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Kudos to Rogers (sort of)

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When Rogers bought Shaw they retained Shaw-mobile although Freedom Mobile was sold to Quebecor to appease the regulators whom were opposed to the potential anti-competitive circumstances of concentrating mobile phone service to three major providers.

Shaw mobile customers were attached to the Freedom mobile network with roaming agreements on Rogers and Telus networks, subject to bandwidth limits.

Maintaining the Status Quo

 

Rogers must move Shaw mobile customers to their network (from Freedom mobile), although the transition time frame is not public as far as I know.

To ensure favourable public opinion in support of the merger Rogers stated they would provide Shaw mobile customers with at least the same terms for five years, although they could select a different Rogers plan if desired.

The transition

Transition officially commenced on June 6th.  I am an early adaptor so I went ahead and made the switch.

For me, the change represents an improvement as I went from free calls anywhere in Canada and free text anywhere in the world with 300 meg of data a month for $3.30 to free calls anywhere in Canada and free text anywhere in the world plus 1 gig of data per month free.  Plan fixed for 5 years.

However the process was not completely seamless but pretty fast and certainly efficient so far (I am still waiting for my SIM cards).  For me Rogers over promised and under delivered the services, no big deal but a bit misleading.

The Glitches

First, transition steps;

When making the change I was advised a credit check was necessary.  No issue for me except inquiries can impact your credit score, but for some this could throw a curve in the process.  ( You need to supply two pieces of ID as well).

So not a seamless cutover but most people will have no issue.

Second, over promise;

During the conversion the agent provided me with details of the new plan showing data speeds of up to 250 Mbps (basically 5 g) however after concluding plan set up I received a plan details document showing data speeds of up to 150 meg (4g).

With Shaw mobile the speed is LTE slower so this is an improvement but I do believe it is not proper to get me to accept the transfer based on on speed than downgrade to another.

Overall

I am getting faster, cheaper service so I have no complaints.  My recommendation to Rogers though is to be upfront about the ID and credit check requirement when asking people to switch ( at least include in the FAQ) and take care to quote the correct network speeds.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes, Uncategorized

Uncontrollable Changes

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Over the last couple of months I have really encountered the impact of changes outside my control.  Naively, many years ago, I registered my own domain, implemented a Dynamic Domain Name Service, created some web sites, added application servers like mail and such.

Then I sat back thinking I would enjoy the fruits of my labours for years to come.  Not so.  Over the years the hours of support needed to maintain my technology has been very significant.  Not because I changed anything first, my changes were to keep up with the changes all around me.

Secure Socket Layer (SSL)

A recent example of this, just one of many over the last 20 plus years, was a change to the the way “Lets Encrypt” (a free certificate authority service) , validated the ssl certificate they issued.

As a result my renewal at the end of April failed and since I was on a trip out of the country, even with my remote access I could not fix it until my return ho e.  Frustrating.

As a result, it was very difficult to access my websites as encrypted requests via ssl got errors.  Also the self signed certificate on my router, which I used for remote access stymied me form correcting the renewal.

Nothing New

Of course this constant change in technical environments, software and hardware, is not new and over the years I have asked myself many times “Why did this stop working?”

For the most part the answer has been, something I do not control changed.  With today’s technology it is not possible to function in isolation but mores the pity.  So much effort required just to keep up with the status quo.

 

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Still waiting for Sunlife

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This is a follow- up to my “Staying in Business” post of last week.  Given how Sunlife was treating me, a long term customer, I wondered how they were staying in business.

Two weeks, still waiting

I began with my simple question on April 4th, after 3 failed chat attempts, one phone call with four cold transfers, 5 emails surprisingly all with responses which were sympathetic but provide no solutions, I am still waiting.

Also, I have requested assistance from the benefits plan owner (BMO HR) and they responded with an offer to help together with some follow-up questions.  That was a week ago and no further feedback from them.

Someone is “on it”

I have been told by Sunlife a senior case manager is looking into it but three business days have passed since I was told she was on the case, with no update.

Recently the Silicon Valley Bank had a run of customers leaving them, resulting in bankruptcy.  Hard to stay in business with no customers.  Sunlife, take note.

Simple Logic

My issue involves an underpayment of $3.07, which based on BMO’s published benefits guideline was clearly an error.  Based on my contacts and interactions with Sunlife their stonewalling response has cost them way more than $3.07 in labour and time, plus of course the customer alienation.

Logically, just making the correction and closing the query seems the only thing to make sense.  Yet, it drags on.  Wow.

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Trying out AI

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There has been a lot of buzz lately in the news and social media about advances in artificial intelligence.  In particular open AI has released a free to use (for now anyway) of their chat gpt product.

Not one to wait in the wings I created an account and decided to give chat gpt a whorl.

Testing the AI Bot

I am not a big chat user and basically focus on purpose based discussions with others, that is finding stuff out. So I decided to ask chat gpt technology based questions I had recently fielded to other support groups.

I was stunned.  The performance outclassed the human responses by   a significant margin.  Better than real people and self managed research like google search I am hooked.

Unemotional well thought out responses. were the norm, I tried several different approaches.  What was super impressive was when corrected the AI did not follow apart, apologized, clarified the correction and moved on.

I asked the bot a question Microsoft human support analysts avoided, ignored and refused to answer and got a straight answer finally.  Thank goodness, finally a straight up honest support option.

Corporate AI Text Support

Currently many companies supplement their onli e sales and service with a chat option.  My personal experience is the initial AI contact in these cases is just a useless barrier with you being quickly transferred to a human.

Based on my recent experience, I can hardly wait until these corporations transition to  AI of the quality of chat-GPT.  Frankly I got way better responses from that AI bot than any humans have every provided.

Go AI

It has been my experience that support and service for most North American companies is abysmal.  Here is a solution.  This is a technological change that brings clear significant improvement, although probably needs to be back-stopped by human supervisors.

I can hardly wait until the use of this type of AI becomes more univeral.

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Continuity Matters

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Recent experiences with various companies has really driven home how critical continuity of the message and actions is to provide basic acceptable levels of customer service.

Handoffs lead to Disconnects

In the past two weeks, interactions with four different companies (large and small) were all scarred at various points by because the transactions could not be completed without interacting with multiple individuals who were not in sync with each other.

The sad part is on the whole these experiences could have been totally satisfactory or even better had these unfortunate hand-offs not left a bad taste for something that overall was fine.

Coordinate and Confirm

The solution is simple. The principle should be a single point of contact for a customer to the greatest extent possible.

In cases where other expertise or skill focus is needed the transfer of the customer should always include all parties in the company (and the customer) to ensure a full understanding of what has incurred to date.

Just dropping the customers into someone else’s hands is a recipe for disaster.  Consistency in approach requires a “warm” handoff.

How We Doing

With longer service and support interactions, particularly those requiring some handoffs of the customer, pay attention to how things are going.

Confirm the customer is getting what they need at a minimum by asking them for feedback each time a transfer is made to someone else (always a warm transfer with everyone present at the beginning).

Avoid dumping the customer on someone else without confirming they are okay with bringing in additional support and be sure to consult internally beforehand to ensure continuity of message and avoid duplication.

Simple Approach Works Best

The suggestions made here can virtually always ensure success with every customer interaction.  Even if things don’t always proceed without glitches (shit happens) being sensitive to this and addressing issues collaboratively within your organization can make the overall experience for those you serve a positive one.

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Microsoft support is not very good

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Wow, no posts from me for 7 months and suddenly the muse is back.  Although it is certainly triggered by difficulties I am having getting simple things done through others.  I am trying hard though.

Microsoft Fails

This story requires a little bit of background about how email works. Hopefully you will find it interesting, the theme though is how Microsoft is unable to resolve what is relatively. a simple problem.

The background

When you send email from your desktop or mobile device it goes to a mail server associated with your email service (e.g hotmail, gmail, outlook).  This is the senders mail server.

Using a process called MTA (mail transfer agent) or SMTP relay (mail transfer protocol relay) the senders mail server searches the internet for the recipients mail server location, using the internets Domain Name Servers (DNS) .

The recipient can have more than one mail server listed in DNS, a primary and one or more backups.  The standard is for the MTA to select the recipients primary mail server first and only if it fails then the secondary or backup server is selected.

Microsoft Mail Server Behaves Like  SPAM server

The Microsoft mail server always selects the backup or lower priority recipients mail server first even if the primary server is live.  This is to avoid spam/junk mail filtering as typically the backup servers do not have such filtering in place (they are bare bones)

For major email service like Microsoft’s, this is a travesty.  They are supporting the delivery of spam and junk mail.  For comparison, gmail, yahoo, icloud and the majority of legitimate corporate mail servers use the primary mail server first when available.

 Like a brick wall

I tried repeatedly over numerous support tickets (more than 5) to get Microsoft to acknowledge and adjust this inappropriate mail server behaviour, to no avail.

I have since advised the Canadian Government Anti- Spam agency about this is issue.  Given it would have a world wide impact on reducing spam and junk email, I hope they take action but doubt anything will change

 

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Staying in Business

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Last week I had an amazingly bad customer service experience with Sunlife Financial.  It was probably the worst overall experience I have had with any company during my entire life.  Enough to make  me think I should to sell all my Sunlife shares.

A simple Question

The amount paid by my group medical drug claim plan administered by Sunlife, for a drug I have been taking for years, changed.  Not by much but you figure there has to be a reason.  The pharmacist (who auto processes the claims) had no idea but did indicate Sunlife had recently outsourced their group benefit claims processing to a third party, I should contact Sunlife.

My Incredible Journey

First I tried using Sunlife’s on-line chat to request an explanation, the AI transferred me to a service rep. who indicated they could not help and would transfer my chat.

The chat was dropped and I tried again, same steps, dropped again.  The third try I complained and the rep. stayed with the transfer till it was complete.  Unfortunately I was transferred to the wrong rep., they tried another transfer and of course, dropped again.

So I phoned.  After being transferred four  times, with my identity checked on each transfer, I got a service representative but in this case the title was an oxymoron as she refused to provide service, insisted I fax my receipt and they would get back to me in a couple of weeks.   I did this but have not heard anything yet.

Not Giving Up

So I tried a secure email, in which I pointed out the BMO group plan rules and how they had not been followed in the case.  My response (finally) explained how the calculation was done.  Although it was clearly in violation of the plan claim payment rules outlined in the BMO benefit booklet, this fact was ignored.

Keep on trying

So now I am following up with BMO the group plan holder.  My question, do you care Sunlfe is not following your stated benefit payment rules?  I guess it will be interesting to find out what happens next but I at this point I do not expect much.

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Making Threats

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One method of motivating action is through an expression of intention to inflict evil, injury, or damage.  By threatening others with a serious consequence you expect they will conform to your wishes.

Putin, President of Russia, just recently threatened the world with use of nuclear weapons if Russian territory is attacked, (this included areas of Ukraine under Russian control).

Demonstrating Weakness

Threats are rarely effective and usually simply reinforce the resolve to overcome the aggressor. Needing to resort to  a threat clearly sends a message one is afraid of the consequences and unsure of their abilities to be successful in the normal course.

In the case of Putin’s threat he is trying to stop the Ukrainian counter offensive.  This approach is unlikely to work and in reality is probably more encouraging to the Ukrainians than anything else.

Will Sanity Prevail

Predicting the future is a difficult task, in this case we must all fervently hope that the majority of Russians will prevent such  a insane action from being actually executed by Putin.

I believe it is highly unlikely the nuclear option would actually be used, firstly so close to home and secondly because the consequences would obviously be much more severe than  just losing some recently acquired territory (taken illegally and by force).

U.S. President Biden’s reaction was simple and straightforward.  Nuclear conflicts have no winners, everyone loses. This is a very true and valid point.  Interestingly Putin agrees with this.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

This most recent pronouncement is a clear indicator Putin has his back to the wall and he has no room to manoeuvre.  We can only hope he is deposed soon and has no opportunity to continue to conflict pain on others for his own self satisfaction.

 

 

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Determination

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I recently saw a post that reminded me failure is not an indicator of future success.

Take note:

  • Tom Brady wasn,t selected until the 6th round of the NFL draft (199th pick) due to slow foot speed, lack of arm strength,  couldn’t throw a tight spiral and said he couldn’t improvise if a play broke down
  • The greatest basketball player of all time, Michael Jordan, was cut from his high school team.
  • Walt Disney was fired from his job at a newspaper early in his career–they said he lacked imagination.
  • Jerry Seinfeld was booed off stage in his first stand-up comedy appearance.
  • Sir James Dyson suffered through 5,126 failed prototypes before he landed on the first working Dyson vacuum.

There are many, many other examples, both of famous personages  and not so famous people, that reinforce the concept, determination and persistence do lead to success.

Personal Experience

In the mid-2000’s, I was in a career rut and needed a change. In the past I had sought to move myself in different directions with middling success.

This time, I decided to persist until I made the career move of my dreams.  It took over approximately 350 direct and indirect applications over 7 months, resulting in more than 50 interviews (some I rejected myself, some I was not successful).

Ultimately, I did secure the job of my dreams, senior director of a large application development  and support team.  This only occurred through perseverance.

Simple Advice

Like the advice in the post I recently read, directed to an individual searching a career change, don’t be disheartened by failure, the odds   are in your favour for success in the long term, keep on going, you will get there.

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Nobody Cares

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Humans are social animals and intrinsically we believe in the existence of empathy, the ability to understand and share the feelings of  others.

This often misunderstood as caring for others.  In reality, nobody cares about you, except you.  Perhaps this a harsh reality most of us will deny but at heart ours is a society of of self serving misanthropes.

Respecting Others

Polite behaviour and giving the appearance of caring for others are simply the actions of a self seeker.  To get what we want and need requires the cooperation of others and appearing to care is a pre-requisite for this to happen.

Whether you consciously acknowledge that life (it) is all about you, or even consciously try to deny this fact, for everything that affects you, at least unconsciously you will seek personal satisfaction and pleasure in some form.

Motivation

While external factors can influence our behaviours and motivate us to act in certain ways, all motivation is filtered through our own consciousness, that is, we decide how to react, other people or things cannot make this decision  for us.

The outcomes of our decisions might not always meet our expectations and we may reconsider and change approaches as a result of external events, however, ultimately the things impacting our lives are always about us and no one else cares, except as it impacts them and their desires.

Cynical

In a word, everyone is cynical, believing that other people are motivated by self-interest.  We might not a knowledge this openly but being distrustful of others sincerity or integrity should be part of your reality.