26 August 2009 by Antoine Loup.

I flew back from London a few weeks ago on a Virgin Atlantic flight. As we were flying I was taking photos out of the window. I noticed there seemed to be something flapping near the wing.

I zoomed in and took as many photos as I could. Once the plane landed (it wasn’t much longer after I took the photos), I talked with some of the staff. The flight attendant asked me to speak with the captain, who then wanted me to show the picture to the engineer. I waited for the engineer to arrive, showed him the photos, and told him where I was sitting.

They all seemed very interested and even while I was waiting to go through customs, the pilot, stopped and said thanks again.

I hope it was nothing serious, but at least they all took the time to listen and seemed genuinely concerned. That was good customer service.

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17 June 2009 by Antoine Loup.

So, I just tried to order a laptop from Dell. I called one of the numbers listed in a previous quote they emailed me. After dealing with the automated line, a women answered and explained that I have a dedicated rep (I am that special you know), and that I would have to call him. I was surprised that I was not transferred, or that she did not ask if I would like to have them call me back. So I called the number she gave me and got a voice mail. So now I wonder if I should not take this time between me wanting to place an order and actually being able to place the order to do more research on other vendors products?

Update:

I just got an email from my “personal account representative” (the email lists him as a Relationship Sales Advisor) at Dell. He says he tried to call me, however, I have no voice mail and the receptionist did not have any incoming calls for me in the past 20 minutes (a nice little break!). The email subject line was “please call” and he instructed me to “please call him” and was kind enough to give me a phone number. The phone number however was not in service. I replied to the email and he called me and took the order. Now I am waiting to receive an email confirmation. We will have to see what happens next.

Update 2: So it is now the next morning and I still do not know if the order has even gone through. I was lucky enough to receive an email advertisement from Dell offering to sell me….a laptop.

Update 3: Two hours have passed since I left a voice mail at the original phone number I had. I have not received a call back or an email confirming the order. So is there a laptop on the way?

Update 4: So at 5:30 they sent the confirmation, and not only did someone list the fax number as a phone number, but after three years of direct contact with me, they still have the name wrong on the account - not misspelled, but completely wrong.

Update 5: So Dell has gone to hell… I didn’t bother to write how two days after confirmation we received a letter saying Dell opened a new account for our business. I also didn’t mention the unbearable torture I had to go through to find out why they opened a new account. I really do not want to even begin to talk about Dell Financial Services, as they seem to be completely incompetent. So 5 days after the laptop was supposed to be here, I was asked where it was. It seems Dell has decided it was going to need 3 more weeks to get the laptop here. So I called to ask why I was not updated? The automated system hung up on me twice and so I repeatedly pressed zero until a human answered. He was nice of enough to tell me I had a “personal account rep” and then transferred me to voice mail.This is customer service at its best. I left a message and am now waiting, again. Why would anyone want to deal with Dell if this is the service they are going to receive?

Update 6: So I finally got through to Dell and they said there was a problem, but they did send the laptop by overnight delivery. I then received the letter saying they were making changes to their accounting systems. I have to give them credit for using overnight delivery and for sending the letter, but maybe they could have sent the letter, before actually changing everything over? And maybe the CSRs who answer the phones for the accountign departments could be given some more information.

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15 February 2009 by Antoine Loup.

I came across this today and thought it was very appropriate based on the current financial situation occurring around the globe.

“Without change there is no innovation, creativity, or incentive for improvement. Those who initiate change will have a better opportunity to manage the change that is inevitable.”

- William Pollard

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6 February 2009 by Antoine Loup.

I came across this video at http://blogs.openforum.com/2009/01/25/failure-is-the-new-success/ Here is a link to the blog of Guy Kawasaki:  http://blog.guykawasaki.com/

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5 February 2009 by Antoine Loup.

I have registered my blog with Technorati. Here is a link to my profile:

Technorati Profile

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3 February 2009 by Antoine Loup.

Another blog….

This is not intended to become a regular item on my list of things to do, however following the theme of the rest of the site it is just a sample of who I am and the abilities I have.

I do appreciate you taking the time to read a little though.

Thanks,

Tony

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