douglasmkelly's posterous

History: You could say that I'm an Apple Lover. I own 2 Apple Macintosh G4 Desktops - in use - one Graphite 500MHz I tricked out with a Dual Gig-a-Hertz processor, additional hard drive and maxed RAM. There's a MacBook Pro in various pieces in a drawer in my office. I won an iPad at a Networking Event (see the top article from the previous link and others on Networking in GR). And, I'm writing you from my big girl friend - See above article. I own an iPhone 3GS purchased the day they came out June 21st, 2009. It's white. I loved her until 2 months ago, when alla-sudden she started being whiny when using location based services or switching between the 3G AT&T Network and Edge (2G) or the WiFi radio. Essentially she'll just crash. Poof. Narcolepsy.

Apple? Are you listening?

I've just pretty much stopped using the AT&T 3G Network, consequently. It does work if I'm connected to a power source, so driving while using Google Maps, requires being plugged in. If I use location in one place, and use it again in the same place, I should be ok... but not all the time. Generally she gets all whonky when I move around between towers using Location apps. I think the tower database may be corrupted or perhaps the battery... But who really knows, since the Apple.com site is no real help with this regard. Monday, the speaker at the top, where your ear goes, ceased to work. Lucky I have Blue Tooth headsets and/or ear buds. Just one more thing that isn't happy with her.

Yesterday I went into the Apple Store, was met by a cutie at the door, saying that I needed an appointment - the next one available was for 4PM in the afternoon - there must have been at least 35-40 patrons in the store, and at least that many Apple-logoed, blue-shirted people with iPads walking about. Last weekend the employees at all the Apple Stores redid the stores to put iPads at every product station, where you could learn more about that particular product and request an Apple Employee to assist you. They were up late getting ready for the opening. It was different, and slightly cooler. The iPad apps that are Apple iStore-Only are cool, but I don't know how 10th Anniversary-Cool it all was. The manager introduced himself to the conversation and was able to over-ride technology to give me an appointment with an Apple Genius in 1/2 hour. I made for the Starbucks and should have offered the cutie some coffee, she kept yawning.

30 minutes later... The Genius, after listening to all that I'd already accomplished, backed up my iPhone, then did a wipe and told her that she was a new iPhone. I'm pretty sure she didn't believe him. She might have played that game before. Funny thing: When I initially purchased my iPhone, they had to set up a device twice, as the first one didn't take to me. I'm wondering if there's a symbiotic thing. So anyway, my phone was done: Dude turned her on - I switched from Edge to 3G, did a Google Maps look up, switched off 3G started importing all my contacts - EVERYTHING WORKED!

I left the store believing that the phone was working, and made it to my car, wherein the New Amnesia Girl Friend starts acting like her old self. I returned to the Apple Store to talk to the girl answering the door. She remembered my name. I'd like to think it's because I'm cute - Yep, I'm going with that. The Genius that assisted me, ran up. We turned the phone back on and it did the same thing, wouldn't finish booting unless plugged in... He thinks the phone is somewhere between death and burial. MEH.

Note: Neither the Cutie nor the Apple Genius made mention of the fact that AT&T may do some original thinking with regards to my contract, as it was just about to expire ;-)

I walked down the mall to the American Telephone and Telegraph store. That store was empty, save for 3 employees. $50 for a refurb 3GS. $200 for a new 4G under contract. $450 for an out-of-contract new 3GS. I'll let you know what I decide.

Let me conclude on a positive note: The Apple employees that I interacted with, were awesome. From the Manager that was able to intercede with an appointment squeeze, the Greeter that remembered my name and email address even with helping the intervening 40 or so people in the hour and 1/2 since we met, to the Genius, who really was a genius. Even though they couldn't fix my device, they checked in to what they could do including offering me a minor discount on a new gal.

I have heard, and read, some awesome stories of Apple hook'n a brother up. I would love nothing more than to write a post on how over the top Apple's Customer Service really is to those of us that have owned Apple products since 1997 and still actively purchase them.

Last week I discussed changes in business from a Social Media and Marketing stand point. Today I want to apprise of other changes – more of an Evolve business nature.

I mentioned, in the beginning of March, that change was gonna come. That change was that I merged my company with another in the Greater Grand Rapids Michigan area. We had been selling each other's services for some time and developed a friendship. We decided that living together was worth giving a try. So I grabbed some clothes, my tooth brush, and was allowed way more than a drawer in their apartment.

Do you know how much work it is merging two companies? And on top of that we thought we could also start another company together? Consequently, I've been too incredibly busy to blog - and, until recently, barely able to tweet.

Things didn't work out, unfortunately, and the merger diverged or divested a couple weeks ago. Occasionally, through no end of trying, relationships don't succeed. So as to not lose a friendship or working relationship, gNetworks' owners and I separated back to being Affiliated Partners. Evolve will still work with gNetworks to provide the highest quality website designs and Content Management Systems for West Michigan and beyond, but we're going to do it in a coextensive manner. So we're kinda like friends with privileges.

I am back accomplishing Social Media Consulting, Website Design, eCommerce applications and Internet Business Consulting for Evolve Solutions' clients. I am pretty happy about this move. Some might think this a setback or a failure - I believe something untried is a potential loss. Risk doesn't always succeed in reward, but you will not know until you try. We tried something that sounded great, looked good on paper, and was an expansion of an already good relationship. I learned a lot. I hope they did too. Moving on.

Quote: "For every failure, there's an alternative course of action. You just have to find it. When you come to a roadblock, take a detour." - Mary Kay Ash (1918-2001) Founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics

This company got so many requests they just had to blend one...:

With the exit of The US from Soccer's biggest event, World Cup, this past weekend, I decided to finish writing this post about The ESPN. ESPN has touted the previous US game where they beat Algeria to go on to the round of 16, as having a viewership of 1.1 million people in the US. Before I lay into my diatribe, let me say that ESPN's free iPhone App is cool. It gives scores, schedule, and the brackets in real time. I wouldn't be surprised the pay-for-app has real time play by play like FIFA's site. I value the fact that they are covering World Cup with out all the life stories about the athletes like NBC does for the Olympics.

ESPN's initial coverage of the start of World Cup was ok. They hired some of the brightest commentators to help explain soccer to the uninitiated and comment on the matches for the avid fan alike. This year's World Cup is being played in South Africa, in case you've not heard. Most games started at 8:30 in the A.M. here (they're ½ a world away... I understand the logistics). I don't know about many of you, reading this today, but I'm in the US's EST zone. I'm generally working at 8:30a. Yes I know about TiVo, and actually have a machine expressly purchased to record TV, but it's not hooked up yet. Time issues.

So when I noted that many of the games were to be re-broadcast in the evenings, I was happy. I sat down in my favorite spot to watch the Netherlands play at 8:30 PM., and grabbed the laptop to work during the game. I tuned in to ESPN to see the game as listed in the schedule, but was delivered a college baseball game between Texas A&M and Dartmouth. "What the...." First I called Dish Networks. ESPN had listed notices during the games that they would be re-aired. They showed it in their schedule! Dish explained they had no control over ESPN's coverage of anything, but that they'd log a complaint on my behalf.

I went on to ESPN's site to ask why, in all things holy, they would do this. They responded with an automated boiler-plated message, that "We have all the Soccer World Cup Games" - Great! Just the message that I wanted to smooth my fur back down. I was given an email address in their message, to which I replied:

I live close to the largest population of Dutch people outside of the Netherlands. You aired a baseball game in an area that could care less about Texas A&M or Dartmouth. I'm sure there were about 7 people in the greater Grand Rapids Area (Near Holland MI), that tuned in just for that game, but how could they have know it was on, WHEN YOUR SCHEDULE LISTED WORLD CUP SOCCER?!!. I might be estimating high. There are at least 500,000 people in the West Michigan Area that are of Dutch Decent. You pulled your own listed coverage of the biggest sporting event in the world for something that only a few people care about: College Baseball. I could *maybe* see if it was between Michigan State and the U of M. I could see if it was The Masters. I could even see if it was a local high school tournament soccer game. I wouldn't have been happy, but wouldn't be this angry.

ESPN sent me a followup message Thursday saying the same thing. No apology. No explanation. Just "The Netherlands vs. Denmark match re-aired at 6pm ET on Monday, June 14th 2010 on ESPN Classic." That's it. One line. They didn't even refer to the above.

I know that ESPN is the largest sporting network in the world. But when you say you're going to do something, and you don't deliver, and then you can't even respond to concerns adequately, sometimes you have to talk about it. Yes, I consult people to write positive Tweets and respond to comments positively. To post things that you'd want your grand mother to read on Facebook. That blog posts should be constructive. I also comment on Customer Service on this blog. So let me tell you about some good customer service in all this:

The day after I called Dish Networks, where I had actually talked to a real person, they called to follow up! Seriously! "Did we fix all your problems?" So where ESPN fell down and still has yet to get back up with regards to Customer Support and Service, Dish has done a bicycle kick shot on goal. They let me know that, yes for more money, I could order an "Enhanced" package to watch the replay games on Classic. I know that's an up-sell. But the Customer Service is worth it.

So is the fact the ESPN is so big, and they're getting a million+ viewers mean that they need to disregard my issue? You tell me. How many of those 1.1mil were watching via Dish Networks? How many missed the Netherlands first game? Are we all going to let ESPN go on this one? I'm not. I value good customer service. I try to provide great customer service. Tell me, reader. Is customer service valued by you?

EAVB_SYYWBIDRYY and EAVB_CYAGELEPQX

Last week I took my son and daughter to the Grand Rapids Public Museum, to view Leonardo da Vinci: Machines in Motion. The Museum had a Holiday special of 1/2 off adult entrance and free for kids. We didn't partake, as there just wasn't time, but they had free Carousel rides and a free pasta dinner, if you were there after 5pm. They called it da Vinci di Notte. Pretty cute. Then as we were leaving they had 1/2 off parking too! I had only been to the Museum one time before but for a story telling event in a conference room that didn't allow me to go through the entire building. Needless to say I was completely impressed with the layout of the “new” building and how they laid out all the exhibits. Many of the exhibits were moved from the old museum I attended as a boy, but they'd been spruced up a little and even added to.

Da Vinci's exhibit was really cool for my 9 and 6 year olds. My son loves to engineer everything from launching devices to locking mechanisms and even various ways to climb or destroy things. In short, he's a normal boy. My daughter is very curious and likes to figure out how things operate and why they do it. We must have spent a full hour just in the da Vinci exhibit. It was way more than you normally consider an exhibit: it was full hands-on education through fun. Essentially, many artisans had created the machines da Vinci had designed on paper. I should really look up some more information about the artisans and how the exhibit was created, however this article isn't about them. It is about the wonderful customer service the GRPM Docents provided my family.

There was laughter. There were humorous hand gestures. There were a lot of smiles. Genuine smiles, not those, “Thanks for coming, now step this way, and please keep moving” smiles. There were actual helpful comments and directives. Remember that free pasta dinner, I mentioned earlier? When discussing with my children that it was “time to get a move on so we could go get dinner”, a lady that overheard the conversation, walked up and mentioned politely that “there was a dinner upstairs and didn't we get our tickets?”. Holy Cow is that service! A 6'2” blonde that was running the Coffee and Hot Chocolate Cart initiated conversation with my children. It didn't seem like she was posing a sales pitch either.

Now I know it was the Christmas season full of giving and happiness, and it was a short week, but these employees were working after 5 on New Year's Eve. I don't know if the GRPM makes sure to hire very outgoing and kind Docents or if they have some form of Christmas Crack they feed them before they go on duty, but they seemed sincere.

There is an extreme shortage of good customer support in today's business. Except at AT and T lately. They don't provide the best service in the market, but their Customer Service is exceptional. The CSRs are always very happy to talk to me and genuinely take as much time as is necessary to accommodate my needs when I call. I've had other phone providers that always seemed to just push me out the door.

So, even though, I believe that I provide good service to my customers, I am making the New Years Resolution to be even better at Customer Service and followup. Give me some of your customer service and support stories, and have a Happy New Year.

Let me start by saying that I live in the country. My home office is 5.5 miles from AT&T's Central Office in one local town and 7 miles from another town's CO. I'm extremely limited in my broad band internet options. I can't get DSL. They won't bring Cable down my dirt road. I'll write about digital and land lines some other time.

This week I received a Cellular Data Plan bill for my Sprint Air Card, listing overage charges of $140 over the standard monthly charges. This could have been received from any provider as they all have the same basic plan, I just happen to use Sprint for internet as they have the best 3G coverage in my area. For those of you that just crawled out of a cave, 3G is what the cell providers call their third generation of data and phone technology. There are a couple different technologies, but they're both called 3G. 3G is exceedingly faster than 2G. Believe me. I'm writing this from 2G currently.

I've been working from the home office 98% of the time for just over 2 months. And the first month's bill showed that I had used 4.5 Giga Bytes of the 5GB monthly allowance. By my initial estimates, I figured I might go over the limit, but it shouldn't be by much. I figured an extra $5-10/month wouldn't be that bad, should I exceed the 5GB limit. The November bill listed 8+GB used! They charge more than $46 per GB over the base 5?!! I don't download videos or music, much. I don't use Hulu often. I don't stream media out to the internet. I surf for research, I up/download low resolution images, HTML files and other documents for my web design business. My son does periodically play Flash based video games on Nick.com. Occasionally I'll watch a YouTube video or 4, but the home-made video time-suck has made it past it's prime with me. About the only things that I spend more time than most, are Twitter and Facebook. But I consult with companies on Social Media, so I need to be in those realms often. Facebook and Twitter are not image intensive. So it must be that general surfing needs more than 5GB. Who came up with the random number of 5 GB and why is that the standard? Some notification that I was nearing the limit or exceeding the limit would have been nice, but we all know how Cellular companies like to do that.

So I called Sprint to complain and determine if there was a better option that would save some money. I was able to get Sprint to knock off $100 from the last bill, but while on the phone with them, the Customer Service Representative tells me that I'm already into $40 of overages for this month! The billing cycle runs through the 19th, so don't freak that it's just the 11th and I've already hit 6 Gig. She passed me off to sales for alternatives. I asked the sales guy what my options were, to which he replied "an unlimited plan for $80/mo" would work. I agreed. He pawned me off to another CSR to order. She advised me that Sprint no longer had the unlimited plan, but I could purchase a 10GB plan for $250!!! That's an option?! Either that or I could buy another air card and just switch them out 1/2 through the month. $120/mo and I still only get 10GB worth of data transfers per month?! The CSR explained that once their 4G network made it to my area I would have an unlimited option. Of course she couldn't tell me in which decade that would occur. AT&T's 3G network hasn't even made it to my door yet. What would make me think that a 4G from Sprint would be any quicker?

It may be of interest to note here that I am a reseller of T1 lines from a CLEC out of Detroit. I can get a full T1 to my house for $260 and have unlimited data on a dedicated fat pipe. I could then put up a tower and sell internet to my neighbors to help defray the cost. So over the next month, I'm going to re-research getting a full T1 to the home office. Hopefully some of the setup costs have come down since 2006, when I researched getting a T1 the last time.

Cellular companies don't seem to want to offer good options for the businesses unable to order DSL or Cable internet. If the phone companies could present good options I'd not have to settle for these abysmal cellular practices. Anyway, I'm still going to write every cellular provider. Who of my followers wants in? Does anyone else have the troubles I've seen? Most likely until people start complaining in earnest they're going to keep giving us crappy service.

In the mean time, you'll find me at coffee houses and restaurants with wifi until the 20th.

Google Android phones have held my attention over the last year+. An open source cell phone and a rival to Apple and Windows intrigues me. I've been greatly dismayed with how cellphone makers haven't really embraced the Google Operating System, built on Linux. There haven't been many provider options in the US either. This week, though, a couple Android phones hit Verizon.

I used to have Alltel for years. Alltel's service in the Great Lakes Region of the US was better than outstanding. Their EVDO (3G) service out on the beach up in Ludington or in my basement, or traveling down the highway was superb. I purchased a 3G wireless card from Alltel and saw better than ISDN speeds, which was good because I could only get dial-up to the house in the country.

An early adopter of the iPhone, I was not. I played with my friends' phones and saw the appeal, but couldn't see paying the Alltel termination fee on top of the device's high price, nor could I see using the terrible AT&T network in Michigan. I ended up purchasing a Blackberry from Alltel. Even though it wasn't touch screen, Alltel had left it open to download apps. The problem was there weren't many free apps and the storage was abysmal. You could add a micro-SD card, but couldn't load it with apps, only pics and music. I started hoping that Alltel (then owned by Goldman Sachs) would pick up an Android phone so I could get a really good device.

When Verizon bought Alltel last year I was angered, to say the least. At first they started dropping calls. Then I started getting bad reception. Finally they dropped support for my Air-card, meaning no internet at the home office. That was a last straw! I started in talks with AT&T. I figured if I was going to have to live with terrible coverage it might as well be on a device I loved. I looked at T-Mobile's HTC Android phone when it came out, but it was bulky, had little app support and the interface was a little kludgy. T-Mobile's network in MI was worse than AT&T. I decided I couldn't wait for more providers to roll out a Google phone and grabbed a new iPhone 3GS. I love it. And now I finally have decent Edge service, since the leaves have fallen off the trees.

This week I was intrigued to learn about this new Motorola Droid that Verizon is offering running Google Android. I have read some reviews that definitely sing it's praises. It's price tag of $200 rivals the iPhone. It sports a micro-SD slot, separate camera button and slide out keyboard. There are mixed reviews on the keyboard, but I'm sure it would take getting used to, if you are moving from the iPhone. I speculate that Verizon is going to lock down the Operating System as much as they can, as it's more than a reputation - its a business model. I am happy to see Motorola running away from Windows Mobile and embracing Android, perhaps driving further innovation in the Cell Phone World. www.androphones.com

Today I read about a new inexpensive Android phone that is coming out on VZ's network: The HTC Eris. I am happy to see any provider offer multiple phones with Android. It would seem, however, that it's worse than HTC's T-Mobil phone: www.wired.com. I'd probably pay the extra $100 for a better phone. The biggest draw backs for me are switching networks AGAIN and the termination fee. I've 3 lines on AT&T. So, for this writer, I'll be sticking with my iPhone.

This morning on Facebook, an old friend requested information on a rumor that Oprah is telling the US to only tip 10% in this economy. Of course I googled the question and only found an OMagazine article on her site stating that you should tip a minimum of 15%. I also read her forum where the debate is pretty heated. Essentially if you haven't worked in the food service industry and are cheap, you don't want to have to pay a tip. If you have worked as a waiter or waitress you are adamant about tipping.

Of course I had to weigh in :
In the United States, restaurant owners base wait staff wages on an expected 15% gratuity. You should prepare to pay at least that much in restaurants when you go out to eat. Waiters and Waitresses work very hard pleasing customers. No matter how their day is going, they have to put up with incorrectly prepared meals and drinks, angry customers, wrong orders and long hours on their feet. I waited tables in High School and in the small rural community I lived in, made no more than $20/day in tips. I would get a quarter, or a dollar for my efforts. These uneducated farmers thought I made minimum wage and they were being kind with 1-4% tips. One of my family members worked his way up from being a waiter to being a kitchen manager to a general manager. He finally makes a living wage managing 35 people.

Wait staff has to tip out to bar tenders, food deliverers and bussers. If you don't tip, they still have to tip out and make even less money. To say, "Well that waiter isn't getting a tip from me," is making you ruder than them. Instead, try leaving a note or making a comment to the dining room manager. You should walk into that restaurant ready to pay the minimum no matter what.

I make sure to tip at least 15%, even with bad service. If they are good, which they generally are (or if there's alcohol on the bill) I tip 20% or better. If you are going out to a restaurant for a meal expecting to be waited on, you should budget for a 25% tip. There are restaurants where you aren't expected to tip, like cafeterias, McDonalds and Taco Bell. These workers are paid commensurate to their job, generally above minimum wage. And you don't have to tip them.

http://www.oprah.com/community/thread/109598?start=0&tstart=0
http://www.oprah.com/article/omagazine/omag_200212_tipping