The Customer is Never Right

I am going to take a break from politics today, to discuss a trend I find happening more and more...crappy customer service. It started a couple of years after I got my cell phone, in college. I began to notice that cell phones sucked unless hugging a metal pole, and customer care reps could care less if your phone call got dropped 36 times in a span of 3 minutes. I still hate cell phone companies, and AT&T's stupid commercial about dropped calls (I cancelled them because of dropped calls, which they said didn't happen). Now, its affecting every type of company, which is scary, because America is becoming a service based country.

The reason I am writing this now, is because over the past few months, I have encountered really crappy customer service, which at first seemed plausible or okay, but upon reflection, just sucks. So here is my list of crappy customer service:

1. Pulte Homes. I bought a Pulte townhouse within the last year and I thought everything was going fine. Then I noticed my floors were starting to buckle. Well, wood floors are not perfect, but I figured that we needed to get them fixed, because they did not look normal. Now, 2 1/2 months later, our floors still have not been fixed correctly. They have been completely ripped out, we had to move out for a week, yet some how they still didn't fix them correctly. While, this is not the customer service departments fault (the company's fault for hiring crappy sub contractors), we have experience glitches with customer service the entire time. We were allowed to move back in, yet the house was covered in construction dust, the floors were laid wrong and our kitchen island wasn't even re-attached. Our plumbing was not reattached, and there was urine from the workers fermenting in the toilet. We waited hours for the cleaning people to finally come, and they didn't even clean much of the house. Then, when the flooring guys came back out, unannounced, they got in an argument with my wife that the floors were fine (even though they weren't glued down by the stairs, they said the moving of the wood was normal). These things should have never happened, but even if they did, Pulte's customer care people should have noticed it first and fixed it before we came back. But, they never catch anything. Everything is always done half assed in hopes that we won't find out. Then customer service always plays dumb. After months of dealing with them...they officially suck.

2. American Express. I finally joined the Amex crowd. I was proud when I got my Delta SkyMiles card, and couldn't wait for all those points to come flowing into my sky miles account. I would be flying free, first class to Thailand in no time (Sorry Veronica, we can only afford the crying baby section for you this time). But, Amex decided not to read my Detla SkyMiles number I provided them on my application and opened up another sky miles account for me instead. Awesome, now I have two accounts with miles in them. Okay, no big deal. I called Amex to have it corrected. They put me on hold at least 30 times, said they figured it out (since it is hard to cancel one account and link up the other), a new card would be mailed and all the miles were now in my original account. I kept checking for 2 weeks and it never happened. I called them again...they said they were sorry, and said it was corrected. BUT, this time once it transferred, then I had to order a new card with the correct account number. They also gave me 3,000 BONUS miles for the ordeal. Great customer service, right? Well, it still hasn't happened yet, almost a week later. AND, there are no bonus miles in either one of my accounts. So, either Ryan Ruth keeps getting all of my miles or they aren't fixing the problem. Three weeks later, my account is still screwed up. How hard is this?

3. Brooks Brothers. I needed some new business shirts, since starting my new cool job as a lawyer. I went into every lawyer's essential clothing store, for some new shirts. The only problem? No one would acknowledge I was alive, let alone help me. It was awkward to say the least. Well, I did this three times. I would go in, my shirt size wasn't out, I would look for help, the sales associates would help old rich men throwing hundred dollar bills everywhere, while I was throwing shirts around the store. I felt invisible. Finally, after the third time I emailed Brooks Brothers about the incident, figuring nothing would happen. Well, they immediately emailed me back and the store manager called. Great customer service, right? Well I thought so, too. The manager said she was sorry, offered me 25% off (nothing too special, since they had that sale the weekend before) and tickets to a mall concert. Well, when I went in to finally get my shopping done (the manager said she would personally help me), guess what happened...No one would help me. After once again screaming around the store throwing merchandise, no one would even look at me. I finally went to the registers to get help. It took at least a minute before the one guy kind of made a "waking up" motion, and said "oh, do you need help?". By this time, I was naked and bleeding from my head after bashing it 800 times on the cash register to get his attention. I asked for the manager and she got my shirts. I am not going back to that Brooks Brothers.

4. Macy's. I bought new furniture. They lied about when it would be delivered several times and the ottoman did not match the chair. I called customer service and explained we had guest coming into town, that it was promised a week earlier and that their company lied to us. She said she was sorry, but couldn't do anything. There was not another sofa like the one we bought being delivered in the entire United States. Really? Well, I now have a very rare sofa, and may be selling it on e-bay. Come on, I know she was lying. Then, after I had to buy tailgating chairs and another chair so we could sit, and waiting months for our sofa to be delivered...they took off about 47 cents for the problems, from my credit card bill. I hate the sofa, on top of it all.

These are just four recent incidents in a long line. None of them too horrible (except Pulte), but its four different companies. Housing, Banks/Credit, furniture sales and clothing sales. All four of them never even solved the problem, while each saying they have GREAT customer service. They did at least acknowledge something was wrong and put a band aid on it...but they never did fix the actual problem.

I don't have much hope for America, if companies cant solve their problems. The private market is supposed to solve all problems. The market will work itself out, people say. Well, what if everyone in the market decides to suck? Where does that leave us? The entire airline industry and cell phone industry have taken this approach. It seems like others are following. All I can say, is either I am the most unlucky man alive, or American companies have some big time problems in customer relations that are only going to get worse.

Who has College Debt?

New proposals are showing up everywhere to stop the increase in college tuition and to minimize college debt. This is an interesting problem often with solutions that only cause bigger problems. In most states, college tuition is getting out of control and it's insane at private schools. Now many government officials, from both parties, want to stop the increase of tuition. The idea is simple: If tuition bills stop rising, college debt will stop rising. Unfortunately, this is not the true, for many reasons.

First, lets agree that college tuition is getting pretty out of control for most public schools and almost all private colleges and universities (Note: this is not the case for public colleges and universities in Florida, where I went to school) . I will talk about tuition issues in a moment. But, a big reason students must take out large loans, is because of living expenses, not just tuition. If someone wants to attend a college, they have to get a place to stay, have transportation, buy clothes, food, etc. Many schools now require mandatory health insurance and computers. I am not suggesting any of these things are bad, or not needed, but that adds a lot to the total cost of college. For me, it was a little over half of my loan when I went to law school. Many places, this isn't the case, but it still can reach $15,000 to $20,000 a year easily. Some may say that students should live in college housing, yet many colleges do not have enough housing and when you are a graduate student, do you want to live among freshman? So, even if the political pigs can some how stop the rise of tuition (or erase it entirely), there are these costs that will continue to rise every single year. Loans will still be needed.

Now, to the tuition argument. Under some plans by some very intelligent political pigs, there will be pressure on colleges and universities to either stop raising tuition or help pay for a larger percentage of the tuition. An idea is to force colleges and universities with large endowments to pay a mandatory percentage of their endowments to lower tuition. I am opposed to this, because colleges and universities are not in the business of making profits to pay shareholders. These endowments are to continue upgrading facilities, pay for great faculty and have up to date technology. While I do believe endowments should be used to help students who cannot afford tuition, they should not be used to help subsidize everyone. Remember, if you don't like the cost of Harvard, don't go there. There are plenty of great schools academically, that cost a fraction of Harvard. Additionally, targeting schools with big endowments will only affect a small percentage of colleges and universities. These tend to be the more selective institutions. This does not account for the vast majority of schools. So, how will they pay for need services with less income? Remember, while it seems colleges and universities live in a bubble, they still are affected by price increases, inflation, gas hikes, etc. Many must increase their tuition just to keep up with rising costs. Private schools recieve little to no funding from a state, while state schools increasingly must rely on tuition and endowments, rather than state money, because legislatures don't want to invest tax dollars in education.

My point is that fixing tuition prices will not solve the college debt problem. It will only hurt the academic institutions, creating a worse learning environment for the students, and still forcing students to incur a lot of loans at not so great interest rates.

So, how do we solve the college debt problem? Two possible ways: 1. Government can raise taxes significantly so every man, woman and child can attend public universities and colleges for free, leaving the wealthy who can pay more to attend private schools; or 2. Government can increase the maximum it will loan to college students, and lower the interest rates on such loans.

Number 2 is the best option. Government, without influencing the private market as much, and keeping taxes down, can easily provide more loans at lower interest rates. Wouldn't you rather your tax dollars being invested in the future of America, with a return small monetary return, rather than sending those same dollars to another country for wars and infrastructure? While students will still fall into debt, it will help them avoid private loans which are far more expensive, and the lower interest rates will help to keep payments down over the 30 years of the loan. This alternative is much more managable for the student, and keeps schools out of the red. Remember, government education loans cannot be erased simply by filing bankruptcy. They follow you to the grave.

If we lived in a perfect world, no one would have to work and everything would be free. Since we don't, this is the best way to solve the college debt problem. This allows students to choose their schools freely, allows the schools to raise money and pay for items they deem necessary, and prevent the government from invading even more into the private market and our every day lives. Why the political pigs don't go for this, I am not sure. Remember, Hillary wants to give every new born $5,000 for college. In 18 years, do you think $5,000 would even cover 4 weeks of college tuition? Lets fix the system while not increasing taxes and burdening our nation's schools.

Attack at the Pump

It has been a while since my last post, I am sure all two of my readers must have thought I died or that I gave up. Never. Well, I like to think I will never die, give up, maybe. But, it is time to tackle a 2006 "HOT" issue, that cooled some last winter, but is now climbing on the Political Hot-o-meter. That is Gas. I am not talking about the type I always seem to get before bed, but the type I'm can no longer get for under 3 bucks a gallon.

Gas prices are starting to soar again, which means that some complex explanations, graphs, charts and indexes are being employed on the Sunday morning talk shows. Over the past few months, Oil prices have been charging up, but gas prices were lagging behind. Today a report said that in the next couple weeks, Gas prices will soar 20 more cents a gallon, making the average gallon around $3.30. I am not going to bore you on an economics lesson of why oil prices go up and down, supply and demand, etc. I am also not going to blame this on OPEC (while they are somewhat to blame, they control less than half the oil production worldwide and are pumping at high rates).

The problem simply is, oil is not a renewable good. It is getting harder to find, when we do find it, it's expensive to dig up and where we seem to be digging it up is either in the middle of the Arctic, the hurricane expressway, or in countries that hate developed nations. While we can talk "fuel efficiency" or "bio fuels", etc...the only way we will ever get out of this mess is by either: a) creating a new and cheap replacement fuel, b) start using A LOT less gas or c) all of the above. The only real way it can be done, is not using as much while cheaper alternative is found.

A great professor of mine once said that if the government would just increase the gas tax several dollars more a gallon, people would use less gas and it would in the end solve our reliance on oil. Now, I am paraphrasing a bit here, but that was basically his point. He pointed to the fact that gas was much more expensive in Europe, and because of that people used mass transit. But, this becomes a chicken and egg question. Did mass transit develop because of high prices, or were governments able to tax more because of the widespread availability of mass transit?

America has no such mass transit. We rely heavily on our cars to get from our home to work. This is because of the 1950s phenomenon of "suburbs". Back then, oil seemed like it would last forever. There weren't as many people or cars in the world as there are today. For long distances, Americans prefer to use planes rather than trains. Europe has both, but an extensive network of trains. So, for long distances, Americans have to either drive or pay an arm and a leg for one of the most miserable experiences on a plane.

So, if we increase taxes (this is turning into economics) what will Americans do? We can't ride bikes or walk to work, like many Europeans, because our house is now 20 or 30 miles from our job. We can't drive, because our gas bill each week will be roughly $100 to $200 per car. There are no trains, or even enough bus routes. The economy would crash over night. So, it has to be a slow process...which, surprise, is what is happening right now, except we are still doing very little about it.

We have known for the past few years that the days of $.99 gallons of gas are long gone. Heck, $2.00/gallon gas seems like a distant memory. Yet, people are still buying cars that get 13 mpg and no one is pushing to construct more train routes or investing in mass transit. Heck, while we are spending money in other countries to fight (some say for oil), our roads and air system is falling apart. The federal and state governments are not putting the required public dollars in infrastructure and Americans are buying more fuel efficient cars, meaning the gradual natural progression of things is going to be a violent economic crash if changes aren't made.

Oil and gas will not be around forever. Even if we have deposits left 100 years from now, it will be so expensive to use, and we will have so many people around the world needing it...it might as well be gone. This is the direction we are heading, because more countries are becoming industrialized (i.e. China and India) and more people want cars and need oil and gas to run them. The only way to eventually solve this crisis is to develop new technologies to completely replace oil. BUT, this will take MANY years to develop. So, while we are all waiting on the mad scientist, other things must happen. These things in part require, unfortunately, a big government (preferably state, but in some cases will require federal). But, a large part if it can be pushed by corporate America, and a lot of money can be made. Al Gore's movie is already beginning to scare people, so if corporate America keeps pushing this green issue, they could make billions upon billions (and save the world at the same time, a win win).

1. People must start buying smaller cars and more fuel efficient cars. Hybrids are great, but there are plenty of cars that are cheaper and conserve more fuel. Car companies need to make cooler looking small cars, that are also practical. This is lacking big time, by all car companies.

2. People must start moving closer to work. The days of driving 20 or 30 miles into work, so you can live in the burbs are rapidly coming to an end. If you want to live in a smaller town, you need a job in that town. On the flip side, this in time will really help the real estate market. If you own land (not a condo) near large or even medium sized down towns, you could be very rich one day. While this will increase the cost of owning property, the flip side is you won't need a car...or at least two cars. Instead you can buy that really cool, but practical, small car.

3. Governments must start providing more money for mass transit. Start building the infrastructure now, so its there when the collapse happens. If you build easy convenient mass transit, then you can tax the hell out of gas to pay for it all. But, the mass transit must be in place first, before the price of gas soars. If oil/gas companies were really smart, they could be investing in these operations. One day, oil will be gone. But, Shell or BP could be operating a quasi private fast rail lines. It would be similar to toll roads, which in some places, are now going private, or like private parking decks. It would have a lot of upstart money, but these companies have been making billions in profits every year. To have a successful company, you must invest.

4. Government and private companies should be investing a lot more in rail technology. People will have a second option for mid range trips, that would take 3 to 8 hours in a car, but is always a pain and waste of money to fly to. Amtrak right now is a joke, because its limited in where it goes, and in many places, is slow. High speed rail options must be created in more places. In addition, more of our goods can be shipped on trains, rather than on trucks, sucking up less gas and not clogging and destroying any more of our already clogged roads.

The sad thing is, none of this will happen, at least, not without the next depression. That is because politicians, corporations and the American public, only care about the short-run, these days. While mixed use developments are becoming more popular, creating higher densities and the "work, live, play" mentality, the other components are not following. In the city of Atlanta, there is the push to move back in closer to the city, which will help save on the amount of miles driven every day. But, people still drive around in the city in huge SUVs and the mass transit rail is a complete joke (it only runs North/South and East/West, missing some of the biggest communities. This is in a big city, so the situation is even worse in smaller cities and towns.

Unfortunately, things are going to get much worse before they get better. To prepare for the end, buy a small car and move close to your job (within a mile or two). Also start saving. But, at least when the next great depression hits...there will be plenty of work projects to build these projects and people to employ (since all the corporations will be bankrupt). Too bad we don't have politicians, corporate execs and citizens that see beyond the next election cycle or quarterly report to stop this from happening.