one part truth, two parts mixer

Reds in my bed

Those Moscow OAP cats still got it

Reading about how high finance works has made me come over a little communist recently. Then I read these seemingly innocuous quotes of the day and got even more worked up. So apologies in advance if this post is a little ranty, I'm just trying to figure stuff out. Actually, feel free to skip it.

I get worked up quite a lot about London in general, about how for one of the world's glamour cities it is just becoming a homogenous mess where you still can't get a quiet drink after 1am, and a whole lot of other things beside (like this and this). Charlie and I were talking the other day about the brilliant independent and interesting businesses that do exist in London - new and old - and how we feel, a duty almost, to shop there to protect them from closure, so much pleasure do we take in their existance. Charlie was saying it would be nice to create some sort of pledge website, and I agree.

Which got me thinking about how the franchise/chain is one the biggest factors in the homogenous high street. It is the homogenous high street. If I never see another Pret, I'll be a happy girl. I love Leon, but it's slowly becoming too available. I liked the fact I could only get in Carnaby. Now there is another store within a 5 minute walk of that one. Imagine if Tayyabs or Ganapati became chain restaurants, as ubquitous as Pizza Express? Part of the charm is that you have to travel for them. Exclusivity doesn't have to be a luxury proposition.

Expansion/capitalism is the enemy of indivudality but I do understand the quest for more profits. I'm not advocating communism at all because that's not how I roll. But I do want to have an economic system that promotes independent businesses more, because they are what makes London vibrant and interesting and different. And one where it's beneficial to be successful but not ubiquitous.

Thinking and dreaming...

#eBayFAIL

I've been pretty annoyed with eBay recently, basically because their new pricing/fees structure means that it isn't really worthwhile to sell low-priced items anymore (basically, you have to give PayPal as a payment option and it takes a 20p flat fee + percentage for each transaction - not great if you're selling an item for £1). Which takes away part of the fun of using eBay. Buying other people's trash.

But I do agree with the principle of having a marketplace where you can resell your old stuff. So I'm a bit torn by this request from eBay:

On one hand I don't really want to support them because I kind of hate them and begrudgingly use them (would love some more options on the auction front), and on the other I support the right as a consumer to resell my goods. Dear dilemma, what should I do?

More complaints please, we're British

I'm sorry that I've been very ranty (is that even a word?) over the last week or so, but hopefully this will be the last one. Everyone has been going mad over Tossed, the salad place, since it opened a couple of doors down from our office. There are a couple of things they do which I find offensive:

1. Charge 50p to heat up your wrap.
2. Charge you for swapping ingredients out of their house salads and wraps - they are made up on the spot not pre-prepared so it wouldn't be too difficult to swap a like-for-like.

For a brand that trades in the Innocent/Pret lovely food brand category, those are pretty unfriendly things to do. So even though the banana custard is really good, I may have to stop my patronage and stick with Pure California (less options, happy about swapping).

Ugh, sort it out

I found this mildly annoying. I was rating my friends short film (btw watch it) and I would actually like to hear more about the competition, but my only options are hear nothing or hear everything. Why can I not hear more about Virgin Media Shorts without being bombarded with crap from Virgin Media (which I can't even get) and Virgin Mobile (which I don't even want)? Surely the whole point of doing stuff like this is (or should be) to make people warm towards your brand? A soft-sell if you like. Not just a way to build a database for mailings about mobile offers.

And anyway, it's not like you couldn't advertise to the 'Shorts info only' people. I'm sure you're allowed to put  adverts within emails that are about the thing they've signed up to.

I know I need to stop ranting, but brands need to stop being annoying first.

Work for it

I was wondering if anyone has any good examples of companies that reward their customers for loyalty. There's a bunch of good stuff in terms of 'operational marketing' over on the Zeus Jones blog, but I was wondering if anyone did anything as simple as, 'you've been our customer for X years, here's £2 off your monthly bill to say thank you'?

Maybe little things like this would avoid the situation I have with Sky, where I've been their customer for over 5 years, spending at least £600 a year, but I feel a burning resentment that I am their customer and am waiting for the day when I can move to a Virgin-enabled area. I actually think that will be one of the main criteria I have when picking out my house (along with being cat-friendly).

The mobile companies used to use your data to suggest the call package which would be most suited to the calls you made, even if meant downgrading, but most companies never take the initiative to save their customers money even though it would mean their customers are less likely to switch. Sky could have easily written to tell me that because I never watch any of the kids channels, do I want to remove the package and save money. Immediate warm fuzzy feeling towards the brand instead of the cold, burning anger that I usually harbour.

It seems that it's only when you call to cancel that brands suddenly realise the value of your loyalty. It's part of the dance to pretend you're going to leave your mobile provider on renewal in order to wrangle a better upgrade deal. I bet if I called Sky to cancel they'd offer me a sweetner to stay - free HD perhaps? It's a shame that brands focus their energy on salvaging relationships rather than cultivating them.

In fact, I read in Campaign the other day that Setanta are going to offer a £3.33 package (on satellite) while there's no premiership action over the summer, but I haven't heard of this from them. I'm probably going to have to call and cancel for them to let me know about it.

Anyway loyal customers are the most profitable, but that doesn't mean they should be treated like mugs. Basically, as a brand you should have to work for my loyalty.

Yikes! Price hikes!

Martin has just informed me that the starting price of a MacBook is now £929. Okay, it's aluminium now but a £100 price increase in a year? I thought technology was supposed to be getting cheaper! Apparently it's because sterling is worth so little these days, but £100? Still seems too steep.

It annoys me how much contempt Apple appear to show to their customers. It annoys me more that people keep lapping it up (myself included). Rant aside, it's interesting that a company can fly in the face of what is accepted good practice (good customer service, etc) and still keep racking up the profits (remember that Wired article?). Will their behaviour ever bite them on the bum?

Boxing clever

So the Khan Barrera fight is tonight, and it would be worth a watch except it's on Sky Box Office. This isn't a problem in itself, but there's only one price for boxing on Sky and that's £15. Or £14.83 now we have a VAT discount. I'm happy to pay that for big fights, title fights, and fights with globally established boxers. BUT while Amir Khan has been overhyped in Britain, he's not yet world class and most of his fights since he turned pro haven't been watchable enough to warrant £15.

Why don't Sky have a two-tier pricing structure for boxing with fights like tonights priced at a tenner, and 'Category A' fights for £5 more? Surely at £10 they could sell more, therefore gaining similar profit margins - it's not like their delivery cost changes much. Also, you could probably lure in people who have a passing interest in boxing, or in Khan but who wouldn't normally shell out. Surely it's great to get these customers in, as they will be more likely to pay for boxing again?

If that's not a good enough reason, can I throw in a 'credit crunch'?

The great mobile phone swindle

So, a girl at work thought she’d left her phone at work over the weekend so didn’t cancel it. It had actually been stolen and some dude had run up over £300 worth of calls to Kenya. This also happened to another girl at work, who was hit with a £750 bill after her phone was missing for just 24 hours. Both have had to stump up the cash to avoid having their phones cut off and having to deal with bailiffs and all that nastiness.

What annoys me about this is that they were victims of crime and are doubly penalised. The real cost of calls to the mobile operator is nowhere near what they charge their customers, so it’s basically money for nothing.

No wonder the operators don’t have anything in place to stop it happening. If payments suddenly start being made in numerous foreign countries you are pretty certain to get a call from your bank or credit card company; would it be that difficult to implement a similar thing for mobile phones?

I wonder if you can set limits on your account to protect yourself against this kind of theft, i.e. only allowed to make £50 worth of calls after my minutes have run out? You could even have a text alert that lets you know you’ve reached your limit and allows you to unlock further credit by entering a PIN. I have to see if this is available now, because (while) I have the fear.

The age of consent

Anyone that has the misfortune to know me in real life will have heard me moan about increasingly not getting served in supermarkets when buying alcohol. This makes me annoyed mainly because I don't have any ID apart from my passport, which I don't really want to have to carry around everywhere. So, I am basically inconvenienced, and then to make matters worse, the shopkeep tend to tell me that I should feel lucky to be mistaken for a teenager - which makes me want to act like a teenager and get in a strop. I don't think I look 17, hell, I don't think I look under 21 and I'm quite a bit older so I just want to be able to buy my Pouilly-Fuissé in peace.

Anyway my love for wine has meant I've had to suck it up and start carrying my passport around with me. Which I can't do this week because it is with the lovely people at the High Commission of India. So I took a photocopy, which is not enough and I was refused booze again. So I'm going to have to suck it up proper and get a citizen card or something, which is just depressing, because I have to get passport photos done and signed by every dentist and his dog.

Which got me wondering why don't the supermarkets offer a over 18 loyalty card or something seeing as they are the ones who have been put under pressure to 'think 21' or indeed 'think 30'.

County or no county

Thing that irrationally annoys me #2,48: when I'm made to fill in the 'county' box on an address form. Writing London twice is just pointless. And really, they only need your house number and postcode anyway.

While filling this form in at The Pen Company, no tiny spike in blood pressure was recorded. Although they do ask for a landline number so minus points - who has one of those anymore? I know there are lots of people who don't make county a required field, but this is the one that triggered the thought.

It might seem like a small thing, but when you're in a bad mood stuff like that is irrationally amplified. The moral of the story? Never overlook the details, no matter how small, but more importantly, design your website so that I, Priyanka Kanse will like it and sod the rest ;)