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Who even comes up with these bizarre ideas? I cannot believe ideas like this are not only proposed in a professional setting but also approved and implemented!

Who even comes up with these bizarre ideas? I cannot believe ideas like this are not only proposed in a professional setting but also approved and implemented! Are we living in a bizarro-world?

cgcrob 2y ago
Every time I talk to an MBA grad I hear stuff like this spoken about enthusiastically. I suspect that they moved the business ethics bit to the elective part of the course.
- lotsofpulp 2y ago
  I suspect an adult willing to do these kinds of things is not going to change their ways due to an ethics course.
  - Mountain_Skies 2y ago
    The best likely outcome of ethics classes is for it to give good people who are naive about the business world some forewarning about dilemmas they're likely to face so they can be prepared to do what's necessary to preserve their integrity and not get caught up in the (possible fake) urgency of the moment.
- amarcheschi 2y ago
  Bold of you to assume there is one
elaus 2y ago
It worked great until the information about the policy got leaked AND made headlines around the world. I'm sure a lot of this stuff is going on which doesn't make it to the HN front page and therefore goes on for years, marginall increasing profits while actively harming customers.
- Mountain_Skies 2y ago
  That's probably the key here. The fifteen minute minimum wasn't disclosed to customers, they were made to think there were a bunch of other customers ahead of them in the call queue. Once word got out that the waits were artificially inflated, that's when customers went from annoyed to angry.
  - pixl97 2y ago
    A secret like this can be kept for a while, but support turnover is generally pretty high and after they quit/are fired your secrets will leak.
- dade_ 2y ago
  It’s not unusual to add a few minutes wait time for customers that didn’t input their data into the system, or for lower priority customers (ones without a support contract for example). What HP did is just incompetent management. Anyone that works in CC would advice against his strongly. Handle time will go up as every call will start with a complaint about the long wait time, agents will disengage and have higher absenteeism, supervisors will be stressed & angry about it. Brand damage is priceless though. Bravo.
baggachipz 2y ago
> Are we living in a bizarro-world? _Glances around everywhere, winces_ But seriously, how isolated and idiotic does an entire room of people need to be in order to do something like this? Did they not think the internet would go apeshit over such a policy? Was the cost-savings of people giving up on the support line worth this bad publicity? Anyone with an even slightly realistic view of being a customer would guffaw at such a suggestion. This is nothing but outright contempt for their customers.
Libcat99 2y ago
Support is looked at as a cost center only. This policy was meant to make people give up, it's literally anti-support.
bluGill 2y ago
Some companies (Ryanair) have a marketing strategy of coming up with stupid ideas once in a while just to keep people talking about them. However it appears they - unlike HP - know they are in a bizarro-world.
mft_ 2y ago
Misaligned incentives. The people who thought this up are clearly not aiming to provide the best-possible customer service. Likely, their goal is cost-saving, with delivery of a minimum-acceptable level of customer service. Let's be honest, very little of HP's activity seems focussed on providing the best-possible anything.
- MrMcCall 2y ago
  > best-possible anything Shareholder "value", i.e. profit They are, like the vast majority of corporate America, only providing for themselves, and not giving one shit about anyone else, especially their marks, I mean, customers.
  - mft_ 2y ago
    Fair point. :) Although I'd propose to optimise the concept to something like "shareholder value, inasmuch as it influences the rewards of the current leadership team, within their likely period of employment".
- IncreasePosts 2y ago
  Everyone has a budget. Maybe kicking people out to social media or whatever other channel is the best way to make that budget stretch the farthest. Of course, probably what would happen is the savings would be cut from the customer support budget.

Who even comes up with these bizarre ideas? I cannot believe ideas like this are not only proposed in a professional setting but also approved and implemented! Are we living in a bizarro-world?

cgcrob 2y ago

Every time I talk to an MBA grad I hear stuff like this spoken about enthusiastically. I suspect that they moved the business ethics bit to the elective part of the course.

lotsofpulp 2y ago
I suspect an adult willing to do these kinds of things is not going to change their ways due to an ethics course.
- Mountain_Skies 2y ago
  The best likely outcome of ethics classes is for it to give good people who are naive about the business world some forewarning about dilemmas they're likely to face so they can be prepared to do what's necessary to preserve their integrity and not get caught up in the (possible fake) urgency of the moment.
amarcheschi 2y ago
Bold of you to assume there is one

elaus 2y ago

It worked great until the information about the policy got leaked AND made headlines around the world. I'm sure a lot of this stuff is going on which doesn't make it to the HN front page and therefore goes on for years, marginall increasing profits while actively harming customers.

Mountain_Skies 2y ago
That's probably the key here. The fifteen minute minimum wasn't disclosed to customers, they were made to think there were a bunch of other customers ahead of them in the call queue. Once word got out that the waits were artificially inflated, that's when customers went from annoyed to angry.
- pixl97 2y ago
  A secret like this can be kept for a while, but support turnover is generally pretty high and after they quit/are fired your secrets will leak.
dade_ 2y ago
It’s not unusual to add a few minutes wait time for customers that didn’t input their data into the system, or for lower priority customers (ones without a support contract for example). What HP did is just incompetent management. Anyone that works in CC would advice against his strongly. Handle time will go up as every call will start with a complaint about the long wait time, agents will disengage and have higher absenteeism, supervisors will be stressed & angry about it. Brand damage is priceless though. Bravo.

baggachipz 2y ago

> Are we living in a bizarro-world? _Glances around everywhere, winces_ But seriously, how isolated and idiotic does an entire room of people need to be in order to do something like this? Did they not think the internet would go apeshit over such a policy? Was the cost-savings of people giving up on the support line worth this bad publicity? Anyone with an even slightly realistic view of being a customer would guffaw at such a suggestion. This is nothing but outright contempt for their customers.

Libcat99 2y ago

Support is looked at as a cost center only. This policy was meant to make people give up, it's literally anti-support.

bluGill 2y ago

Some companies (Ryanair) have a marketing strategy of coming up with stupid ideas once in a while just to keep people talking about them. However it appears they - unlike HP - know they are in a bizarro-world.

mft_ 2y ago

Misaligned incentives. The people who thought this up are clearly not aiming to provide the best-possible customer service. Likely, their goal is cost-saving, with delivery of a minimum-acceptable level of customer service. Let's be honest, very little of HP's activity seems focussed on providing the best-possible anything.

MrMcCall 2y ago
> best-possible anything Shareholder "value", i.e. profit They are, like the vast majority of corporate America, only providing for themselves, and not giving one shit about anyone else, especially their marks, I mean, customers.
- mft_ 2y ago
  Fair point. :) Although I'd propose to optimise the concept to something like "shareholder value, inasmuch as it influences the rewards of the current leadership team, within their likely period of employment".
IncreasePosts 2y ago
Everyone has a budget. Maybe kicking people out to social media or whatever other channel is the best way to make that budget stretch the farthest. Of course, probably what would happen is the savings would be cut from the customer support budget.