistar, in Spain, was not the best choice after all… So it’s time to put a stop to it. There’s a lesson learned there for all of us. Including you, my no longer beloved Apple, and me. I think it’s too late for movistar already…)

Tags: Apple, iPhone, 3G, 3GS, Terminals, Gadgets, Mobile Phones, Phones, Dennis Howlett, Irregular Enterprise, Customer Service, Excellence, Loyalty, Stories, Customer Experiences, Vendors, Movistar, Telefonica, Customer Service Center, Customer Representative, Sales, Contracts, Penalties, Brands, Branding, Corporate Brand, Lack of Customer Service, Constructive Feedback

It looks like my ADSL wireless router has beaten me up once again ! And big time ! For the last five and a half hours, and for no good reason, I have been knocked out completely off the network. I still have to figure out what actually happened in the end. Not even the customer service representative could figure out what happened. The thing is that for the first time this year my ADSL wireless router decided to die on me for a few hours and reminded me of how vulnerable I really am without a live Internet connection. It felt almost like being naked in a …! Yes, that, indeed !

Anyway, the funny thing is that I am not sure why but when I came back from my daily swim a few minutes ago I actually tried it out again and see if it would connect me and voilá this time around it worked ! Go figure ! That is just one of the things that I really like about technology. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. And it doesn’t ask for a reason, does it?

Well, now that I come to think about it, did my ADSL wireless router decide to play funny on me so that I would learn the lesson on the same day that I was actually planning to take for a spin the new La Fonera that I just purchased a few days ago and which has finally arrived? Yes, indeed, I am really excited about diving some more into La Fonera and check some more further into FON, the ever growing worldwide social (And free) wireless WiFi community. Wooohooo ! Doesn’t that sound really exciting (And inviting?)? Is that the reason why my router didn’t want to play along with it? And all that just after unpacking the box ! Imagine what would happen when I try to install it further. Hummm, food for some further thoughts… and perhaps a future weblog post on the results.

Now, unfortunately, when everything is back up and running, there is the usual catchup of what have actually may have happened while I have been away. So you would have to bear with me as the regular weblogging will resume from tomorrow onwards.And why not right now? Well, because the life part of the work / life balance dichotomy just kicked in and is demanding my attention in full force. And somehow this time around it seems to be winning. So I shall be back tomorrow (With a live Internet connection, I would hope!) …

Tags: Wireless, Router, ADSL, FON, La Fonera, Work – Life Balance

I certainly had lots of things to comment on as part of the highlights from my current trip to the US, yet, today it still feels painful, very painful, despite those five years gone by already. At the time, I was in a conference call with some US colleagues talking about KM stuff when the first plane hit the WTC. We didn’t get to finish the call. In fact, we didn’t talk much afterwards. The rest of the day, pretty much like till today, was just that: painful. And I bet that it will continue to be like that for many more years to come. Yes, time heals open wounds they say, but I doubt I would ever want to close that one, for that matter. Not now, not ever.

In memory of those who died on September 11th 2001 and of all those who have died or suffered in its aftermath, never forget!

Not now, not ever.

Tags: 9/11, 911, September11, WTC, Open Wounds

World

Champions ! ! !

Nothing more to say, nothing more to add. Now, just time for a huge celebration after such an unprecedented and unforgettable achievement ! Thanks ever so much, Pepu!

Tags: ÑBA, Basketball, Spain, World Championship 2006, Japan, Finals, World Champions

I know that this weblog post hasn’t got anything to do with Knowledge Management, Communities, Collaboration or Social Networking for that matter but I just cannot let this day passed by without mentioning it. Earlier on this morning I was preparing my way to do some blogtipping as it is the first day of the month again but I just got too excited about this:

Those who know me in person would tell you how passionate I have always been about basketball. I played it for more than half of my life in my younger years and still enjoy it very much and perhaps today more than ever before because, indeed, after having waited for 24 years, Spain has finally made it into the finals from the Basketball World Championship 2006 after an exhilarating and exhaustingly last-second win over Argentina, 75-74. WOW! Incredible ! Fascinating ! You gotta love this game ! I am still getting goose bumps from just thinking about it. So much so that I can hardly think about anything else at the moment. I mean, it has taken us 24 years of frustrations, bad luck, bad timing, bad matches, you name it, and now it was certainly our chance and we made it!!! Wooohooo!

Now on to the finals to meet up Greece after having performed some incredible team performance against the USA. It sounds like it is going to be a great final, indeed ! And I am sure the best one will win. Time to enjoy it now, so with all that excitement I think you would have to excuse me for the rest of the week since I am surely going to enjoy the moment, because you never know when we would all be in a similar situation… Hopefully, we would not have to wait for another 24 years …

Tags: ÑBA, Basketball, Spain, World Championship 2006, Japan, Finals

You may have noticed how for the last couple of days I haven’t been able to weblog much but, not to worry, there is actually a reason for it. Moi! Indeed, yesterday I suffered from those sporadic user generated errors that has knocked me down from one of the computers I am currently using, the one that was easing the pain. I have only been having it for just a few days and I already had to reformat the whole hard drive again. Poor little thing. That should teach me for the next time to stay away from partitions !

Anyway, as you can imagine over the last few hours I have been trying to recover from the disaster. Lucky enough I didn’t get to lose any critical files or anything. Thank goodness! I was very close though. But I still have got to install a whole bunch of applications so you would have to bear with me for a little bit while I get back in shape with it. It shouldn’t take much longer, I am sure. Perhaps I will create a couple of weblogs over the weekend on different things that have been crossing my mind lately since I haven’t been able to the last couple of days. We shall see how smooth it all goes. Time now to continue with the installation of the different applications I am currently using. Will be back in a bit …

Tags: User Generated Errors

Remember the amazing story that Michael Arrington, from TechCrunch and Crunchnotes, shared over at his weblog about his recent adventure while travelling and staying in Spain? Remember his incredible experience about the ordeal he had to go through ? Interesting one, right? Well, folks, I got one of my own but this time the other way around: me, living in Spain, travelling to the U.S.A. Hummm, travelling actually may be an understatement, because here I am, at home, writing this weblog post feeling quite disappointed that I didn’t make it in the end to the States to present at the IBM Collaboration Best Practices conference, just because something, somewhere, went wrong, awfully wrong ! But too disappointed, and perhaps too upset, right now to tell you all about it.

Thus whenever I feel I am ready to weblog about it all I shall certainly do so, for the time being I am going to enjoy the weekend. So to all folks out there who wanted to hook up with me while being there I can only say that I am so sorry that in the end I will not be able to make it this time around. Then the rest of the story you will get it afterwards; when things have quieted down a bit.

Tags: Travelling

Today is a sad day, folks. A very sad day. At least, to me. Over at Green Chameleon Patrick has just shared one particular weblog post that made me feel very sad and equally sorry. Appalling! In Knowledge Is a Thing he has embedded a YouTube video clip of how a teacher treats his students when they have got whatever questions / comments. That folks is NOT the way you treat your students. Not now, not ever! Students are supposed to be learning stuff. Lots of it. But never ever be exposed to such behaviour, specially coming from your own teacher!

Being a teacher myself, I can only feel very sorry for all of the good teachers out there because attitudes like that one are not helping us a great deal. We are in the 21st century and it is a real pity that there are still people out there who behave like this. I just run out of nice words for that particular individual so I am going to stop here and let you watch the video clip. See what you think about it yourselves. One thing for sure is that whoever is responsible for that teacher in whatever the school I hope they could take some good measures not to allow him to teach again. Not now! Not ever!

Technorati Tags: Teaching, Teacher, Knowledge Transfer, Punishment