Daily Archives: October 22, 2007

Apple, Blackberry, Crackberry and Lack of Customer Service, Long Beach

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So what do all of these have in common above? Nothing much, much to my dismay.

11 months ago, I did away with my trusted and faithful Motorola i2000. A brick in todays’ standards but it worked, never failed me and never broke down on me.

I knew I was going to face some problems getting the Blackberry device communicating with my Apple laptop. Blackberry is notoriously a Windows company and treats its clients accordingly. I am used to Apple’s stellar customer service. When I got in touch with Blackberry to help me figure out the crashes and quirks of their recommended third party synchronization software, I got the usual ping pong affect, got referred back and forth between both companies. After giving Blackberry all my logs, all my information, all they asked me, last I heard of them three months after initiating a trouble ticket was they were still working on it. Yeah, I already spent my money, so I can kiss my customer help goobye.

4 months after my spanking brand new Pearl Blackberry, it became a CrackBerry. Repairing the screen of this $350 gizmo was a $150 deal. Seriously? Are you guys alright?

Now I’m usually pretty hands on and technically savvy. Some people have had minimal problems integrating their Pearls and Apples (puns intended), I was one of the vast majority that learned the hard way, not all companies treat their clients well like Apple.

In the end, will I ever buy a Blackberry? Most very likely never. Would I buy an Apple product? Why not, the experience has been very good.

It’s too bad companies like Blackberry, as many others just don’t get the importance of good customer care. Treating your clients well, going the extra mile is what wins people over in the end. It’s just so simple but when you focus mainly on your bottom line, you miss the nuances that pay out better in the long run.

Oh, and 8 months after I bought my Blackberry, Apple came out with the iPhone!!! Still, I wouldn’t have gone over to Cingular or AT&T.

The World According To Bernanke, Long Beach

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It is always great to hear from powerful people in times of trouble than after words with hindsight books.

In a recent article in the Federal Reserve website, Chairman Bernanke gives insight as to how he sees the situation.

“… despite a few encouraging signs, conditions in mortgage markets remain difficult.” OK, OK, I know, we know, let’s skip to the beef.

“The markets for securitized nonprime (subprime and alt-A) loans are showing little activity, securitizations of prime jumbo mortgages reportedly have increased only slightly from low levels, …” OK, we also know this, but what else?

“These continued problems suggest that investors will need more time to gather information and reevaluate risks before they are willing to reenter these markets.” Ah, right on the spot according to what I was saying, who wants to lend money in a market where prices are going down? In other words, why would a lender get stuck with a home that is worth less in six months than at the time of the loan? Answer: People who will move in for a long time. I know, it’s hard to predict.

“The further contraction in housing is likely to be a significant drag on growth in the current quarter and through early next year.” They are finally admitting real estate is a big part of our economy. As a reminder, when Alan Greenspan was Chairman, he didn’t believe that was the case.

The rest of the article goes on about how the Fed will “watch” for market and “keep a close eye” on what is happening. As usual, the Fed don’t say much and are playing a cat and mouse game. They probably want exports to pick, even if it means a weakened dollar. When the threshold is crossed, interest rates will go up and so will the value of our currency. Until then, they will just watch. Interesting read.