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Seth Godin has written extensively about the ways companies frustrate customers with bad support (do a search on his site for “customer service” or “customer support”).  My most recent experience with an organization’s technical support confirms Seth’s findings.  Here’s the punch line: it doesn’t end well.

I’m moving all of my data and applications to a new computer and, so far, most of this has gone swimmingly.  I have one application, though, that won’t work on the new computer because “Only one machine can be activated with each serial number”–so the web site informed me when I attempted to activate the license. So I e-mailed the company’s tech support to see what could be done. The transcript of the e-mail correspondence between me and the tech support rep at the company follows. The names have been changed to protect the, well, you know.

MG: I received an activation code (xxx***###) on April 23, 2009, for XYZSoftware and I’m trying to move the license from an old computer to a new one. My user account and XYZSoftware will be deleted from the old computer. Please send me a new activation code for use on my new computer.

Tech Support Person: XYZSoftware is a single machine license. Installation on multiple machines will not work. To install on a second system, you will need to purchase another license.

MG: Thanks for the response, Tech Support Person. I’m not attempting to install the software on two machines–I want to remove it from a computer I’m no longer using and transfer it to a new computer. How can I do this?

TSP: It cannot be done. The license only works once (The activation system was set up to stop people from installing their single copy on all 500 computers at work). If you want to put it on another computer, you will have to get another license.

MG: So there’s no way that I can deactivate the XYZSoftware license on one computer in order to transfer it to a different computer? I just did this with all of my Adobe CS3 software and it worked seamlessly. I’d prefer not to spend $40 for an additional XYZSoftware license when I already have one.

TSP: No one is making you do this. The program is working fine. If you are selling the old computer, add $40 to the price and use that to buy another license. If you are not selling it, leave it where it is.

MG: Thank you for the suggestions.

At this point, I figured we were done. Several minutes later, though, the correspondence resumed with this:

TSP: Just for my curiosity, when did you buy XYZSoftware? Our sales records show no sales to anyone with last name Gowin as far as they are online, back to 2002.

MG: I purchased two Things from SomeOnlineRetailer.com on April 14, 2009 (see attached) [I attached a copy of my purchase receipt]; the packaging had an offer to receive a free XYZSoftware license. I believe I used the product serial number from one of the Things [serial number included] to activate the license but, unfortunately, I no longer have the packages in which the Things were shipped. The serial numbers were on the packages (which I no longer have), not the Things (which I do have). Otherwise I’d have attempted to activate the XYZSoftware license with the unused Thing serial number.

TSP: There’s your answer. You bought two devices from Things Producer that each came with a license for our program XYZSoftware. You used one license and lost another. If you need another license, you can buy one from us, or you can go buy another device from Things Producer that comes with XYZSoftware.

MG: It’s an answer, yes, but not really a solution to my problem Thanks anyway.

TSP: No, sir, it’s not. You got two “free” licenses and want a third one, for a program we want to be paid for. We will support your licenses wherever you got them, but we are not going to give you another one without being paid for it.

MG: Actually, Tech Support Person, I’m not asking you to give me a third license for free.  My original question was about deactivating a license on one computer and moving that same license to a new computer.  Your company makes a good product and you should be paid for it.  It appears, though, that you have no way to verify that a user has deactivated a license on one machine in order to move it to another.  Since I successfully moved all of my other applications from my old computer to the new one, I thought there would be a process to do the same with XYZSoftware.  Regrettably, that doesn’t seem to be the case.  Thank you for letting me know.

So, yes, I should have saved the package with the serial number and then I wouldn’t be in this situation.  That said, I wasn’t trying to do anything that would cost this company a sale–I simply wanted to move a license from one computer to another.  I was not asking for a third license; I asked how I could deactivate a license on an old computer and then re-activate the same license on another computer.  Evidently, however, technology and policy were two insurmountable obstacles.  Lesson learned.

Observations for XYZSoftware Company:

• How hard would it have been, though, for TSP to simply say, “We don’t normally do this, but I can see that you’ve paid for your Things and here’s a license code you can use to install XYZSoftware on your new computer.  Have a nice day!”  Instead, they’ve created bad-will for a customer.
• If your tech support personnel have the potential to get snarky with customers (as happened in this case), keep them off the front lines.  I know that tone is difficult to read in e-mail and online mediums, but I kept an even, unemotional tone throughout this correspondence; it’s not clear that TSP did the same.
• You never know when your customers or potential customers might take a customer service exchange public–and I’ve been kind to protect the identity of XYZSoftware here.  Others may not be so gracious.  This is called accountability and the social web makes it possible.

Filed under: Computing, Marketing by Michael
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In the marketing and small business classes I teach, students often want to build products and services for bargain prices.  I usually encourage them to consider building extra value into their ideas and charging customers accordingly.  Apple does this and, even in a recession, still does well.  Some consumers, however, are feeling more sensitive to price now and businesses are making adjustments.

I’m curious: as a consumer, have you been scaling back on your spending?  If you run a business, are you making pricing changes to entice customers?

Filed under: Business by Michael
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My wife and I spent a small fortune on our accountant’s fees and taxes this week (from the WSJ: “Joel Slemrod, an economics professor at the University of Michigan, estimates that the time and money individuals spend on tax compliance now comes to about $90 billion a year.”) Because we have one income and five of us living off of it, we’ve typically gotten most of my federal withholding returned each year.  So last year I made some adjustments to have my employer withhold almost nothing from my paychecks.  We couldn’t foresee it at the time but this turned out to be a bad idea.  I had a larger profit from my business and my wife had a significant increase from her endeavors, from which we paid no quarterly self-employment taxes.  Combined with the nominal withholding from my day job, we encountered the perfect storm come tax time.  Ouch.

We’ve learned some lessons–this year we’re paying quarterly self-employment taxes.  Probably the most important lesson, though, is this: I’m not sure we realized how much we paid in taxes until we were self-employed.  When you’re having your employer take taxes out of your check, you probably don’t really pay attention.  It just happens and you get what you get–you’re more focused on the net than the gross.  When you’re self-employed, however, every dollar of income is getting taxed and you’re responsible for taking care of it.  Putting aside 1/3 to 1/2 of your net for taxes is discouraging and I felt it much more this year than I ever have.

Apparently a bunch of other folks are feeling the frustration as well and have organized Tea Parties in cities throughout the country today.  It will be interesting to see if this produces a groundswell of grassroots activity or just fizzles before it gets started.  Evidently there’s one about 30 miles from my home but I won’t be attending.  I’ll be with them in spirit though.

Any thoughts on this?  Are you attending a Tea Party?  Will they send a message to our legislators and lead to reform, or is it all simply reactionary hype?:

Filed under: Government, Money by Michael
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Google continues its tradition of April Fool’s Day jokes with the announcement of the new “Autopilot” feature for Gmail.  Google claims the Autopilot feature can respond to business proposals, match your writing style and even manage relationships (see below).  Excellent!

Filed under: Computing by Michael
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This morning we downloaded the Skype app from the iTunes Store for my wife’s iPhone.  We used it to do both Skype text and voice chats with my computer as well as make a call using Skype Credit to my cell phone.  All worked without a hitch.  Hilariously, TechCrunch reports that the release of the Skype app for iPhone “blows a great waft of flatulence in the face of the [telephone/cellular] carriers.”

So, let me update the instructions I wrote just a couple days ago.  Here’s how you can use Skype on your iPhone to make VoIP (voice over the internet) calls for stinkin’ cheap, as long as you can find Wi-Fi access:

1. Get yourself a Skype account and install Skype on your computer. If you intend to call from your iPhone to a landline or mobile phone, you’ll also need to buy some Skype Credit. We bought a block of credit for $10. If I understand the fee structure correctly, this should give us around 480 minutes of talk time.
2. Download the Skype app from the iTunes Store and install it on your iPhone.  If you’ve set up Skype correctly on your computer, the iPhone app should find all your contacts, etc. when you login to the Skype app.  I don’t remember this distinctly, but you may be able to create a Skype account directly from the iPhone app.
3. Set up the phone numbers for the phone contacts you want to call with Skype on your iPhone. VERY IMPORTANT! In order to use Skype to call someone’s phone, the phone number has to be configured like this: + country-code area-code number. For example, a US number might look like +12175555555. Here’s a list of international country codes.
4. Set your iPhone to Airplane Mode (Settings > Airplane Mode > On).  This will ensure that you don’t make or receive expensive calls over the cell network–critical if you’re travelling internationally.
5. Turn Wi-Fi on. Airplane Mode turns off Wi-Fi by default, so you’ll need to turn this back on manually.  Skype should now work over the Wi-Fi network, thus enabling your VoIP calls.

You have now been liberated from the cell company.

Filed under: Computing, Lifehacks, Tutorials by Michael
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As it turns out, Skype is launching an iPhone app on Tuesday.  Looks like we don’t need backdoor solutions after all.  We’ll put this on my wife’s iPhone tomorrow and see how it goes…

(hat tip: Cult of Mac)

Filed under: Computing by Michael
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UPDATE: Skype released a native iPhone application on Monday, March 30, 2009, eliminating the need for the third-party Fring application to make VoIP calls.  Accordingly, I’ve written updated instructions here.

My wife is traveling internationally next week and we’re not keen on paying AT&T $3.49 PER MINUTE from the country she’s visiting for every phone call. Skype, the internet telephony service, provides a way to make computer-to-computer voice chats for free or, for a relatively small charge, from computer-to-phone. Buying SkypeOut minutes (AKA Skype Credit) allows you to make these computer-to-phone calls, whether landline or mobile. Although Skype is not available directly for the iPhone, there’s a kind of backdoor solution with an app called Fring. Armed with Fring/Skype and Wi-Fi access, you should be all set.

We spent the better part of two hours searching various sites and forums before we got it to work. To save you the trouble, here’s what we did:

1. Get yourself a Skype account and install Skype on your computer. If you intend to call from your iPhone to a landline or mobile phone, you’ll also need to buy some Skype Credit. We bought a block of credit for $10. If I understand the fee structure correctly, this should give us around 480 minutes of talk time.
2. Install Fring on your iPhone. You can find it online or in the iTunes app store. Set up your user ID and password with Fring.
3. If Skype is running on your computer, close it.
4. Start Fring and “subscribe” to Skype services. You’ll need to add your Skype ID and password. Some users at the Fring discussion forums have reported long login times with Skype. Keep trying. You may have to reboot your iPhone after installing Fring before it will subscribe to Skype services.
5. You can now use Fring/Skype to voice chat with another Skype user by calling their Skype user name.
6. Set up the phone numbers for the phone contacts you want to call with Fring/Skype on your iPhone. VERY IMPORTANT! In order for Fring to use Skype to call someone’s phone, the phone number has to be configured like this: + country-code area-code number. For example, a US number might look like +12175555555. Here’s a list of international country codes.
7. You should now be able to use Fring/Skype to call another person’s phone number.

Once you get to your destination, you’ll likely want to ensure that you don’t make or receive cell network calls and accrue those $3.49 per minute charges. Remember–you’re using Fring/Skype to call over the internet, not through the cell network.  Do this:

1. Set your iPhone to Airplane Mode (Settings > Airplane Mode > On).
2. Turn Wi-Fi on. Airplane Mode turns off Wi-Fi, so you’ll need to turn this back on manually.  Fring/Skype should now work over the Wi-Fi network, thus enabling your VoIP calls.

We’ll report back after my wife’s trip on the success of this. Readers who have experience with Fring/Skype–has this worked for you?

Filed under: Computing, Lifehacks by Michael
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From an opinion piece in today’s WSJ, Daniel Henninger writes:

Barack Obama meets with a flock of nervous bankers at the White House tomorrow to reassure them he understands their interests. Good luck. There has always been tension between the Democratic Party and the private sector. That tension is over. With its vote in the House of Representatives to punish corporate bonus payments, the national Democratic Party has disconnected itself entirely from the private sector.

…The current version of the party has largely broken free of any understanding whatsoever of the private sector — how it works or what it needs to function.

…Imagine any of this generation’s Democratic establishment taking a job at Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati as a middle-manager responsible for a division of employees and its annual profit and loss. It is wholly inconceivable. Or helping an owner of an auto-parts company manage through a real crisis. They wouldn’t have a clue.

More: Democrats Bid Business Adieu

Filed under: Business by Michael
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I spoke in a colleague’s class today on time management principles for college students.  Since I made a similar preso last fall and posted some resources then, I’ll just link to the original post.  Cheers.

Filed under: Education, Lifehacks, Presentations by Michael
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Good looking resume?  Check.

Good looking suit for the interview?  Check.

Polished interviewing skills?  Check.

Electronic trail showing all your stupid misdeeds and bad attitudes?

Check.

Filed under: Job Hunting by Michael
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