The good thing about Bell, the Canadian phone company, is that it serves as the perfect example of what not to do in business.
It appears that Bell has quietly dropped two of its fake fees, (sadly, it hasn’t dropped all of them). Through one of its sister companies, Bell actually referred to its fake fees as a “made-up fee”.
Bell is currently in the midst of class action lawsuits regarding its System Access fee (aka “government licensing fee”) and its 9-1-1 fee. Both of these cell phone fees were just recently cancelled, although in some areas, the fees may still linger for some unknown reason. Just to be fair, the two other cell carriers are also involved in the same lawsuits.
Why wouldn’t a business tell its customers that it has eliminated some fees and has thereby lowered prices? Read on.
My current cell phone plan costs $31.00 + $9.70 fake government fee = $40.70 per month (plus tax). So, you might assume that if the $9.70 fee was cancelled then my plan would drop to $31.00 per month.
You’ve got the wrong number!
In order for me to “benefit” from the fee elimination, I have to change rate plans. According to Bell’s web site, the new plan equivalent to my existing plan would cost $44.00 per month (plus tax).
So to avoid paying the fake fee that was officially cancelled, I have to switch to a more expensive plan. But if I don’t switch plans, I still have to pay the fake fee that was eliminated. Make sense?
Photographers, here’s the deal:
- Respect your customers. Respect their time and their intelligence. A smart customer is always the best customer. If you assume your customers are idiots, that reflects more on you than them.
- Customer service IS your business. Proper communication with your customers helps achieve this.
- Add value to your service by making things easier for the customer.
- Value is always defined by the customer not by the business.
- Shuffling the deck to confuse the customer does not change the game. Customers are are not fooled by sleight of hand.
- Exceed the customer’s expectations. Business is not about how much money you can take from the customer. It’s about how much service you can give.
- Treat each customer as if they are your last customer. Otherwise, they will be.
