Customer service at Typepad
I just got a note from the blog-hosting service Typepad, where this blog used to live. It sounds like they had a lot of technical difficulties last month. They not only sent out a letter apologizing and outlining what the glitches were, but today sent around another note offering to let customers choose how much free service they should get as compensation, depending on how much the disruption affected them (from 15 to 45 days).
I hope their faith in their customers to be fair about it bears out, and people like me (I’m not using my Typepad account much these days) will take the lowest they’re offering, not grabbing for all the freebie service we can get, because I love that they’re doing this.
Wouldn’t it be an interesting experiment to offer a conference, and people paid afterward for the amount it was worth to them? It’ll never happen, but I bet conference organizers would be surprised at just how people really value their events. I’d be curious to apply a similar model to our magazines, which are free to qualified subscribers. If people had the option to pay what they thought the magazines are worth, I wonder if they’d still be free, or if some would willingly pay a buck or two or three, depending on the value they got from each issue?
Being the starry-eyed optimist that I am, I’d like to think people are willing to be paid, or pay, based on the value lost or gained, but the cynic in me says there’s no way that’s going to happen. Think we’re ready for something like that, or would it be a step toward the road to financial ruin?
Related Topics: Business stuff, Technology
November 16th, 2005 at 12:19 pm
It was bound to happen. The window is open and a quirky 60 degree breeze is blowing fall raindrops on the windowsill. I cast about for a daily dose of inspiration..a way to some universal energy.. maybe Sue Pelletier will send up a thoughtprovoking question.. as always,she does not disappoint…”what if we were asked to pay on the way out?…. Today i click further into the web of thoughts. I end up in the world of blogs..i am drawn from one to the next.. each seeking the answer to the eternal quest for “heartbeat”..”content vs buzz” each offering hope that somehow expressing feelings will create
a greater truth , each offering a path to a greater understanding of our myths and foundations.. today i am thinking of Joseph Campbell who reminds us that the universal energy we all seek is closer than we sometimes realize.. in fact, he shares, it does indeed begin with truth. The truth that belies all mysths and creates all foundations. The truth that inspires and propels us to reach beyond the worn out path.. the truth that lets us freefall and find the power of that universal energy. It was bound to happen. I just fell into the vast unknown web of thoughts, the one we all reach into , trying to find the connection. It inspires,it endures.. and yes I truly believe there are many who would be willing to
pay on the way out… wonder if thts how the tradition of the fortune cookie actually began. 11/15/05 11:30am
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