We would
have done this story last week, but Cannes trumps all, y'know?
By the way, it turns out there's something infinitely more humiliating
than losing at Cannes: winning.
On to business!
For those of you who don't know what the comic's referencing,
you really need to see this:
In 2005,
AOL paid $1.25 million to the state of New York and promised
to end their stealth retention programs, where call centre employees
had to save
49% of cancellations or forfeit huge bonuses. Something
tells me AOL might have had their fingers crossed.
One of the
cool things about my job is the opportunity to champion a great
product or service that isn't getting the notice it deserves.
But I've got no interest in being a shill for something the
client knows is broken. Instead of spending millions
selling crap and burning your bridges, why don't you invest
that cash in improving your offering?
Ben Popken's
site, The
Consumerist, has a wealth of damning articles on AOL's inability
to understand this simple idea, including an interview with
Vincent Ferrari (the customer from the above video) and a link
to this Hotjobs
post:
"As
a member retention consultant in our casual environment, you
will be responsible for managing inbound calls from members
who wish to cancel their AOL account. Your goal will be to
resell the member their AOL account... AOL Retention Consultants
identify member needs, educate our members about how AOL is
an invaluable part of their lives and resell the member on
AOL products and services."
Apropos
of nothing:
It has nothing
to do with anything, but this
is one of coolest things I've ever seen.
What would an advertising
site be without the fine print? Here goes: Any reference to actual brands
on this site is for satirical purposes only and is in no way endorsed by their
parent companies
or the agencies that represent them. Neither is any harm intended towards
the aforementioned brands, companies and agencies. Quite the contrary —
we may well come begging for a job one day.
And really, wouldn't you rather sue Adbusters?
