Big business is such a complex beast of many heads and separate brains. One head speaks to the public, selling wares and providing the Ryan Gosling-esque white toothed grin of confidance. Another is the elusive, complex and often brilliant mastermind, finding solutions and planning new creations. They don’t often speak to each other and this often shows. So continues the drama with Telstra that began months ago. Read the rest of this entry →
Now working in a non-technical role a world away from the smell of evaporating flux and the whirring of turbines, I’ve missed the experimentation and the creative side of my old life. That’s why I decided to look into buying a basic oscilloscope. A niche purchase, but one well covered by some new and old school vendors looking to flog these sorts of wares.
I first headed to the hub of “cheap” online shopping, eBay, to get an idea of the prices. I looked at blogs and video reviews as well for some extra info, considering the time I’d spent out of the tech world. I settled on an entry level Rigol ‘scope, the DS1052E. Getting on yes, but great compared to what I was used to (tech heads feel free to make alternative suggestions).
After a bit of a search I settled on contacting Emona – apparently Australia’s Rigol representative. I also contacted one eBay seller who had their own website, eYou. I sent them both emails asking about their best price on the Rigol unit along with any discount options such as student pricing.
To date neither has replied. It’s been over a week. Not a whisper. Not a “we’ll get back to you”. Sure they may be so busy selling to the masses that a request for a price on a low end product may not warrant contact. I’m just not sure about their motives. All I can say is that by looking after the little sales you may just find the bottom line looking after itself. From experience I’ve seen individual sales upwards of $100,000 dollars evaporate due to poor customer service and bad communication – much to the delight of our sales team whose opposition thought they were a shoe in. Like I said, look after the pennies. The dollars can look after themselves.
Companies like Rigol who depend on their international distributors, like Emona, to represent them in smaller markets like Australia may find themselves battling headaches not of their making and garnering tarnished reputations. This is due to the rise and rise of online stores and the easy access potential customers have of hearing customer feedback not censored by the manufacturer or distributor. Companies must always remember that bad reviews are ten times stickier than good.
It’s not all bad though. I’ve had too many good online experiences to mention. But what are the top reasons for returning and what makes for a great online shopping experience?
The online marketplace is massive and only getting bigger. You as a company need to respect the customer. Make your shop a destination. Market yourself well. Have a point of difference and treat your reputation as gold. Mud sticks.
The future of shopping is rental. Virtual. Nothing solid. Nothing permanent. From Kindle books to games via online services like Steam. And what does this mean to you? Read on to find out.
In a post by Ars Technica, we are told of a court upholding the rights of a software company to enforce its EULA preventing the resale of some used software. And as the post title states – you don’t own it.
Is this a bad thing?
Maybe. Maybe not.
Let’s put it this way. Steam is site that allows you to “buy” games online. You download new release titles to your computer and as long as you retain an account with Steam you keep the game. In return you often pay less for the game due to the “virtual” nature of the sale. No boxes. No driving to the store. And the game is always kept up to date as part of the service. This saves you money – which is great. But you can’t resell the game after you conquer it. Small price to pay really.
Then there’s the dead trees. From text book rentals through sites like Chegg to treeless novels via the wonders of e-readers like the Kindle, Kobo, and Nook. These services give you a way to save money on exorbitantly priced text books and a way to save the planet. If memory serves me, and it rarely does, twenty Kindle e-book purchases makes the Kindle carbon-neutral. That is a positive in anyone’s … um … book.
So there we have it. The future of shopping is, well, virtual. We’ll pay for nothing. Get nothing. And love the savings and convenience of it all.
Like quite a few people I’m sure, I got a little intrigued by the silver haired, silver tongue, Sir Richard Branson when he came out bashing the banks. He introduced the rebellious Virgin Money relaunch stating that the banks needed some competition.
So I signed up. Over two weeks ago.
Since then I’ve received 4 letters, two secret numbers, account numbers, bsb’s, 16 digit internet access numbers, and some dead trees.
I tried to get things moving after the first two because I thought that may be all you’d need. 2 telephone calls later to, what sounded like, the Philippines and I was nervously informed that I needed to wait for 2 more letters. Meanwhile my hard earned cash was earning nothing.
Finally I received that sneaky 4th letter – I anxiously clicked on to the “Create User Id” button and plugged in the 16 digit internet access number, my PIN, and my account number – “Information Not Recognised” was the reply.
So here I am – late at night – tearing at my hair, wondering what confounded beasts concocted such a complicated system. One that needs to send 4 letters? One that needs both an account number and an internet access number? One that needs a telephone PIN and an internet PIN? And one that needs all of this to create yet another user ID?
Fed up I thought I’d send them an email to get some answers. I clicked on the contact us link and I was sent straight back to the “New to Virgin Money” page.
So that’s all she wrote folks. Not using it. Don’t care. I’m breaking out my old ING Direct account. I just don’t remember needing to jump through so many hoops for such a simple thing.
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