3 ms·

Well that's not a good way to run a company - it's basically designed to be customer hostile.

WrtCdEvrydy 7y ago
Capitalism!
Latty 7y ago
Tell that to ISPs and, from what I hear, cable companies in the US—I’m sure there are other examples too. “Customer hostile” seems to be a perfectly “good” way to run a business if you goal is raw profit. Doubly so in the US with essentially non-existent consumer protection law.
- Gravityloss 7y ago
  That's an incentive for the customer to select another company.
  - wpietri 7y ago
    Only if they can. In the US, people generally have at most a couple of ISP choices, and the general pattern of duopolies is to offer basically the same thing with minor differentiators (e.g., one will be 10% cheaper and 10% worse). Many airline routes are minimally competitive. This is not getting better with ecosystem lock-in effects. As TFA mentions, this guy had such a bad experience that he sued Apple, and he still bought another laptop from them. That's because Apple intentionally killed off the companies that built MacOS compatible hardware, and never allowed anybody else to build IOS phones or tablets.
  - Latty 7y ago
    Sure, in a simple textbook supply-and-demand model, but we all know that in the real world that isn't how it works. Most people have very limited choices, and all those choices engage in essentially the same user-hostile practices anyway. The only “choice” is to leave it altogether, which is visibly happening now there is an alternative to cable TV, but not having an internet connection isn't an option for most people.
wpietri 7y ago
Again, it depends on your metric for "good". It's clearly good for Joe, and in the semi-feudal power structure of the modern corporation, that's sufficient. It's also often a profitable way to run a company. Take a look at the Net Promoter Score for the Fortune 500: https://customer.guru/net-promoter-score/fortune-500 https://customer.guru/net-promoter-score/fortune-500 The number in theory ranges from 100 (everybody would enthusiastically promote to friends) to -100 (the opposite). Some well-liked companies include Apple at 47, Starbucks at 77, and Costco at 79. In contrast, Comcast is -3, Time Warner is -5, United is -8. There are definitely some places loved by customers in the Fortune 500, but as you look down the list it's far from universal. Comcast's profit was something like $11 billion last year. Are they customer hostile? Notoriously. Do they care? Not really!

Capitalism!

Tell that to ISPs and, from what I hear, cable companies in the US—I’m sure there are other examples too. “Customer hostile” seems to be a perfectly “good” way to run a business if you goal is raw profit. Doubly so in the US with essentially non-existent consumer protection law.

Gravityloss 7y ago
That's an incentive for the customer to select another company.
- wpietri 7y ago
  Only if they can. In the US, people generally have at most a couple of ISP choices, and the general pattern of duopolies is to offer basically the same thing with minor differentiators (e.g., one will be 10% cheaper and 10% worse). Many airline routes are minimally competitive. This is not getting better with ecosystem lock-in effects. As TFA mentions, this guy had such a bad experience that he sued Apple, and he still bought another laptop from them. That's because Apple intentionally killed off the companies that built MacOS compatible hardware, and never allowed anybody else to build IOS phones or tablets.
- Latty 7y ago
  Sure, in a simple textbook supply-and-demand model, but we all know that in the real world that isn't how it works. Most people have very limited choices, and all those choices engage in essentially the same user-hostile practices anyway. The only “choice” is to leave it altogether, which is visibly happening now there is an alternative to cable TV, but not having an internet connection isn't an option for most people.

wpietri 7y ago

Again, it depends on your metric for "good". It's clearly good for Joe, and in the semi-feudal power structure of the modern corporation, that's sufficient. It's also often a profitable way to run a company. Take a look at the Net Promoter Score for the Fortune 500: https://customer.guru/net-promoter-score/fortune-500 https://customer.guru/net-promoter-score/fortune-500 The number in theory ranges from 100 (everybody would enthusiastically promote to friends) to -100 (the opposite). Some well-liked companies include Apple at 47, Starbucks at 77, and Costco at 79. In contrast, Comcast is -3, Time Warner is -5, United is -8. There are definitely some places loved by customers in the Fortune 500, but as you look down the list it's far from universal. Comcast's profit was something like $11 billion last year. Are they customer hostile? Notoriously. Do they care? Not really!