The pet peeve thread

[1984Echoes]

4 hours ago, Jim Cowan said:

It's like having a sophisticated system that allows you to win at roulette.

At the same odds as prior to the system...

[Biff Mayhem]

The other morning around 7 am I witnessed a guy frantically scratching off a ticket outside of his vehicle. I felt sorry for the guy because his day started with hope and inevitably led to great disappointment.

[Motor City Sonics]

42 minutes ago, Biff Mayhem said:

The other morning around 7 am I witnessed a guy frantically scratching off a ticket outside of his vehicle. I felt sorry for the guy because his day started with hope and inevitably led to great disappointment.

I saw a video of  a woman at a gas station scratching off her ticket, winning and celebrating and jumping up and down and she holds the ticket up for the clerk to see and someone runs up and snatches it out of her hand and runs right out the door and gets away.  It was a $500 winner.     People, if you win, keep it to yourself.      

[oblong]

"But it goes to the schools"

[chasfh]

"Please share your feedback."

I get these requests by email frequently after a service visit, for example, when someone comes to my home to repair something; or I go to a health provider like a doctor; or when I call a customer service line to discuss or resolve an issue.

I'm only too happy to share feedback if I believe they are looking for ways to improve their product or their service, but I'm pretty sure that's not why they are sending me the survey in the first place.

Here's the clue I look for: if the company in question asks you whether you would recommend them to a friend in the very first question, my takeaway is that the only reason for the survey is so they can incorporate a high number reflecting the percent of people who recommend their services into their marketing materials. They're far less interested in what you think they should do to improve.

Of course, maybe I'm just too cynical about big business ... 😏

[oblong]

My department has a customer facing group and it's always interesting when you go back and talk to the person who gave the bad review and they admit "No, no, it was fine...."

I'm responsible for a product used in dealerships.  When doing a trade show one year the dealer principal comes up to me all hot headed and says "I gotta talk to you.... don't go anywhere... I'll be back....". 30 minutes later he tells me one of his managers is very unhappy and he's going to call him so I can talk to him..  No problem. He calls the guy, hands me the phone, and I ask "So what can I help you with?" or something like that.  Guy says "I don't know why he called... everything's fine.... the old man has lost it.  He's probably hungover.  We're good".   

 

[CMRivdogs]

We had a stretch at my last job where they had us asking for customer feedback on the call. They used it for evaluation purposes mostly. 
 

Every time I asked the question the old Animaniac bit was in the back of my head

 

[John_Brian_K]

On 10/22/2021 at 3:30 PM, Tiger337 said:

That sounds really far fetched.  

I did not come up with it, just passing along what I heard from people who have looked into this pretty hard.

[djhutch]

3 hours ago, chasfh said:

"Please share your feedback."

I get these requests by email frequently after a service visit, for example, when someone comes to my home to repair something; or I go to a health provider like a doctor; or when I call a customer service line to discuss or resolve an issue.

I'm only too happy to share feedback if I believe they are looking for ways to improve their product or their service, but I'm pretty sure that's not why they are sending me the survey in the first place.

Here's the clue I look for: if the company in question asks you whether you would recommend them to a friend in the very first question, my takeaway is that the only reason for the survey is so they can incorporate a high number reflecting the percent of people who recommend their services into their marketing materials. They're far less interested in what you think they should do to improve.

Of course, maybe I'm just too cynical about big business ... 😏

A friend from h-s wrote the code that sites like SurveyMonkey use. He calls this sort of thing "Autopsying Your Audience" If they really want good feedback, they should ask while you're there.

[Tiger337]

7 minutes ago, John_Brian_K said:

I did not come up with it, just passing along what I heard from people who have looked into this pretty hard.

Believe nothing of what you hear and only half of what you see.  

[chasfh]

3 hours ago, CMRivdogs said:

We had a stretch at my last job where they had us asking for customer feedback on the call. They used it for evaluation purposes mostly. 
 

Every time I asked the question the old Animaniac bit was in the back of my head

 

Using a survey at the end of the call to provide feedback on your experience is something else again. I don't mind doing that.

Emails that come a day, or days, later, and start right out with "please recommend us, and tell us why you do" ... no thanks. Do your own marketing.

[John_Brian_K]

2 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

Believe nothing of what you hear and only half of what you see.  

One of my old mans favorite sayings.  I think in todays world we can pretty much replace half with nothing as well....at least what is viewed online.

[chasfh]

Just now, John_Brian_K said:

One of my old mans favorite sayings.  I think in todays world we can pretty much replace half with nothing as well....at least what is viewed online.

My grandpa used to say that, too. I believe this aphorism was coined back in the days when literally the only way you could see anything was live, and in front of you.

[John_Brian_K]

1 minute ago, chasfh said:

My grandpa used to say that, too. I believe this aphorism was coined back in the days when literally the only way you could see anything was live, and in front of you.

100%

[RandyMarsh]

On 10/23/2021 at 11:11 AM, oblong said:

Like slot machines great effort goes into the psychology. I’ve read that slot makers hire people with phD’s on brain chemistry to study how the bells and lights and patterns trigger certain addictive elements in us.  Getting people to believe a system exists is the point. 
 

 

I was in Vegas like 10 or so years ago playing some slots, it was the first time I really played any of the new computerized ones that have like 50 paylines. Anyway a few minutes into playing the machine siren starts going off and all these flashing lights and "big winner" starts going across the screen. I get really pumped until I see the payout was only like 3 bucks(I think I was betting 75 cents).

I looked at this presumed regular sitting next to me and say something like "Damn what a buzzkill I actually thought I won something good" to which he replied "You must be new, they go off like that all the time to trick people into think they are winning more than they are."  

[Motown Bombers]

20 hours ago, chasfh said:

"Please share your feedback."

I get these requests by email frequently after a service visit, for example, when someone comes to my home to repair something; or I go to a health provider like a doctor; or when I call a customer service line to discuss or resolve an issue.

I'm only too happy to share feedback if I believe they are looking for ways to improve their product or their service, but I'm pretty sure that's not why they are sending me the survey in the first place.

Here's the clue I look for: if the company in question asks you whether you would recommend them to a friend in the very first question, my takeaway is that the only reason for the survey is so they can incorporate a high number reflecting the percent of people who recommend their services into their marketing materials. They're far less interested in what you think they should do to improve.

Of course, maybe I'm just too cynical about big business ... 😏

I work in risk and compliance and part of my job is to read customer service feedback reports. There is a whole customer experience team that collects all the feedback and publishes reports that is read by the executive team all the way up to the CEO as well as regulators and auditors. Trust me, it isn't done just for marketing research. These companies dedicate a lot of resources to collecting customer feedback. Often times, the issue is caused by the customer and/or they want the company to do something that is illegal and/or against regulations. 

[chasfh]

19 minutes ago, Motown Bombers said:

I work in risk and compliance and part of my job is to read customer service feedback reports. There is a whole customer experience team that collects all the feedback and publishes reports that is read by the executive team all the way up to the CEO as well as regulators and auditors. Trust me, it isn't done just for marketing research. These companies dedicate a lot of resources to collecting customer feedback. Often times, the issue is caused by the customer and/or they want the company to do something that is illegal and/or against regulations. 

Speaking as a customer, I would feel more that’s the case if they started off by asking me questions about my customer experience, rather than would I please drive some more business their way.

[Motown Bombers]

5 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Speaking as a customer, I would feel more that’s the case if they started off by asking me questions about my customer experience, rather than would I please drive some more business their way.

You can always put that in your survey. Most surveys ask for open ended feedback. If people have a good experience, they are more likely to recommend them to a friend so that's a good indicator if the customer had a good experience. 

[chasfh]

Just now, Motown Bombers said:

You can always put that in your survey. Most surveys ask for open ended feedback. If people have a good experience, they are more likely to recommend them to a friend so that's a good indicator if the customer had a good experience. 

Or I can post it in an unrelated forum and someone who works in that line of business can share that feedback with his bosses. Either or. 😉😁

[Motown Bombers]

3 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Or I can post it in an unrelated forum and someone who works in that line of business can share that feedback with his bosses. Either or. 😉😁

I don't really work in that line of business. That business unit just provides me the reports and I look for issue that may be in violation of regulations. That's a whole business unit that is totally independent of marketing. Customer experience only reviews marketing materials for customer experience related issue and I review them to make sure they are in compliance. Most large companies use things JD Power to market customer satisfaction and not some random person filling out a survey. 

[chasfh]

Watching any streaming event or show in which you are forced to sit through commercial breaks, and they have only one commercial in "rotation".

[Motor City Sonics]

18 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Watching any streaming event or show in which you are forced to sit through commercial breaks, and they have only one commercial in "rotation".

I went to a shoe company's website,  Xero Shoes, and I am harassed by ads for them on YouTube.   I won't consider buying their shoes for that  very reason.    Fix  your algorithms, folks.  Don't annoy potential customers.     

[Crazy Cat Gentleman]

19 minutes ago, Motor City Sonics said:

I went to a shoe company's website,  Xero Shoes, and I am harassed by ads for them on YouTube.   I won't consider buying their shoes for that  very reason.    Fix  your algorithms, folks.  Don't annoy potential customers.     

if you're using Chrome, go to your preferences and near the top, there's "Sync and Google services". within that is an option to send URLs you visit to Google. turn it off if it isn't already.

regardless of browser, if you have a Google account (such as for GMail) that you're signed into in the same browser(s) that you're using for YouTube and other things, go to your Google account settings (https://myaccount.google.com/), click "privacy and personalization", scroll to the bottom, and turn off ad personalization.

this should make your ads more random. if you're still getting harassed by Xero, then it's their fault.

[chasfh]

30 minutes ago, Motor City Sonics said:

I went to a shoe company's website,  Xero Shoes, and I am harassed by ads for them on YouTube.   I won't consider buying their shoes for that  very reason.    Fix  your algorithms, folks.  Don't annoy potential customers.     

I don't wanna know a single nother thing about ZipRecruiter.com.

Edited October 28, 2021 by chasfh

[Motor City Sonics]

Stop trying to force Microsoft Edge on me.  I don't want it and I never clicked on it, but yet it keeps opening.