Campaign Update in The Star Workplace

The Star Workplace featured an update on the 'Suing for Service' campaign on 12 December 2012. Many thanks to them.

Suing for Service Update 12 December 2012

SAfm interview

Robin was on The Talk Shop on SAfm, on 27 November 2012, discussing 'Suing for Service'.

Listen to the interview here:

The Talk Shop - Robin Wheeler - Suing for Service

How to build credibility

I was invited to speak about the 'Suing for Service' campaign on the Let's Talk Possibility Network on 19 November 2012, under the topic of 'How to build credibility: For brands and individuals'.

Also in the discussion is journalist Khadija Patel from The Daily Maverick, plus hosts Telena Simpson and Mongezi Mtati. Banks, retailers and cellphone networks all come up:

You can watch the conversation here:

MTN Update 3

After their letter in update 2, I wrote back to MTN on 21 November 2012 with what's below. Predictably, I have heard nothing more from them, which, along with the rest of the evidence, speaks for itself:

Dear Fusi and others

Your email suggests that you feel I have harassed some MTN staff. I am interested to hear how. I called Dawn and politely requested follow up from the people I had emailed. The email you refer to is polite and legitimate, too.

My legal advisers tell me that harassment can only be claimed where the person on the receiving end has no obligation to the other. In MTN's case, you have extensive obligations to me as your customer of 18 years. It is possible and probable that you are in breach of the Consumer Protection Act.

It is my right as a consumer to expect to receive updates from you on the issues I have raised. I have received no updates from:

• Karel Pienaar, to whom I wrote
• Bridget Bhengu, who committed to following up in her email but did not do so, even after I had to write back to her
• Eddie Moyce, whom someone named Roberto said he would speak to some months back and get back to me
• Fred, the operations man for the region my local store falls under, who said that he had escalated my complaint
• Mariano, the store manager at Bedford Centre.

I expect not only professional solutions from you as a service provider, but common decency from all individuals as human beings. For example, I called Dawn to speak to Karel. I said that whomever she spoke to and got to contact me, I still expected to hear from him, as it is to him that I took the time and effort to write.

I have in no way and at any time threatened the safety of your employees or customers, and nor will I. Your threat of legal action is not only unfounded but indicative of your lack of understanding of and engagement with all the writing I have done to address this and to help you. It is a defensive reaction that reveals cause for concern, in terms of you respecting me as a customer and human being, in terms of your business competence and legal expertise, and in terms of suggesting that you have something to hide.

Your co-operation will be appreciated. It is your organisation who works for me, not the other way round. Somehow, you seem to have got this mixed up.

The aforementioned Roberto said that I would receive a R1000 refund on the account for the Home Owners' Association that I represent. This has not been put into effect and has never reflected on the account. Again it is left  to me to follow up, when that is your duty.

Roberto said that he gained value from our lengthy phone conversation, at the beginning of which I explained that I offer such input for a living. He further expressed interest in my services and explained that he would speak to his superior, Eddie Moyce, and get back to me to arrange discussing my helping MTN further. Neither he nor Eddie got back to me.

Please note, in case it is not clear to you, that my goal here is a win/win situation. It is not adversarial, and in no way ambiguous. I have rights as a consumer and you have obligations as a service provider. I am one of those customers who does not walk away, and does not succumb to threats, but who cares enough to feed back to you what you need to hear to get better.

Further, I am an even more rare case, in that I am uniquely skilled at helping businesses fix such problems, innovative to the point of being visionary. Any threat you feel is from your side, not from me. I am simply and uncompromisingly committed to making this work for everyone, namely shareholders, management, employees, customers and the community at large.

I am enthusiastic about making this an exemplary case, and would, as I have said repeatedly and with persistence and versatile patience, appreciate your co-operation.

All best wishes
Robin

Siemens Update 3

After writing to the Bosch Siemens Home Group Chairman/Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Sales and Marketing Officer in Germany on 5 November 2012, and hearing nothing from them, and after receiving the dismissive letters from the South African operation's firm of attorneys, Erasmus De Klerk inc, I received an email from these attorneys today, which is included below.

It is an unsolicited and therefore questionable email, addressing me as their client, and showing that they have added me to their newsletter mailing list without my permission. Does this suggest that they are:

• trying to attract me as a client (which would seem odd considering their disrespect for my work)
• managing their database with little if any discretion
• prone to poor synergy between departments
• intent on maintaining humour in their otherwise humorless dealings with me
• subject to the web of cosmic justice unfolding
• in need of my help as much as their client BSHG
• simply unaware?

One can only wonder, or perhaps come one's own conclusion...


Dear Client,

You are currently subscribed to our monthly newsletter mailing list as you have done business with our firm in the past, have received correspondence from the firm, have made an enquiry on our website or have previously subscribed to our monthly newsletters.

On a monthly basis we send out a highly informative newsletter to all our subscribers that include:

• Interesting legal articles & court cases that affect all of us.
• Handy and relevant legal tips.
• A focus on the latest legislation relevant to business and the general public.
• Firm related information.

Our intent is to keep our clients and acquaintances informed with need-to-know legal information that is both informative and of relevance to you. Please feel free to provide us feedback or to comment on any of our articles so that we can customize our approach to satisfy your needs. We hope you enjoy and value our monthly newsletter.

Should you however be in the position that you do not wish to receive our newsletters on a monthly basis, please click on the opt-out link below.

Kindest Regards,

Erasmus De Klerk Inc.

MTN Update 2

After hearing nothing further from MTN, I called today to speak to the CEO, Karel Pienaar. I wanted to share how distressing it is to not get a response and still have so many unresolved issues with them.

I spoke instead to his PA, Dawn Abrahams, who said that she would speak to Karel and various others and get back to me. I have just received this letter instead:

Dear Mr Wheeler,

I refer to your attached e-mail, the contents of which we have noted. Please note that your e-mail has been forwarded to me for response. MTN is a responsible corporate citizen which has made customer centricity and excellent service delivery core to its customer value proposition. In instances where customers are not happy with the service they are receiving from MTN the customers are entitled to complain to the Consumer Department of The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) or to the National Consumer Commission or to approach any appropriate court of law for assistance. We understand the approach you have decided to take with regard to MTN and accept that you are entitled to exercise your freedom of speech. However, MTN will not hesitate to take legal action against you should you behaviour anyway threaten the safety of its employees or customers. We would, in this regard, plead with you to stop phoning or harassing any MTN employee and that if you have any complain with MTN you lodge a complaint with the relevant regulatory authority mentioned above or institute legal proceedings with the appropriate court of law.  Your co-operation will be highly appreciated.

Yours sincerely

Fusi Mokoena

GM: Commercial Legal

Commercial Legal Department

MTN (Proprietary) Limited

Tel: +27 11 912 3583

Mobile: +27 83 214  6084

MTN Update 1

After I posted the first MTN story on this blog on 5 November 2012, I sent the following email to the CEO of MTN, Karel Pienaar, and General Manager Group Communications, Xoliswa Vaphi, via their personal assistants:

Dear Karel and Xoliswa, c/o Dawn and Lenka

This is to let you know about my campaign, 'Suing for Service', launched last month, in which I am taking corporate service providers to task in the media and, if necessary, the courts, to ensure that they deliver on their brand promises.

One of the companies from whom I have personally had ongoing bad service is MTN, and the introductory story is on the 'Suing for Service' blog here: http://www.suingforservice.blogspot.com/ 

The blog also contains the press releases and other campaign exposure, with other cases of bad service and solutions.

My objective is a win/win outcome for all stakeholders, and I have a solution that will help internal operations and external branding and communications.

I look forward to helping you get much better at what you do. One way or another, I am committed to achieve this, so I hope that we can work together sooner rather than later.

All best wishes

Robin


I heard nothing from either person but received this email on 8 November:

Dear Mr. Wheeler

MTN would like to thank you for alerting us to your ‘Suing for Service’ campaign and we certainly respect the fact that you have taken the time to contact us directly and share your blog and personal experience with us.  As always, MTN takes this type of feedback very seriously and will treat it with the consideration it deserves.

As a first point of departure, an MTN representative will be contacting you shortly to discuss your concerns and suggestions in more detail, to allow us to fully understand the nature of your experience and undertake our own internal investigation as to the context around your experience complaint.

Alternatively, please feel free to place your concerns in writing and forward them directly to me, to ensure I am able to manage this and MTN will fully investigate the nature of your complaints and revert with a response reasonable to all parties concerned.

As a customer, we value your input and feedback and once again thank you for your mail.

Kind Regards,

Bridget Bhengu

Public Relations & Communication

MTN SA

It doesn't look to me like she has even read the blog that she claims to take very seriously. I have not received their call yet either.

Siemens Update 2

Three weeks after my last letter to Siemens' head quarters in Germany, with no response, I wrote this email to the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Sales and Marketing Officer on 5 November 2012: 




Dear Mr Gutberlet and Mr Ginthum

I will get straight to the point. As you may or may not be aware, BSH South Africa is providing bad service here and doing the brand significant damage. I have had dealings with them for nearly 3 years now, with ongoing problems.

The latest news is disrespectful lawyers letters to me after my ingenious attempts to help, and retailers no longer stocking the products owing to the after-sales service.

I have launched the 'Suing for Service' media campaign here in South Africa to ensure that companies live up to their brand promises. Siemens is one of the cases I am addressing as part of the campaign. You can read about it all here: www.suingforservice.blogspot.com.

I sent an email to Mr Fridolin Weindl on 16 October 2012, informing him of all this. I have not received any response. I am making you personally aware of it and giving you the opportunity to, with the right approach, turn in your favour.

I will not, however, be deterred by your silence, or by lawyers letters. These will only inspire me to take this further, until there is a desirable outcome for all parties, namely the brand, its customers (that's me!) and the broader global consumer community.

All best wishes
Robin


I received read-receipt notifications from both men on the day I sent the email, but I have heard nothing from either of them. On the morning of 6 November 2012, however, the day after that, I received a courtesy call from Lerato from Gaggenau service department following up on the call I logged months back for the faulty fridge (#5).

She explained that she was doing research into my satisfaction with the service received. She said that on her system, there was no record of the outcome of the call out, or any of the events since.

I explained briefly that:

• the repairs had cost me another day of my time
• the fridge had not been fixed
• the repairmen had dirtied my kitchen and dining room with soot from the repair work
• the fridge had been returned
• I was busy suing the company for this and the rest of the service
• all aspects of the service, from the call centre to the technical assistance were very poor.

I explained also that her contacting me with no awareness of the outcomes was further evidence of the incompetence of the company.

She undertook to take notes on all I said, report it to her supervisor, and get back to me. I have heard nothing since.

General Motors Cresta Update 1

Good Afternoon Mr Wheeler,

Please accept my humblest apologies for the incident relating to the SMS’s you received this past weekend and be assured that our intention is not to upset or aggravate anyone but simply to allow you the opportunity to take part in our offer should you so wish to do so.

We have previously requested that your details be removed from our database which has obviously not been done and I have personally requested this to be done again today and will send you confirmation once this has been actioned.

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to address your concerns and we will endeavour to try and improve our standards of service.  

Regards

Raymond Thomson

Dealer Principal

I replied as follows but have not heard from him again:



Hi Raymond

I understand your intention but you do not seem to care for what I have spelled out clearly for you. It is wrong, as are your business practices. Your apology means less than nothing as does your claim to endeavour to improve your standards of service.

I sent you an invoice but you did not acknowledge it or the email. Do you think I was joking? All my effort for you to ignore it? Did you read my blog where I described my experience with your company? Do you think that will just go away?

I asked you to call me repeatedly. Do you think your email is an acceptable substitute? It's polite but totally dismissive. You are surely going to continue with your SMS campaign.

I can see that further and firmer action is required.

Best wishes
Robin

General Motors Eagle Canyon Cresta

On Saturday morning 4 November 2012, I received an unsolicited SMS from General Motors Eagle Canyon in Cresta. It was advertising a car, inviting me to test drive it, and telling me to reply with 'STOP' to unsubscribe.

I replied with 'STOP' as well as a call to their receptionist, who told me that the dealer principal was unavailable. I left a message for him to get back to me so that I could confront and advise him on what he certainly already knows is shady business behaviour.

I did not get a return call but I did get a second SMS that afternoon, this time saying that I could have my Opel, Isuszu or Cherolet serviced for R699 and win an iPad. I didn't reply with 'Stop' this time but I called again to find the dealership closed. I left a voice message for them to call me back, making it two messages.


Follow up

Today, which is Tuesday 6 November, I had to call them again, as I had heard nothing. I told the receptionist that I was going into a meeting and that I wanted the dealer principal, and only him, to call me back. I got three calls during my meeting from the sales manager.

When I called him back, I got the receptionist again, and I told her how she had not listened to my instructions. I asked to speak to the sales manager, Dieter Ehlers, and she put me through. I explained all of the issues to him. He apoligised and explained that he did not know how my number got onto the system. He undertook to take it off.

I explained that apologies without change are worse than useless, and that my number should not be on the system in the first place, so he was being of no help. He asked then what I want him to do. "Run your business properly," was my sharp reply.

He explained that he is only the sales manager, and said that he would get the dealer principal to call me. I asserted that this was my original request four phone calls ago. I explained, too, that I would have to explain everything to him again and that I would be invoicing them for the interactions. Dieter said that would be fine. So that is what I have done (see below).

The issues are:

• unsolicited text messages are not good business practice
• incorrect data and shoddy database management cause brand damage
• not returning calls is bad business
• not listening to instructions is bad business
• not researching the people you send messages to is bad business (I live across town and am not in line for any of their products, probably ever)
• sometimes your customer, who you treat like a number on a list, is more of a CEO than your CEO. If I can be available four times to their zero, they are in need of fixing.

When they pay, maybe they will be more respectful of my time and suggestions.
____________________

Dear Raymond

I left two messages for you on Saturday and called twice today. The rest of the story is on my blog, which forms part of my 'Suing for Service' campaign: http://suingforservice.blogspot.com/.

Attached, please find an invoice for my time and services, as discussed with Dieter. A consultation with you is included, so I look forward to your call. You may even be able to talk me into including a talk to your team.

All best wishes

Robin

MTN

I have been waiting for an incident to precipitate the integration and articulation of all my MTN experiences over the years. It has just happened.

Walking through my local mall, Bedford Centre, I passed in the concourse the store manager of the MTN outlet. He looked me in the eye then looked away. He did the same last week when I walked past him.

Today I called back to him, asking, ”Mariano, don’t you greet me?”

“No,” was his reply as he continued on in the opposite direction.

I turned around and briskly made my way over to him to ask why. His answer was that he will greet me in the store as a customer but not anywhere else.

“That’s strange,” I said. “Once I know someone, I always acknowledge and greet them wherever I see them.”

He carried on walking away.

I dealt with Mariano extensively in May after I had signed a 2 year renewal of my contract and, therein, purchased a new phone. This phone needed a software upgrade within weeks of purchase and MTN wanted to take it in for up to 20 working days. This was, of course, unacceptable for a new phone that is integral to my daily life and business.

I had, in May, gone to the main repair depot across town and got the phone fixed on the spot using my own ingenuity. When I had returned to Mariano's store, he didn't even ask how my problem was. He just repeated that it was his way or no way. I informed him, after he had further demonstrated his incompetence, that I had already fixed it. I then gave him and some other staff a copy each of my book.

They never thanked me for these or gave me any feedback. Their attitude did not change.

The big uphill climb

Today, immediately after seeing Mariano, I called the MTN call centre and waited through the 7-point automated selection menu. When I got an operator, he gave me a number to call for complaints. He could not put me through or send me the number. I had to walk into the MTN store to get a pen to write it down. Thank goodness for old-fashioned technology! I called the number but the ‘call failed’ repeatedly. The network...

Then, walking through the mall, I came across another staff member from the MTN store - someone else I had dealt with a few times and, like Mariano, given my book. I told her my story and went back into the store with her. Deadpan and seemingly emotionless, she gave me another number to call but the network was still failing, in the store as I stood there!

This didn't seem to bother or amuse her, or even draw her attention. When I pointed it out, she told me that all the networks are like this. I told her that that did not make it acceptable.

She told me that she did not have numbers for her superiors. I said that someone should take ownership of the problem, not leave it with me. She then wanted to see my phone. I asked her what she was going to do with it. She did not answer as she took it. I asked again, confronting her on not answering my question. She explained what she was doing as she entered another number. 

Eventually the call went through, and she handed me my phone, but I had to asked her to whom she had made the call. It was a man named Fred.

Understanding

I spoke to Fred, the operational manager for the area, for over 30 minutes, all at my expense. He agreed that Mariano’s behaviour was bad and said that he would talk to him, but said that there was little he could do. I made it clear that I want a good experience in my local mall and that if Mariano contributed to a bad one, one of us had to leave and it isn’t going to be me.

Fred told me that there are labour laws and that he couldn't fire Mariano from one complaint. "Well, we will have to fix the problem, then," I said, as if it was some strange suggestion. Mariano can get over his childish issues, embrace the learning opportunity, and make it a positive outcome for all involved. MTN can get their business right. Their behaviour is simply unspeakable.

When I see Mariano, I see MTN, wherever that may be. The network for which I pay is not confined to his store. Plus, MTN is part of my business and life, a partner, and they need to conduct themselves accordingly. At the moment, they are a bad seed in my business, and their so-called competition are no better and, thus, not an option.

I shouldn't even have to say any of this. I have been with MTN for 18 years. How about some appreciation for my loyalty? How about some basic manners and respect? How on earth can they behave this way?

I told Fred about the ‘Suing for Service’ campaign, my previous experiences with Mariano and the store, and the overall MTN experience. As I was describing the unreliability of network, we were cut off! Still, though, Fred had the approach of someone mystified by my points, as if hearing them for the first time from someone making them up.

Then Fred asked me to put all of this in writing. I told him again, having done so already, that I am a consultant and professional writer and that I will charge him a consulting fee, as a lawyer would, for writing this out. He withdrew his request, but did not seem to apply the insight to his overall arrogance. 

I told him that I would write, though, for my blog and the media as part of the campaign. I told him to look out for it and sent him the URL for this blog. 

Pinpoint

After Fred asking me what it is exactly I want him to do, following his explanation of how little there is he can do, I realised that he has a point. I mean, what exactly did they all do wrong, anyway? Nothing was out of keeping with the technical specifications of their jobs. They all followed the rules. I almost felt crazy for all the fuss. Fred couldn’t help. Mariano was adamant. Why was I so upset?

Maybe I should just give up. Maybe I am making an issue when there isn’t one. Maybe I am in the wrong and, to make things worse, rude on top of that.

What, exactly, am I complaining about?

Well:

• the network does not work properly, which is a fundamental violation of MTN’s contractual obligations
• service is generally despicable, hardly reaching minimum standards at the best of times (when you take the customer's perspective into account, as MTN seem more than happy to assert it)
• basic human decency is absent
• blatant emotional violence is prevalent (ignoring, dismissing, walking off, subjecting customers to call centres)
• customers can’t get through to anyone with any power
• no-one takes responsibility for getting customer-oriented results
• MTN is caught up in an international corruption case, suggesting that the business that makes billions in profits is fundamentally dishonest. 

That sort of thing...

Issues

Anyway, let’s all just forget about it, shall we? I’m worn down now from stating the obvious to people who don’t want to hear it. I can’t even get to the real issue because they pretend not to get the basic premise.

Let's just forget that:

1.       Big corporate structures like MTN are inherently corrupt because they are geared to keep customers away while taking their money. Signed contacts are one sided, defined by the corporation. Customers have little if any recourse to anything but acceptance of these unacceptable terms. The way the system is structured makes it practically impossible to get anywhere. For this reason alone, the ‘Suing for Service’ campaign applies fully to MTN. If they make big money from us for providing an essential service, they must fulfil their obligations and role as in the consumer community.

2.       Basic human decency falls into their social responsibility and brand promise. This applies inside and outside of stores. Does Mariano think my network coverage doesn’t extend beyond the walls of his shop? Does he think he can be that rude and passively aggressive and not get a fitting response from me?

3.       Generous customers who have the wherewithal and courage not to be crushed must be welcomed, heard and satisfied. Their suggestions must be incorporated and the results demonstrated openly to the whole customer base. And these generous customers must be paid for their help.

4.       I will use all experiences to fuel this campaign.

Someone named Roberto was in touch with me from the head office some time back about another problem with MTN (there have been many). After discussing the solutions at length over the phone, and him saying that he benefited from the discussion, he undertook to set up a meeting with the head of his division to look at bringing me in to work with MTN. 

As yet, I have heard nothing. 

Thanks to Chai FM 101.9, who interviewed Robin Wheeler about the 'Suing for Service' campaign on 1 November 2012.

Listen to the 30 minute interview below:

Robin Wheeler - Suing for Service - Chai FM.

CNA Update 1

The day I posted the first CNA story, 22 October 2012, their Marketing Manager, Terry Dale, called me having read the article on the Destiny Man site the week before.

I told her about the blog post, which I had also emailed to the two heads of CNA, Mike Kimmings and Ettienne Brandt, and the CEO of mother company Edcon, Jürgen Schreiber.

Terry and I spoke sincerely and at length about the problems and my solutions, and I delivered three books as examples of the ‘Fully Booked’ process for her and the two heads of CNA to see. I have not heard anything from Mike Kimmings, Ettienne Brandt or Jürgen Schreiber, but I have spoken further to Terry. She kindly sent an email to the book buyer to remind him to consider stocking my books.

Then I received this email from Terry on Wednesday 24 October:

Hi Robin

Have collected your books and literature thanks very much!  Ettienne has received a copy and Mike will receive his after conference this week.  I have chatted with Ettienne concerning your proposed intervention and we’d like to have a meeting with you to further understand opportunities that may exist between us early in the new year.  This period in our fiscal is crunch time as you can appreciate and its all hands on deck with staff focused on Christmas and Back to School and budgets tied up in executing (year end March 2013)!

I will be in touch early next week to schedule that appointment.

Kind regards

Terry Dale Marketing Manager | CNA

I responded on 29 October 2012 as follows:

Hi Terry

Thanks for your email and update, and for handling this matter. Your reasoning behind leaving this until early in the New Year makes a certain sense. However, I feel and suggest the following about it:

First, it diminishes the chances of anything being done by an enormous amount, to the point of looking like a cop-out. I may not be available early next year, as I have numerous other projects that I am working on. There is only now.

Second, if your budgets are ‘tied up’ (which sounds like corporate speak to me), consider that I am doing this with no budget at all, just my ingenuity and sweat equity. This shows what can be done with the right approach. I am more committed to CNA’s service than you are. If you took this seriously, you would find budget, at least enough to initiate action, demonstrate your commitment, and engage me without delay. I have already done a lot of work for you.

Third, you have been presented a golden opportunity on a platter. Your inability to see and take this opportunity here and now is further evidence of the weightiness and inefficiency of your corporate structure.

Fourth, your delaying until next year means that current service levels will prevail over the Christmas and Back-to-School periods, so thousands of customers will have to endure that while you rake in seasonal turnover from us all. For me personally, it means buying my favourite magazine for a few months under the prevailing service conditions until you are (possibly) ready. Um, I don’t think so...

Please also keep in mind that you are not considering me as a service provider. If you try to engineer this to look that way, we are back to square one, so to speak. I have initiated this project owing to lack of delivery on your part. I am leading this project because your leaders are not getting it right. It is not up to them to approve, they are at the core of the problem. They are where the solution needs to start.

If you delay this until the New Year, with the view that you need to decide on it still, you are positioning it as a pre-sales meeting. As such, I would have to try to impress you to get the business, and in so doing, sweeten the project to your liking. This would give it less integrity, which is not acceptable. Alternatively, I can keep being honest, but then you will not like what I say and not buy it. So the delay is not an option.

I launched this ‘Suing for Service’ campaign in a few weeks. We could do the same for a ‘CNA for Service’ campaign by mid November and have over a month to give everyone in South Africa, including CNA staff, a great festive season 2012. Imagine that! No more delays, and no more bad service in the meantime. Just a super success story, in the media, right here and now.

So, this is what I propose.

I will continue in the media showing how excuses prevail over opportunities. I will continue to make consumers aware, to galvanise them to stand for service, while allowing them to see how you are handling it. This is going ahead and your choice is simply whether to look good or look bad. If you work with me to the standards I set, we will collaborate. Anything less will just be the long way round.

Consulting with me is not free until you decide to pay. You need to pay upfront to see me. Each day that passes is another one wasted while thousands more customers leave your stores with a bad taste. Your leaders need to get this going right now and to use the festive season as the ideal opportunity.

Happy staff, thoroughly impressed customers, an in-house and media campaign that crystallises your commitment and responsiveness, and a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Best wishes
Robin

Second Press Release

This second press release went out yesterday:

‘Suing for Service’ campaign gains momentum

This is an update on the ‘Suing for Service’ campaign launched on 10 October 2012, about which I sent you the initial press release.

• Destiny Man magazine (for which I write the leadership column) ran an article called ‘Stand for Service’ on their website and social media
• Destiny magazine ran the ‘Stand for Service’ article on their site and social media
• Entrepreneur Magazine South Africa ran a story about ‘Suing for Service’ on their site and social media, and
• The Star Workplace ran an article in print on 24 October 2012.

All of these, with the original press release, are available on the campaign blog: www.suingforservice.blogspot.com

Also on the blog are descriptions so far of two of the cases, Siemens and CNA. More will follow in the coming weeks.

Thank you for reading. If you would like my help to cover the story, please contact me:

Robin Wheeler

robin@bentrepreneuring.com

083-444-0787

I have compelling cases and penetrating insights to share that make for good media and show that consumers have power. The outcome is a win/win for consumers and service providers.

Summary

Entrepreneur, author and international speaker Robin Wheeler is leading a campaign called ‘Suing for Service’ in which he is confronting corporations publicly and using the law to improve service levels. Using his personal experience as a consumer and his entrepreneurial expertise, Wheeler is taking big business to task in the media and, if necessary, in court to ensure that they fulfil their brand promises.

The campaign is geared to:

1.       Change bad service to good

2.       Stir up and galvanise consumer awareness and action

3.       Tell success stories as proof and examples.

The approach is to compel companies into doing what customers want and what the companies themselves claim to want but never make real effort to bring about.

Visit www.bentrepreneuring.com or the ‘Suing for Service’ site www.suingforservice.blogspot.com.

Siemens Update 1

On the same date that I posted the detailed Siemens story here, 16 October 2012, I posted news of it on the Siemens Facebook page, where I had previously posted my comments.

I also emailed notification to a Mr Fridolin Weindl, Head of External Communications at Bosch and Siemens Home Appliances Group Head Office in Munich. I received a ‘read receipt’ notification on 22 October but nothing since.

I visited my local Dion Wired store, where I bought my replacement Smeg fridge, to keep them posted on the situation. The store manager there told me that they have discontinued stocking Siemens products owing to sustained poor after-sales service.

The Star Workplace : Campaign aims to improve service standards

Thanks to The Star Workplace, who ran this article on 24 October 2012 called:

Campaign aims to improve service standards

CNA

CNA is one of the oldest retail brands in South Africa, which should be wonderful. It's a sad story in recent times, though, having lost its Central News Agency identity and, with that and corporate ownership, direction.

Ten years ago it was bought by massive retail group Edcon - in turn now internationally owned with emphasis on financial return - where it is clearly at the bottom of their list of priorities.

CNA isn't sure what business it is in (magazines, stationery, books, computer supplies, games, music, photographs, toys, ignoring customers?), but it is in every centre around the country, with over 200 stores.

These stores have a responsibility to the South African consumer community. They owe us a pleasant and uplifting experience. Well designed stores as well. It is their duty as a retail brand with such pervasive presence, and as part of the bigger Edcon group.

Conversely, what they are delivering now is mostly a miserable experience for customers, which is more than remiss. It's effectively criminal.

Eastgate's bad attitude

I visit two stores near me regularly. The smaller of the two, at Bedford Centre, does not stock the airfreight version of my favourite international music magazine, so I always buy that at the bigger store in Eastgate Mall. Staff there (and at Bedford Centre) do not offer help and will walk past you even when you are trying to get help.

I don't go to the Eastgate store for the pleasure of it, it's a quick in and out. The aisles are badly designed, cluttered and too narrow, so the place becomes congested as soon as there are a few people in it. The payment point is a long tunnel of -point-of-sale items and then a counter of dour faced cashiers more interested in talking among themselves than even greeting people waiting like cattle to pay.

A few months back, I made my monthly visit and by the time I was at the till, I was feeling irritated by the whole place, as I often do. (Just observe how you feel as you enter then wait in one of those tunnels). The women at the till did not greet me and kept talking to one another. I said that I did not want a packet and did not have a shopper card. The cashier then turned to me and said, "Shopper card?"

I confronted her for not being present, not acknowledging and greeting me, and not listening, to which she went quiet. When I confronted that, she called the next customer.

I called the manager, who wasn't on duty (in all these encounters, he has never once been in the shop). I got a junior supervisor, who empathised with me, saying that she would have wanted to slap the cashier had she been treated that way. She undertook to address the problem, with management and the cashier, and get back to me.

A month later, I was there for my magazine again, having heard nothing but ready to hand over more money. I got the same cashier, who, knowing me from the last encounter (plus a copy of my book I gave the staff there sometime earlier), greeted me by saying, "Shopper card?"

Was this:

• an uncanny co-incidence
• a matter of routine
• a terrified act
• an aggressive act
• a sense of humour
• a cry for help
• simple bitchiness?

It certainly wasn't good service, even if she had forgotten me, as she later claimed to the then on-duty junior supervisor (someone different this time, to whom I was expected to explain everything again).

I stared at her in disbelief. She took my money and called the next customer, who was itching to get out of that queue. When I continued to confronted her, she ignored me while her colleague (to whom she had been talking before I rudely interrupted them) looked me up and down scornfully.

It's interesting how customers are treated as if we are in the wrong when we ask for basic human decency and some respect for our patronage.

I insisted that the junior supervisor on duty and the cashier meet me right where I was standing in the front of the store. Eventually, with much resistance from them and some movement from me, we stood in the middle of the shop, under the security cameras, where the supervisor 'handled the situation' by asking for both sides of the story, like a prefect at school. A ridiculous and childish situation.

The cashier made her case with folded arms, saying she did not recognise me and that when she asked if I had a shopper card, I just stared at her. I explained that she knew me very well, then said loudly, "The problem here is simple, your service sucks!"

A customer walking past added some dramatic synchronicity when he shouted, "Absolutely!"

Taking for granted

Two days later, I called the store because the manager still had not got back to me. He wasn't there then either.

He called me the following day, introduced himself as Vusi, and asked for 'my side of the story'. I told him to do his research first, so that he could report to me and not me to him. I explained that my side of the story would include my professional input, for which there was naturally a fee. He said that he understood but insisted I continue.

A spontaneous hour on the phone with me later (not everyone is as fortunate), he told me that the conversation had been enlightening, and that he wished I would work with Mike Kimmings (the CEO of CNA) to fix the company. (I had mentioned Mike because I know him, having done a talk to his team when he was Operations Director for Edgars, another brand in the Edcon Group)

Before Vusi had to leave the conversation to go to a meeting, he went on to list the four main points he had taken from my suggestions, telling me that he was going to implement them.

He then asked me to please go and see him the next time I was in the store. He would love to meet me, he said.

He didn't mention the cashier ever rectifying the relationship first, or payment for my consultation, or my distress at the in-store experience. He expected even more from me. Based on what? Goodwill?

Getting worse

I did visit Vusi at the store when I was there for my magazine again a few weeks later. He wasn't there (neither was the magazine. I had to extract help to find this out). When I went back a few days later, Vusi wasn't there and the rest of the staff were in a meeting in the office at the back of the store.

The cashier was among them. When she saw me, she turned and walked back into the office. The deputy manager undertook to sort out the problem and get back to me. I told him that he would not and could not, but he dismissed that. I have not heard from him since.

The security staff told me that the cashier wouldn't talk to me because I was angry. She would speak to me, they said, if I was not angry. So I calmed down because they had all the power. The security guard went to speak to the cashier but came back without her. I left.

I have heard nothing from anyone at CNA in the 12 days since. Two people have, in discussions about this Suing for Service campaign, told me about how bad CNA in general and the Eastgate branch in particular are.

Proposed Outcome

For the fee of double the CEO's annual salary (plus VAT and expenses), paid in advance, in close consultation with him entirely on my terms, we will turn the business around in 9 to 12 months.

We will run a brisk and effective transformation process within the business, which will include key staff writing a chapter of a book about their turnaround and success. I will publish the book as an in-house business tool, and use it in a re-branding excercise, repositioning and rejuvenating the brand.

The cashier who precipitated the project, along with other exemplary leaders in their fields in the business, will enjoy their first trip to Thailand as part of the process.

This will happen very publicly, with video and possibly television footage, so that customers around the country can hold the people and brand responsible for service from then on.

Look out for an all new CNA!

Please share below experiences you have had with the brand, or your comments in general, and accounts of how you are standing for service in CNA.

Entrepreneur Magazine South Africa

Entrepreneur Magazine South Africa ran a news item today about the 'Suing for Service' campaign:

Entrepreneur Sues Big Business for Service

Siemens

The Siemens story has been going on for years. We begin here with recent events, in the last month. 

It's specifically Bosch and Siemens Home Appliances (BSH), but I hold the Siemens brand responsible, as it is the name I have on the appliances in my kitchen.

Many emails, phone conversations, meetings and technical visits down the road, in an hour-long phone call with the CEO of BSH South Africa, he told me that he was as high as it would go and that he would not put me in touch with his boss. 

So I wrote on the Siemens Facebook page and (with them deleting the post) I was put back onto someone new in South Africa. Here's his letter:


Good Morning

I hope this email finds you well.

I received your post via Siemens this morning.

As far as I understand the matter, it is your contention that we owe you money for services rendered? I understand that you do not want to go into the matter but I find myself in a bit of a quandary here because the person you were dealing with no longer works at BSH. I am therefore unable to properly avail myself of the situation properly. I hope that you will understand my predicament and help me with the facts. Please could you send me the correspondence relating to said consultation.

Please note that with reference to your comment "if you want to speak to me you pay", I cannot agree to such terms but I can assure you that I am sincere in my efforts to understand the situation and your point of view.

I hope you have a good day.

Kind regards

Murray Carter
Marketing Manager
Export and CP Sales Manager
Regions: SSA

 

I responded with this:



Good day, Murray

My name is Robin, as you can see from my previous correspondence. You may address me as such. I am excellently well, thank you.

If you feel in a quandary, imagine how I feel, dealing with this matter for over two years now, having workmen in and out of my house, dealing with corporate incompetence, and simply not being heard, to mention a few points. The reason I am billing you is because of the quandary you present to me.

I make it my business to get out of quandaries, though, using innovation and uncompromising determination. So a mutually beneficial outcome that makes the world a better place is the only acceptable outcome here.

You are agreeing to the terms one way or another, because we are already in a relationship. Also, I am your customer, and I will ensure that I do not continue to pay for your bad service, as I have done so far. You have been paying, too, so far with 4 Siemens and 1 Gaggenau fridges (all returned faulty), a great deal of time from a number of (seemingly unavailable) people from the South African office, and, of course, growing brand damage on an international scale.

Even my answering this email is on your account. If you (as Siemens) embrace it, we can fix the problem. If you fight it, as your offices here have done, it will escalate and you will pay for all of it. The outcome will be better, acceptable and even exemplary service. An enormous thank you to me is actually in order.

As I said, it is your job to research this. If I have to compile all correspondence and sent it to you, it will be at the fee stipulated of 10 000 Euro per day, plus legal fees. I am sure you understand my situation. I have spent weeks of my professional time dealing with the same kind of expectation from Siemens, with no results. I do not work for you, Murray. I bought your products and then suffered through your service. You are going to correct this until I am satisfied.

So Mr Kai-Henning Florschuetz, CEO of BSH South Africa, with whom I spoke a few weeks ago, seconded from Frankfurt and seemingly a Siemens man for life, has left without a trace? As have Troy Omant, Paula De Freitus, Alister McKay...?

It seems that you are taking a lazy and disrespectful approach to this matter. I request and suggest that you do your job properly before you write to me asking me to do more work while you try to reject my terms. This is what I have been dealing with all along. It is very arrogant of you.

As you will see, I have included my attorney in this correspondence, as I have done throughout. Please try not to waste more of our time.

I have responded here because I understand your situation. The time has come for you to deeply resonate with mine.

All best wishes
Robin

_______________________________________________________
Robin Wheeler
Entrepreneur, international speaker and author : Being yourself for a living
www.bentrepreneuring.com




Murray then wrote:


Good Morning Sir

I hope this mail finds you well.

I will be having a meeting with the relevant parties involved in this case this afternoon. I hope you can be patient for a little while longer as I feel this issue needs a diligent approach.

I will revert to you as soon as possible.

I wish you a good day further.

Regards

MC



Instead of him reverting, I received a lawyer's letter: 2012-10-01-BSH-WHEELER



I wrote the following response:

Letter to Siemens and their lawyers: 2 October 2012 : Robin Wheeler

Dear Louis

Siemens’ service sucks. There is no disputing it. They know it, hence the defensive approach. I found the feedback from various stakeholders (Margaret Hirsch, Dion Wired) consistent with mine. We are going to correct this. For as long as I have Siemens products in my house, we are in a relationship. There is no way out but a dramatic improvement. Siemens will live up to their brand.

As a customer, I claim my full satisfaction. I do this, too, as a self-appointed representative of the broader consumer community. To achieve this, Siemens needs to change significantly. I am going to ensure it happens.

As an entrepreneur and consultant, I will help Siemens achieve my satisfaction as a customer. The company and brand will be exemplary and known for it. Business will boom, plus staff and supplier relations will surpass their wildest hopes.

Siemens has two options, one choice.

The choice is a win/win situation in which:

• Siemens stops being bad at service, wakes up, fulfills their social and business obligations, embraces their full responsibility, succeeds in a visionary way, and impresses the hell out of me
• I make sure this opportunity to solve some of the world’s pressing problems first hand does not go un-seized. This forms part of a broader initiative addressing the same problem with other service providers.

The two options are:

1.       For the fee of the BSH CEO’s annual salary (plus VAT), I will run a transformation process in the business and a rebranding process externally, with his full sponsorship and participation. (This is a starting offer that is good value and will go up if they do not work wholeheartedly to achieve the win/win situation.)

2.       For ten times the BSH CEO’s salary, I will sue Siemens, make a media case about it as part of a broader campaign, and film this for television, give radio and television interviews, and so on. Then, in the best interests of global, consumer and corporate wellbeing and sustainability, Siemens will co-operate and we will do the transformation process mentioned in Option 1 above.

One remarkable outcome, two ways to get there. Whether we take the short or the long route, we will get there.

Option 2, Siemens current choice, is much more expensive, as they are surely seeing after five fridges, staff time, meetings with you, your fees etc., plus my time and patience, of course, which are on the account. (In my hour long phone conversation with the CEO Kai-Henning Flourschetz recently, I told him it was also on his account, and he asked if I meant his phone account. Either he has a dry sense of humour, he is unfit for his position, or he was being obstinate). You do all respect my time, don’t you? It's taken me a day to write this.

You may respond to every point in this document systematically, addressing every issue, unlike your letter, which didn’t address what I had written to Murray Carter and on the Siemens Facebook page. Or you could drop this nonsense, and get on with Option 1. Show some respect, please gentlemen.

Option 1 means optimal investment of funds for the mutual benefit of all involved without delay. I am impartial, though, to which option Siemens chooses, as they are both the same to me.

I was taken by your insistence in your correspondence that I treat this urgently. I wrote on the Siemens Facebook page over a week ago. This problem has been going on for years. I am assuming that this is your sense of humour, which is wonderful, because having fun is a significant part of this transformation process, and of thriving in business today.

If Siemens continues to choose Option 2, I will continue with Option 2 from my side, expanding innovatively and causing all sorts of fun and exciting waves until I feel absolutely satisfied as a customer, and as a representative on my own authority alone of what I see as basic human dignity and simple intelligence. This is all very obvious, not complicated at all. Bad service; ongoing refusal to take responsibility; caring, clever and committed customer; phenomenal outcome. 

Money is payable in full upfront.

BBM Attorneys do not represent me, they are on standby to take action on my instruction. I don’t need them, though, because I am right. Siemens shouldn’t need you either. But if they insist, we can add another legal team to their payroll. I am keeping BBM informed, as I have done since I bought 3 Siemens products around which I had designed and built my kitchen. The one product let me down (the other two have been great, give or take a few irritations outlined in previous emails to Siemens). I am now in the renovation business and not recommending Siemens. And the service continues to suck. Your letter was not a co-operative gesture. It denoted zero insight.

This is what we are going to fix, one way or another. Every time I look at my Siemens appliances, which should be for the next ten years at least, I am going to feel fantastic. They will remind me of great breakthrough success we achieved together. Germany will be very impressed, too.

It was Germany I asked to be put in touch with on Facebook. Instead I got marketing in South Africa, whom I had to brief (one more time), and now you. Not looking co-operative to me at all. This on top of a very bad track record that Siemens admitted to by giving me the Gaggenau fridge in compensation for the previous 4 and the days of my time plus emotional distress. Then the Gaggenau didn’t work properly either, and the attempted repair was a disaster. More of my time and distress. They know they are a mess, that is why they have sent you to represent them. I take it as further supporting evidence for my uncompromising endeavours.

Either I will take this letter (consider it an open one) and whole situation to the press, and to Germany this way, plus directly, or the South African operation will go to them to turn things around.

I will continue to contact whomever I choose at my full discretion. I will take no instructions from you or anyone at any time.

I will co-operate enthusiastically with all intelligent behaviour and continue to initiate it. Sooner or later, one way or another, Siemens will come to exemplify it. I await their enthusiastic and immediate co-operation.

Come to think of it, I have been patient long enough. I am going to the media with this anyway. It is an example of an utterly unacceptable broader apathy. It will be one of the examples of how this global problem is being turned around.

Best wishes
Robin


I received this letter from their lawyers in response: 2012-10-15-BSH-WHEELER


Clearly this attorney is being obstructive and disrespectful, so I will not deal with them any further. I am Siemens' customer, however, and will continue to exercise my consumer rights as such, using all media at my disposal.