Some of you might recall a bad experience I had with Qwest’s customer service team 3 years ago.

Today I went to bat again, defending the little guy against the tyranny of illogic and greed.

The battle over $86.93

I spent about 45 minutes on the phone today with Qwest/CenturyLink, because my bill increased from $36.99 to $67.98 in May, $54.45 in June, $50.98 in July.  Very random increases.

Qwest’s low-level customer support gal told me that some promotions expired, which caused the increase in my bill.  This was an unsatisfactory answer on a number of levels.  To top that off, I learned that I have been paying for a service called Qwest @Ease for the past 10 months – a service I never requested and certainly do not desire.

Qwest @Ease cost me $129.90 over the course of those 10 months.  I don’t know how I got signed up for it in the first place.  I certainly was not utilizing the service, which offers a yearly PC scan (I use a Mac), an email account (I use gmail), and some online hard drive space (I am the owner of a web hosting company and have no need for whatever crappy server space Qwest might provide).

The initial customer support person, claiming powerlessness, transferred me to her boss, Ray.

At first Ray was condescending and rude, telling me that I was getting too good of a deal as it was – seriously.  He copped an attitude and said that I was getting some $10 discount over the past 11 months.  Regardless of what discount I was getting, that wasn’t the issue at hand.  I wasn’t calling Qwest to check on the net balance of any over-charges and under-charges.  The issue I was raising was one of being OVER-charged, not under-charged.  So poor listening there on Ray’s part.  And double negative for being a jerk.

At the end of the day, Ray credited my account $42.97 to cover 3 months of that stupid @Ease service that I never asked for, never wanted, and never used.

So here’s the problem – I am still out $86.93 on the Qwest @Ease service.  That is not a victory as far as I am concerned.

With a clearer head tonight, I made a commitment to cancel my Qwest internet service.  I signed up for USI Wireless, which for that same $36.99 offers roughly 5x faster service – jumping from 1.5 mb/s to 7 mb/s.  Plus, I get to support a local company.  Double victory for me.

Was it worth it for Qwest?  They lost a 4-year customer over an $86 dispute.  A dispute that I feel I was in the right on.

So where did Qwest go wrong?

In my experience, Qwest has trained their customer service team to be chintzy, tight-fisted with refunds, and rude (more on this later).

Is it a winning strategy?  Maybe.

Qwest’s unwillingness to listen to WHY I wouldn’t want the @Ease service points to a bigger problem of values within the company.  What does Qwest really value?

Maybe Qwest values that $86.93 more than the value me and my paltry $36.99/month.  That is certainly how it seemed on the phone today.

But it doesn’t take a genius to see how $36.99 per month can quickly make $86.93 look small.  In fact, it will take a little over two months.

Over the course of a year, I was scheduled to spend $443.88 on Qwest internet service.  Is it worth it to piss me off over an add-on service that I never used, never wanted, and never asked for?

Me.

I own a small company and am always listening to clients.  Seriously.  I am always seeking feedback on my communication, the stuff I produce, my tone, my costs, etc.  I don’t believe that Qwest cares about integrity.  I do.  Maybe for a company of my size I need to care about each customer.  Maybe I need to listen.  Nope.

I know of many companies in my line of work who value the dollar above all else.  They are cut-throat with their clients and are inflexible.  It is very possible to make a good living this way.  Qwest certainly has.

But that is not the type of company I run.  I value every client.  I really do.  I care about people.  I have gone to great lengths and devoted big resources to making clients happy when I could have easily dropped them.  Why do I do this?

Because I value integrity.  I value my reputation.  I value people.

Qwest does not.

Rules for idea generation:

1. Say “yes” and “thank you” to every idea. Get excited about others ideas even if they are small.
2. Generate 100 ideas without stopping. Write them all down on a white board or a big piece of paper. Writing them down so everyone can see them is important. Don’t stop until you get to 100
3. Don’t judge. Just don’t. Say “thank you” instead.

I follow the above rules when writing blogs, writing music, brainstorming band names, brainstorming baby names, thinking of blog posts to write, generating business ideas, figuring out why my girlfriend is mad at me, and countless other times, places, areas, and ways.

Generating ideas is a process.