The problems with customer service today.

THE PROBLEMS WITH CUSTOMER SERVICE TODAY.

Many of us seniors remember a time when customer satisfaction was the rule rather than the exception. Slogans like "customer satisfaction guaranteed" or "money refunded cheerfully if not satisfied" have pretty much become dinosaurs.

Today, you have to call a customer service line that will play this headache-producing music with either constant reminders "your business is important to us" or ads about all the other great products and services they have to offer. If your lucky enough to get a "customer service representative" in less than 15 or 20 minutes, you will have to argue, yes argue, about why you feel you should get a refund or a credit. The representative will point out you didn't read the disclaimer in paragraph 22 on page 695 of their 20,000 page terms and conditions agreement which is only available in micro print on their website, although that website is currently down for maintenance. Finally, after asking to speak to a supervisor, you'll be offered a partial credit of 10% of the price you paid which will eventually will rise to 59% the longer you stay on the phone.

Assuming nothing but 100% refund is acceptable to you, after 2 hours on the phone, the agent will transfer you to a supervisor. You will have to go through your whole story again and wait another 15 or 20 minutes before you finally have an agreement for a full 100% refund.

Then the fun begins. You'll be offered a credit to apply against any future purchase, and, if you have a monthly account, you'll be told that no, this credit can not be used to lower or pay off the balance owing on your account. At this point, if you decide to close your account, you'll be advised that a refund cheque will be issued after all pending charges and account closing fees have been applied, usually in 4 to 52 weeks.

If you insist on a refund cheque, you'll be transferred to a manager where you will start all over again. Up to another hour will be spent as this individual will try to convince you to keep the product and your account before they finally agree to send you a refund cheque in 4 to 52 weeks.

By this time you are angry and frustrated and you tell the manager you are closing your account and won't send them another penny, even to pay off your outstanding balance. The perky, cheerful manager suddenly transforms into Billzilla (the Godzilla of bill collectors) and begins threatening your credit rating village. If you don't pay your balance, this monster will rampage through your credit rating killing and destroying any chance you have to live a normal life, buy a car or mortgage a house. Plus after all that you will owe the balance currently on your account multiplied by ridiculous interest rates and late fees which will be turned over to collection agencies run by ex-mafia who are experts at offering "a deal you can't refuse".

In frustration, you hang up, swear you will never patronage that company again, and switch to a different company that offers better customer service. Your blood pressure returns to normal, your life becomes enriched with all the spare time you have from not having to spend hours on the phone arguing with reps in companies that provide bad service and you actually feel you might experience happy once again.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to have company reps treat others the way they want to be treated? Instead it is this avaricious pursuit of every last dollar. That sucking sound is the sound of money being sucked from the pockets of the poor and being channeled into the off shore accounts of the filthy rich. THIS HAS TO STOP!

SHARE THE WEALTH - POVERTY NO MORE.

How to fix the world.

HOW TO FIX THE WORLD

The biggest problems in the world today are caused by the increasing divide between the rich and poor. I see one of the most powerful forces creating this divide is the pressure from rich and powerful shareholders to continually increase profits by driving up prices and reducing customer service. While there are exceptions, for most large corporations, who are governed by Boards of Directors who themselves belong to this wealthy shareholder class, there is only an incentive to increase the shareholder dividends. In any business there are only two ways to do this: increase prices or cut costs.

My solution is at add a sales tax to every dividend cheque issued that is inversely proportionate to customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction would be measured by an incorruptible third party organization who would issue "grades" similar to school grades rating customer service from 0 for the absolute worst customer service in the world to 100 for the best. Whatever the grade is, it would be subtracted from 100 and the resulting figure would be the tax applied to every dividend cheque issued in that fiscal quarter. If companies decided to not issue a dividend cheque because of bad customer service, the taxes would be applied anyway based on the maximum dividend paid over the previous 10 years. This corporate tax would be taken from worldwide gross income before any expenses or deductions are applied.

How would this work? Let's take a few examples - note these are examples only so the numbers are used for illustration purposes only, not based on actually statistics.

Let's say Apple Computer, who consistently has among the highest customer satisfaction rates in the world, ends the year with 90% of customers saying they are satisfied. Apple issues a dividend of say $20.00 per share.  Those receiving the dividend cheques would see a tax deduction of 10% (100 - 90), or $2.00 per share deducted from their cheques, netting $18.00 per share. The deduction could not be claimed back either on corporate or personal tax returns.

Let's now look at XYZ Cable Company (actually his could be almost any cable company in North America) ends the year with one of the lowest customer satisfaction rates at 10%. It too issues a dividend of $20.00 per share. Those receiving the dividend cheques would see a tax deduction of 90% (100 - 10), or $18.00 per share deducted from their cheques, netting $2.00 per share. The deduction could not be claimed back either on corporate or personal tax returns.

Suppose ABC Company, having had a terrible customer rating over the last year and also having increased profits 1000%, declares they will not be paying out dividends but will instead start a huge share buyback to allow shareholders to benefit from the rocketing share price. At this point the government would tax them the same tax they would have paid as if they had issued dividends, based on the dividend history for the last 10 years. In addition, companies that use any tactic to transfer more wealth into the pockets of rich shareholders without improving customer service scores would find those additional "gains" taxed at the highest 90% tax.

What would be the outcome of all this? One hell of a lot of complaining from the uber-wealthy to start, and a flow of investment into companies who have outstanding customer service. We have suffered long enough. Companies like Apple have demonstrated that there is money to be made in providing quality products and superlative customer service. Other companies have to get on board even if it means dragging their board of directors and wealthy shareholders kicking and screaming in the process. In the end, better customer service will leave more money in our pockets and happier consumers. Anything else will result in chaos and continuing decay of our consumer society where the rich will live in exclusive gated and armed enclaves while the rest of the population scrapes through their discarded scraps outside.

SHARE THE WEALTH - POVERTY NO MORE.

Trailhead building in Westboro has been sold

Happy trails, Trailhead!!!!

Sadly, the Trailhead building in Westboro has been sold! The developer next door (see the cranes in the background of attached picture), BridgePort Realty Capital Partners, has bought the building, probably with the intention of demolition and expanding their already enormous project on McRae between Scott and Richmond. The days are numbered for this beautiful, all wood structure that has been an Ottawa landmark since 1991. 

The building was started in 1990 by partners Chris Harris and Wally Schaber after they bought a piece of property at the corner of Scott & McRae. They put together their own architecture plans and construction crew and built, what was at the time, the biggest post and beam building of its kind in Eastern Canada. Trailhead’s new Westboro home was finished in December 1991, and has been a destination for outdoor enthusiasts from all over ever since. Now, 25 years later, it may be demolished in 2016 when this purchase agreement comes into effect. We will be losing an iconic landmark that can never be replaced.

The new development on McRae is set to be completed in early 2015. This so called "Westboro Connection" will be a mixed-use development including two towers that are connected by a street-front retail podium and two levels of underground parking and a seven-story office building. The residential component includes 126 rental apartment units. How interesting that something called "Westboro Connection" is actually removing an historic landmark that connects Westboro to its past.

The news release also states "there will also be surface parking on the site". Since the current site is one big hole that will be completely occupied by the new buildings, it sounds to me like the developer needed the Trailhead building for this promised "surface parking". What a waste. As Joni Mitchell would sing, "They paved paradise and put up a parking lot."

And what will happen to the Trailhead business? And the other small businesses renting space from Trailhead? What a coincidence! New retail spaces, probably at much higher rent, just became available next door.

Electric cars

This charging station has been around in the parking lot of the MEC (new name for Mountain Equipment Co-op) for some time, but I've never seen a car plugged in again. This morning, the VirtuCar (http://www.vrtucar.com) was plugged in. It's interesting that an ecologically friendly approach to cars (VirtuCar ID a car sharing program) is now ecologically friendly and promoted in front of a store that is also known as an ecological- friendly advocate.

MEC used to be called Mountain Equipment Co-op, but changed their name and logo recently to de-emphasize the mountain equipment aspect since their business has grown into so many other areas.

Have we no shame? The Rob Ford bobble head fund raiser is wrong.

As a fund-raiser conceived long before Mayor Ford's notoriety was exposed, the concept was at best silly. Why in the world anyone would want a person in a respected position, a leader of a community to be represented by a little doll whose head bobs uncontrollably up and down when jiggled. You'd never see a President Obama bobblehead endorsed by the White House.

But the $20.00 BobbieRobbie was a runaway successful fund-raiser for the United Way. The 1,000 limited edition dolls, some authographed by the mayor, sold out and some are even now available for resale on the Internet for as much as $2,000!!! And of course they are now talking major re-orders. Want to bet that Mayor Ford's buddies in the drug trade are salivating at the thought of an instant, LEGAL way to make a 1000% return on investment. Not even crack cocaine has that kind of return!

But what is the morality of a charitable organizations like the United Way doing fund raising on the coat tails of a known drug-dealer and crack cocaine abuser? Would they ever consider selling booblehead heads of Al Capone or Bonnie & Clyde to raise funds for charity? How about a Paul Bernardo bobble doll? We incarcerate these felons for life because of their heinous crimes and then try to forget they ever existed even going to the trouble of raising their homes and scenes of the crime. Now we're talking about fame and fortune for BEING a criminal.

I've been waiting for the book and movie announcement. Let's face it, there will be lineups for those too. Maybe Matt Damon could gain weight in a starring role, or maybe they could just use the same makeup they did for Fat Bastard in the Austin Powers movies. Come to think of it, Mike Myers might make a pretty good Rob Ford after makeup - and he already has the Fat Bastard prosthetics. 

What's that? Oh, I should say "weight challenged" instead of fat? So in talking about Mayor. Ford's shortcomings, we have to be politically correct, do we?

Fine. I don't think that the sobriety-challenged, abused-substance smoking, weight- and manners- challenged Mayor of Canada's largest city should be used as a mini-me symbol for United Way fund-raising. The funds raised should instead be used to find a very isolated, very quiet sanitarium where the embarrassing Mayor can get help. Iceland comes to mind, or maybe Siberia.

Stop the insanity and give us our boring lives back!

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Canadian politics explained - for non-Canadians

As a normally, shy, unassuming nation of quiet people, Canadians have been recently thrown into the world spotlight by senate scandals and a crack-smoking mayor. First let me use a standard Canadian response to all this world attention. I'm sorry. I'm sorry and embarrassed that we have Canadians in positions of power who feel that normal rules don't apply to them, that feel they can get away with anything, and that exhibit such repulsive behavior. Most of us are really not like that. We're hockey fanatics who would rather see disputes settled in legal brawls on the ice where a good blow to the head will finish a career, rather than attempting to shame a politician into "doing the honorable thing" and retiring from public life. I'm sorry our political system is too polite to allow fisticuffs to settle these conflicts.

THE SENATE SCANDAL

In Canada, the Senate is an appointed body who receive their appointments from the Prime Minister without debate and who serve in the Upper Chamber until they die or turn 75 (whihcever comes first) or voluntarily retire and, provided they have served at least 6 years, retire with a full pension. The senate is often called the Chamber of Sober Second Thought because all bills passed by the Lower House, the House of Commons (who are all elected by the people) has to be approved by the Senate. The leaders of the majority in the House of Commons is the Prime Minister and he wants to be sure his legislation is not blocked by the Senate. Before the Conservatives came to power, the Senate majority was Liberal and they frustrated the government by adding amendments to bills and sending them back to the House of Commons for approval. I'm sorry we can't get rid of the Senate because it requires 100% ratification by all the provinces - an impossible threshold to achieve with so many regions clinging to their own vested interests.

Retirements and deaths created vacancies in the Senate and Prime Minister Harper has appointed 59 of the current 100 senators since February, 2006. All of the appointments have been Conservatives, although other Prime Ministers have appointed distinguished Canadians from other parties or as Independents in the past. While previous Senate appointments have usually been politicians or lawyers, Harper has chosen Senators from a much broader range that includes Olympic athletes, aboriginal leaders, television news reporters and others who have never served In a political or diplomatic role. I'm sorry that this was done, but I'm not saying its a bad thing - it's just that the Prime Minister has to accept responsibility for rotten tasting food if he chooses bad ingredients to bake it with. I'm sorry we have such a bad example of a Prime Minister who doesn't accept responsibility for what he's done.

Another rule for senators is that they have to have their primary residence in the province they represent. That presented problems for Pamela Wallen, who lived in Toronto, and Patrick Duffy, who lived in Ottawa. There were no vacant seats in Ontario, but there was one in Saskatchewan and another in Prince Edward Island. Wallen had a second home in Saskatchewan and Duffy had a summer home in PEI, so to secure the appointments, they each declared these homes as their "principal residences", and claimed their Ottawa housing expenses as a second home. Senator Patrick Brasseau did the same thing. In spite of the three senators claiming that they checked this arrangement with the Senate and the Prime Minister's Office and were told it was okay, the public outrage at the Senators' double-dipping forced them to repay the money they received to offset these expenses. I'm sorry that these Canadians are such a poor example of typical Canadians who would never consider such duplicity or would ever consider asking for reimbursement for personal living expenses for their first or second home.

Pamela Wallen and Patrick Brasseau were appointed to the Senate on 22-DEC-2008 and Mike Duffy was appointed to the Senate on 26-JAN-2009.  Wallen and Duffy were considered superstars, former broadcasters who are accomplished speakers and they became powerful fund-raisers for the Conservative party jetting to cities all across Canada to Conservative events. It appears as if some of these travel expenses may have been reimbursed twice - once by the Conservative party and once by the Senate Expense Committee. Wallen has repaid the amounts requested by the Senate, but Duffy had his expenses repaid by Nigel Wright, the Prime Minister Office's Chief of Staff at the time. He was forced to resign when this story came out. I'm sorry this is so confusing, but bear with me, we're almost at the end. Brasseau was a respected aboriginal leader who appears to have been swept up in this mess along with Wallen and Duffy. His repayments are being deducted from his garnisheed Senate salary. I'm sorry we didn't throw them all into a debtor's prison - in Canada we're too polite to have such an institution.

After much political and public debate, all three senators were suspended without pay for 2 years, but they get to keep the title, Senator, and retain all their benefits, including full pensions which they will qualify for in 2 years. In the meantime they are prohibited from visiting their former offices in the senate, cannot communicate with other senators and all of their staff has been fired. They have been effectively exiled from Parliament Hill. I'm sorry we still believe that people found guilty without a trial can still be sanctioned by their peers, but we still want to be sure their medical coverage is okay and that they'll be able to retire in comfort in two years., after all this is just exile from Parliament Hill, not from Ottawa or Canada. No big loss, I say.

While there are still 6 other vacancies in the Senate and there is no danger that the Conservatives will lose majority control with these suspensions it does have the effect of reducing the number of seats in the Senate to 97 until these three either resign or turn 75. I'm sorry that no one else in Canada has realized that this is the solution to abolishing the Senate. Why not just suspend the remaining  97 Senators and not replace them? This may sound far-fetched, but that's exactly how the province of Quebec got rid of it's Senate.  The Quebec Senators agreed to vote their positions out of existence provided they receive their salary for the rest of their lives.  At the time, the $10,000 annual salary was considered exorbitant and too generous, but look who is laughing now! But before we do this, could I get appointed to the Senate 6 years before this comes into effect? I could use an annual $93,000 pension. I'm sorry we get so caught up in these issues that all anything anyone can do is complain about how nothing can be done when its staring us straight in the face.

I'm sorry if this has not clarified how the political system works in Canada. We barely understand it ourselves, and yet we have to periodically vote for politicians who tell us they will make things better even though they have no idea how to do it, and they never do. And then we have crack-smoking mayors to deal with.

CRACK-SMOKING MAYOR

Our municipal political system is much easier to understand. The Mayor is like a king who gets to control everything, like the police, public transit, public housing and of course all the drug dealers and crack houses. While he / she is paid a salary from the city's budget that mixes property taxes with provincial and federal subsidies, the mayor is only accountable to City Council which is composed of Councillors elected to represents the different districts In a city. But the real power rests in the Mayor's office and his control over the city's civil servants, including the police, and, unless he is convicted of a criminal offense, he cannot be removed from power. He / she does, however, have to run for reelection ever 4 years, and this does require approval from the public who elects or reelects him or her. 

Mayor Rob Ford is a popular mayor who appealed to the working class citizens of Toronto. He promised to reduce taxes and get rid of irritants like the vehicle registration tax, and to expand the public transit system - tangible things he was able to accomplish or set in motion. Previous mayors have appeared to be elitist and out of touch with the average citizen so, in spite of the mayor's admission to smoking crack cocaine, his approval ratings have INCREASED. the mayor has a loyal, passionate following who are likely to show up and vote him back into office, whereas the people who are disgusted with his behavior are more likely to feel that politics are corrupt and there are no decent politicians, and so will NOT vote.

Having said all that, I still think Canada is the greatest country in the world to live in. In spite of all the government waste, dishonest and crack-smoking politicians, at least we have careers for such people which remove them from the general population. The alternative would be building more jails to house them, and we know from the experience of other countries that that doesn't work.

We have one of the highest standards of living in the world, free medical care, a rock solid banking system and well-funded public pension systems (although many seniors feel the monthly payments could be more generous) and all of these benefits are available to all Canadians without discrimination.  Our multicultural society allows people from many diverse nations to live in harmony side-by-side, and it is evident in public schools and public institutions where these immigrants have been integrated that we have become an open, tolerant and accepting society. Notwithstanding efforts from forces to push us away from these ideals, the vast majority support these ideals and somehow we always seem to find our way back. I'm sorry I can't explain it any better than that. Visit Canada and you will experience it for yourself. But I should suggest avoiding Toronto - you don't want to be caught up in the mayoral drug wars. Visit instead Ottawa where a front-row seat to watch the continuing scandal debate in the House  of Commons is free and quite entertaining, and can be followed up by a visit to the Natural History museum where you can see all the other dinosaurs.