Terry Mitchell

The Thankless Status of Being a Valued Customer



Posted: Thursday, July 24, 2008

by
http://commenterry.blogs.com

The credit card companies I do business with are constantly reminding me that I'm such a "valued" customer. But each time, however, they follow it up with a solicitation for one of their worthless credit protection programs. I can try one of these offers free of charge for one month, but failure to cancel by the end of the trial period will result in each monthly balance thereafter being inflated by a percentage or two. Is that the kind of thanks I'm supposed to get? If I am truly a valued customer, they should give me something of worth that they do not give to customers who have not achieved such a status.

Then we have the cable, phone, electric, and water companies. As is the case with my credit card companies, I always send them payment for their bills within a few days of receiving them. I never wait for the payment deadline to draw near. One would think they would give me a discount or rebate once in while for such promptness. But I've never gotten any such thing from any of them. Most of the time, I don't even get any kind of special acknowledgment. I just get a bill the following month thanking me for the previous month's payment and demanding payment for new balance. That "thank you" I get is the very same one that those who always wait until the last minute to pay also get. I get nothing extra.

Those ingrates at my phone company even allowed my annual DSL contract to lapse without reminding me to renew it. This resulted in my DSL charges automatically reverting to the month-to-month rate, which is much higher. Doesn't a customer who always pays his bill well ahead of time deserve a little courtesy call on a matter like that? I guess not. This kind of stuff prompts me to believe that it's their customers' money they value most – not their customers.

Terry Mitchell is a software engineer, freelance writer, amateur political analyst, and blogger from Virginia, USA. He posts a least one article a day to his blog - http://commenterry.blogs.com - on subjects such as current events, politics, technology, society and culture, religion, health and well-being, self improvement, personal finance, trivia, and sports. Terry is also the owner and operator of a website that is dedicated to allowing U.S. citizens to find all types of insurance at reasonable prices.  
 
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)
» left by straight talk
 3 years 197 days ago.
111 fans. Follow straight talk on twitter!
Terry another good job.  Terry, let me ask, do you think the multitudes ever think what would happen if Uncle Sam never delivered their payment "on time" or the Credit card Company didn't apply it on time, even though they had it? Perhaps there are some out there who know what I am talking about? Howe about those who got their rates raised even while paying on time? Let me ask why not the interest in usury? Do you think you can you write to that? I 'd be interested in your view and perspective and from your reader base?  Best wishes.
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