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The technology isn’t why. Idiot businesspeople focused on the short term who think it’s good business to piss off their customers as long as they don’t switch t

The technology isn’t why. Idiot businesspeople focused on the short term who think it’s good business to piss off their customers as long as they don’t switch to a competitor is why.

bogwog 7y ago
That's not what it is either. It's just the effects of monopolies. If the telecom giants had to worry about real competition, they'd actually need to make customers happy to stay competitive. The only way I was able to escape Comcast's dogshit service was by moving to a different house.
- whyenot 7y ago
  There is what appears to be "real competition" in the airline industry. It doesn't seem to help.
  - nyolfen 7y ago
    you can fly southwest
    - chrischen 7y ago
      You can fly Singapore airlines, the #1 rated airline, only except you probably can't because airline routes are highly segregated.
  - mikeash 7y ago
    If you look through lists of companies with the worst customer service, there doesn’t seem to be any correlation with competition. For example, Best Buy frequently appears, and they have tons of competition. Other retailers show up, and banks are another big category.
  - d-sc 7y ago
    Airlines price discriminate their support. If you fly first class frequently, you will get much better service than if you always choose the cheapest tickets.
  - StanislavPetrov 7y ago
    There isn't remotely what you would consider to be "real competition" in the airlines industry. Only last year American, Southwest and other major airlines agreed to settle a price-fixing lawsuit for tens of millions of dollars. Airlines regularly collude to fix prices. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-15/american-agrees-to-pay-45-million-to-settle-fare-collusion-suit https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-15/american-...
  - awakeasleep 7y ago
    Competition in the world of Airlines needs to happen on a per route basis. A lot of people miss this fact. Airlines monopolize routes, not air travel in general.
- charles_f 7y ago
  Completely agree, looks like that's where evolution is sadly bringing us. Reminds me of a totally different example, recently saw a documentary on the history of Whistler Blackcomb (ski resort in BC). They used to be two different resorts geographically right next to each others. While they were competing, they were innovating, one playing on the cool side, crafting runs to be perfect for snowboarding. The other was playing on the family / classy side, distributing hot chocolate in the lineups. Prices were kept down. Then they merged into one resort, which apart from the purely skiing part is undifferentiable from others. Prices went up. The resort got bought out by Vale 3y ago, prices skirocketed (50% increase on the daily tickets). Point is, competition was keeping two small businesses at bay, caring at least 2fks for their satisfaction cause if they weren't, they would just climb the south mountain rather than the north. Now if you want actual competition you need to drive 6h to the east, so who cares. Plus you now need to extract administration cost for the larger entity and dividends for the larger number of shareholders that have supported the investment. Any consolidation that happens makes me sad, cause it's never good for you as a customer.
close04 7y ago
Are they idiots though? They know the customer has no choice so they leverage this into offering the absolute worst service they can offer and still make money. On the other hand their lobby groups make sure this remains the status quo. This isn't a happy accident for those "idiot businesspeople", it's a carefully thought out business plan.
- mikeash 7y ago
  Even if you can ride the fine line to keep frustrated customers, they’ll tell friends, family, and strangers about how much you suck and you’ll have a harder time acquiring new customers.
  - close04 7y ago
    That's great for situations where you don't really need the service. But some of the worst offenders are ISPs and mobile operators and they're also in the best position to have monopoly.
  - luckylion 7y ago
    As long as your competitors do the same thing, they'll tell their brother and he'll reply with "oh I had the same experience with $competitor" and customer service is no longer a relevant factor in deciding which company to go with.

The technology isn’t why. Idiot businesspeople focused on the short term who think it’s good business to piss off their customers as long as they don’t switch to a competitor is why.

bogwog 7y ago

That's not what it is either. It's just the effects of monopolies. If the telecom giants had to worry about real competition, they'd actually need to make customers happy to stay competitive. The only way I was able to escape Comcast's dogshit service was by moving to a different house.

whyenot 7y ago
There is what appears to be "real competition" in the airline industry. It doesn't seem to help.
- nyolfen 7y ago
  you can fly southwest
  - chrischen 7y ago
    You can fly Singapore airlines, the #1 rated airline, only except you probably can't because airline routes are highly segregated.
- mikeash 7y ago
  If you look through lists of companies with the worst customer service, there doesn’t seem to be any correlation with competition. For example, Best Buy frequently appears, and they have tons of competition. Other retailers show up, and banks are another big category.
- d-sc 7y ago
  Airlines price discriminate their support. If you fly first class frequently, you will get much better service than if you always choose the cheapest tickets.
- StanislavPetrov 7y ago
  There isn't remotely what you would consider to be "real competition" in the airlines industry. Only last year American, Southwest and other major airlines agreed to settle a price-fixing lawsuit for tens of millions of dollars. Airlines regularly collude to fix prices. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-15/american-agrees-to-pay-45-million-to-settle-fare-collusion-suit https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-15/american-...
- awakeasleep 7y ago
  Competition in the world of Airlines needs to happen on a per route basis. A lot of people miss this fact. Airlines monopolize routes, not air travel in general.
charles_f 7y ago
Completely agree, looks like that's where evolution is sadly bringing us. Reminds me of a totally different example, recently saw a documentary on the history of Whistler Blackcomb (ski resort in BC). They used to be two different resorts geographically right next to each others. While they were competing, they were innovating, one playing on the cool side, crafting runs to be perfect for snowboarding. The other was playing on the family / classy side, distributing hot chocolate in the lineups. Prices were kept down. Then they merged into one resort, which apart from the purely skiing part is undifferentiable from others. Prices went up. The resort got bought out by Vale 3y ago, prices skirocketed (50% increase on the daily tickets). Point is, competition was keeping two small businesses at bay, caring at least 2fks for their satisfaction cause if they weren't, they would just climb the south mountain rather than the north. Now if you want actual competition you need to drive 6h to the east, so who cares. Plus you now need to extract administration cost for the larger entity and dividends for the larger number of shareholders that have supported the investment. Any consolidation that happens makes me sad, cause it's never good for you as a customer.

close04 7y ago

Are they idiots though? They know the customer has no choice so they leverage this into offering the absolute worst service they can offer and still make money. On the other hand their lobby groups make sure this remains the status quo. This isn't a happy accident for those "idiot businesspeople", it's a carefully thought out business plan.

mikeash 7y ago
Even if you can ride the fine line to keep frustrated customers, they’ll tell friends, family, and strangers about how much you suck and you’ll have a harder time acquiring new customers.
- close04 7y ago
  That's great for situations where you don't really need the service. But some of the worst offenders are ISPs and mobile operators and they're also in the best position to have monopoly.
- luckylion 7y ago
  As long as your competitors do the same thing, they'll tell their brother and he'll reply with "oh I had the same experience with $competitor" and customer service is no longer a relevant factor in deciding which company to go with.