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On Hold for 45 Minutes? It Might Be Your Secret Customer Score

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Re: On Hold for 45 Minutes? It Might Be Your Secret Customer Score

#261

Post by sjg007 »

tomjen3 wrote: post #156
lostlogin wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experiece the exact opposite is done by telecoms, insurance and banks. New customers are enticed with offers not available to existing customers, and great things are offered to them. Being a customer for decades doesn’t have rewards with that group of businesses.

I have been with my current bank since I was 3 months. I needed a loan to pay deposite for my first after college apartment -- nearly couldn't get it, had to provide a budget, etc even though it was a very reasonable amount. The thing I don't get is, do they expect me to ask them should the time come to get a loan for a house?

Mortgages are tricky.. consumers either shop around for the best deal or they use a broker to do so (who may not work in your best interest per se)... Then the loans get bought and sold all the time and your servicer will change.. There are some perks with having a mortgage with your bank though..

Re: On Hold for 45 Minutes? It Might Be Your Secret Customer Score

#262

Post by leetcrew »

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #210
njarboe wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So if you aren't in the top tier, fly Southwest as much as you can. I do. All the same seats with minor differentiation possible. There are many reasons they have been the only airline to be profitable for decades, but having good service for everyone is definitelty one of the reasons.

Strongly disagree. Southwest is hugely overrated imo. It’s one of those companies that maybe used to be better or something, so they have a whole class of fans who are blind to how lame they currently are. I’m probably that way about Apple :) Not that any of the other major carriers is much better. But I don’t love the lining up and then hoping for a good seat, they’re often not the cheapest, and letting everyone che…

i suspect people's opinions about airlines are severely skewed by their home airport and choice of route. i mainly fly between two southwest hubs, and only occasionally is there a delay of 30-60 minutes. when i fly the same route on united, it is delayed more often than not, sometimes by hours or even cancelled entirely.

Re: On Hold for 45 Minutes? It Might Be Your Secret Customer Score

#263

Post by hakfoo »

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #210
njarboe wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So if you aren't in the top tier, fly Southwest as much as you can. I do. All the same seats with minor differentiation possible. There are many reasons they have been the only airline to be profitable for decades, but having good service for everyone is definitelty one of the reasons.

Strongly disagree. Southwest is hugely overrated imo. It’s one of those companies that maybe used to be better or something, so they have a whole class of fans who are blind to how lame they currently are. I’m probably that way about Apple :) Not that any of the other major carriers is much better. But I don’t love the lining up and then hoping for a good seat, they’re often not the cheapest, and letting everyone che…

My feelings on unbundling: it's less about the product, and more about product-market fit.

Air travel was a premium market product for many Americans well within living memory. The old regulated-pricing model helped to reinforce this: airlines used to sometimes advertise "we're the same cost as the other guys, but our food is better/planes are faster/experience is superior." So people traditionally expect a certain degree of basic services and features.

The market pivoted quite quickly towards "we're promoting the lowest price we legally can by means of unbundling features", and obviously, they're not going to trumpet the second half of that premise.

Either cnnsumers aren't quite ready to adjust their expectations that far downward, or the product is now so hollowed out that even the new lower price feels too high for what it is.

Re: On Hold for 45 Minutes? It Might Be Your Secret Customer Score

#264

Post by sjg007 »

Scoundreller wrote: post #142
indecisive_user wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>airlines routinely fly planes that aren't full, instead of going to extreme lengths to auction off ever-cheaper tickets in hopes of getting someone in every seat on every flight. Though I agree with your broader point, if airlines regularly auctioned off seats right before a flight it would encourage customers to wait until such time to make their ticket purchase. Even if the actioned seat still net them some profit…

I wonder why the last-minute-inventory auction model is so popular for hotels and not for flights. I get that not every flight is equal, but nor are hotels, yet they have systems for blind comparisons.

Some airlines do this.. like Wow.. or Ryanair. They usually start the other way with cheap first then really expensive but sometimes you can find them still at the cheap level.

Re: On Hold for 45 Minutes? It Might Be Your Secret Customer Score

#265

Post by throw2016 »

It will be difficult for engineers to wash their hands off this level of surveillance, as they are building it.

All the dissent is coming from other places, we have not had any protests, resignations or even leaks to warn the public about the level of surveillance underway.

This betrays an indifference even support among engineers of invasive surveillance that others find abhorrent.

There is a sharp contrast between the unequivocal indignation and outrage similar stories generate on other countries as a reflection of something greater while here they seem to dissipate into a factoid with no larger implications.

Re: On Hold for 45 Minutes? It Might Be Your Secret Customer Score

#266

Post by lozaning »

philwelch wrote: post #218
mehrdadn wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean it's gone much farther than this? Would you have any examples?

Political campaigns track voters on an individual level, correlating third party data with public voter rolls and using the data for microtargeting and analytics.

Any yet I've somehow been bombarded all week with spam sms from only the party who's candidates I do not intend to vote for. Anyone that could tie the website I visit to my phone number should be able to guess that easily enough.

Re: On Hold for 45 Minutes? It Might Be Your Secret Customer Score

#267

Post by leetcrew »

Scoundreller wrote: post #142
indecisive_user wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>airlines routinely fly planes that aren't full, instead of going to extreme lengths to auction off ever-cheaper tickets in hopes of getting someone in every seat on every flight. Though I agree with your broader point, if airlines regularly auctioned off seats right before a flight it would encourage customers to wait until such time to make their ticket purchase. Even if the actioned seat still net them some profit…

I wonder why the last-minute-inventory auction model is so popular for hotels and not for flights. I get that not every flight is equal, but nor are hotels, yet they have systems for blind comparisons.

i don't actually know the answer, but here's a guess. imagine you are going on a trip and you are planning your outbound flight and first night's accommodations. you suspect that the price will go down at the last minute so you put off making reservations as long as possible. which are you more willing to risk, having a place to sleep when you get there, or getting there on the day that you planned? i suspect most people are more comfortable risking a late arrival than arriving with no place to stay.

Re: On Hold for 45 Minutes? It Might Be Your Secret Customer Score

#268

Post by marssaxman »

wpietri wrote: post #96
kenneth wrote: post #57

The most obvious example of this in daily life is through airlines, where the difference is pretty transparent and you get night-and-day better service by being a loyal customer. With top status with AA and UA (EXP and 1K), you connected to U.S.-based very senior phone agents right away, who always make sure to take care of any issue that arises. 50min delay on your AA flight? No problem, sir, we are rebooking you on…

Tangent: Are there other people here who just refuse to sign up for any of these programs? I have family members who are super into frequent flyer programs, credit card points, etc, etc. But I don't like the cognitive load they introduce, and I don't like having to figure out how much I'm being manipulated in any given interaction. I get that I'm missing out on goodies, but they're paying for those goodies somehow, s…

I've never signed up for a frequent flyer program. They're obviously just trying to get me to use their airline more often than I otherwise would. Seems to me I'm better off just keeping them all at a distance and picking whichever airline makes sense for each specific trip.

Re: On Hold for 45 Minutes? It Might Be Your Secret Customer Score

#269

Post by stiglitz »

wpietri wrote: post #96
kenneth wrote: post #57

The most obvious example of this in daily life is through airlines, where the difference is pretty transparent and you get night-and-day better service by being a loyal customer. With top status with AA and UA (EXP and 1K), you connected to U.S.-based very senior phone agents right away, who always make sure to take care of any issue that arises. 50min delay on your AA flight? No problem, sir, we are rebooking you on…

Tangent: Are there other people here who just refuse to sign up for any of these programs? I have family members who are super into frequent flyer programs, credit card points, etc, etc. But I don't like the cognitive load they introduce, and I don't like having to figure out how much I'm being manipulated in any given interaction. I get that I'm missing out on goodies, but they're paying for those goodies somehow, s…

I refuse all such games. It’s like Thoreau said: you judge your wealth based on what you can afford not to worry about. It means giving up money, but on principle these “points” are disgusting to me. Especially credit cards, which are also frequently rationalized based on their security benefits over debit cards- security benefits which IMO there is no reason debit cards shouldn’t also have.

Re: On Hold for 45 Minutes? It Might Be Your Secret Customer Score

#270

Post by PenguinCoder »

kenneth wrote: post #240
rconti wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not wrong, but I feel like they're chasing diminishing returns. Every other segment of the economy has shown us that people are willing to pay a premium (20%? 50%?) to be treated like a human and get a better service/product. On airlines, you have to pay 100% more just to get a refundable fare. 300% for premium economy (a slightly wider seat with slightly more legroom). 500% for business class. It's insane, an…

The price differences are not as stark as you say. Business class in particular has gotten quite cheap these days. In the past few months, I flew round-trip California to Beijing 3 times for $1,900 in business class. That's affordable to many people, and quite reasonable. There are a lot of perks even when you don't get an upgrade. The intangibles (being taken care of when issues arise — I've received amazing service…

Most people aren't flying international to begin with, and certainly not people trying to stay affordable. In that price range, 1900 per ticket is out of reach and certainly insane tonthink 'affordable' to an average customer of airline service.
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