How hard is it to stay with AA

(Sorry for the radio silence. We have a new site coming up and so the blogs have been going there - you can see them next week)

This cartoon from the front of our 2008 calendar has struck a chord with so many people. Lots of people have been downloading it and the others from the library at our website.

Tonight it happened exactly as in the cartoon. The AA lost out and M&S benefited. If you cannot make renewal simple, what can you do !!

Here's the potted story. Renewal notice for building insurance with quote arrives some time ago. I carry it around in my bag along with 2 others (M&S travel and one of the cars with NFU). Due today so have to make the time. Daughter gets little attention on one of her nights with me as I spend about an hour sorting it all out. That upsets me.

First stop is an aggregator to check the price is in range since it feels steep compared to last year. I go thro all the forms on Moneysupermarket.com and find AA is one of the cheapest, But £100 less than the quote they gave me.

So I try to save them and me a lot of work by calling the renewal hotline on the notice to ask them to meet the price. I go through the IVR and talk to the agent. He can't just match the price. He explains the difference as being not an AA quote but the aggregators and questions if it'll really be there. He says the cover will have different parameters. He cannot look at last year's parameters on which his renewal notice was based. So so he cannot bring it up to date with my parameters (and he cannot get them I know them best!). No he cannot give me any discount to get near the price. I give up.

I go thro the aggregator's link to the AA page to try and get the lower price. It's blank so I have to fill in all the data again.

The last item on the list is to add previous claims. I press and it blanks all the data I added. Sugar! Luckily it comes back when I press the button again. I try again. Nope. So I ignore it and proceed to the next page. I have to give my previous contents insurer but there's no option for "self insured" and its not relevant to buildings only. I have to give my previous buildings insurer, but the AA isnt an option. There are no "other" categories. So I give in! I cannot proceed.

So I ring the 800 number on the page to look for web help.

This time I get IVR routing and IVR security digits to enter from my renewal letter, my postcode and birth date. You've guessed it..when I get through the agent asks for the postcode and birth date. On protest she blames system issues.

I try for blind help with the web site functionality, but the notes are obviously good and she spots I just came through before. So I have to go back down the story. The same track. No result.

In vain I try to ask for web help. Can't do. Got a number for web help? No. Can you get one? Nice but no? Can I speak to your supervisor. I give up waiting on hold and start again.

In fairness someone phoned back later, but I was on the other phone getting through my third call to the AA. No one had it in their job to spot the problems and get the root causes reported. No interest at all.

So now practiced in AA processes, I go thro the 800 number IVR and ignore the fact I'm a customer. Much simpler, I get to a good agent. A modicum of interest. A tiny bit, but not nothing. I go thro the new business process and get a fresh quote. It's £100 more than the renewal letter!! But at least she does have the ability to go through the criteria and we tweak them til we get back to the exact sum in the renewal notice. And on a tiny push she can give discounts and I get a further £50 off, so I'm halfway between the AA price on the aggregator and teh original renewal letter.

By now how do I feel? She was good, but she did what the first guy should have been able to do, half an hour before. That's a waste of my time and I'm not renewing unless they are last resort. I ask for a number to get back to her, but she can only offer to call me back. 7.15? Good technique to try and make me wait afterI get other quotes. Incidentally she didn't call and I went out at 7.25 - perhaps by then she read the notes and gave up on me. Still she said 7.15. Obviously didn't want my business either.

I need a rest so I try renewing my M&S Money travel insurance. The figure is close to last year. I am NOT going to try...... I phone the number on the renewal letter. Just renew it. They just renew it.

Do you do buildings insurance? No.

I'm thinking I know they do.....

But I can transfer you. Phew ! Ring ring etc and eventually I'm through.

By now I can give the answers to the next three questions in the exact insurance language before the questions are asked. How old is the house? Pre 1851, brick, tile roof, detached. French windows? Yes, security locks at the top but not at the bottom, all other windows have locks, burglar alarm but not that Nas standard thingie. Its a bit like the 2 Ronnies doing Mastermind !

The price is where the AA price was on the aggregator web site. Done deal. Its that price because I was asked what excess I wanted and given options. Simple stuff. I took a bigger excess. Thats probably why the AA aggregator price was where it was. If I 'd been offered the higher excess by the last lady from the AA, she'd still have got the business.

So that cartoon......pin it on your walls ! And email us if this story is familiar and you want help. We'll sendround a repair man.

Or take a look at our mini book (more cartoons! ) which tells an amusing story not unlike this one

Even first direct can do dumb things !

(Sorry for radio silence. We have a new site going live and the blogs have been going into the new site which you cant see yet! )

Call me sad, but I found a dumb thing at first direct at last! I have given them the feedback - it's worth it because I believe they will act on it.

Unlike the guys at Swindon station today after I trod on a loose flagstone outside the front door of the station. It had a huge puddle under it that went straight up my legs. At least I was too wet to look like I wet myself!

Telling the ticket clerk, it was clear she had no way of dealing with what customers say. "Tell that guy in the orange jacket over there". I didn't bother.

So what did first direct do? A classic in the web site. Click on mortgage sales and it asks you to log in if you're an existing customer. You log in and click on mortgages. It asks you to proceed to log out and look at mortgages. Back where you started! ! Tee hee.

The other dumb thing is quite interesting. And another classic. Marketing versus operations.

Marketing obviously made their mortgage offer way too good. Not only couldn't I be put thro now, they couldnt call me back until Monday as they were booked solid!. It's the classic oversell or underpricing that generates more demand than can be handled. Even assuming the forecasts were notified. The customer experience - frustrated. Being a fan I'll wait. But it doesnt reflect well.

Bet operations are getting it in the neck not marketing.

Could I do it myself on the web? "We've taken it down because of the demand...." !!

Mandatory pricing

Some interesting observations from China based colleague Tony Bruno on his trip to the UK for the 11th LimeBridge international gathering:

"I hired a car from Europcar via their website. Normally, you are given a choice of whether to buy a tank of fuel from the care hire company at the start of the hire.

I always refuse because it is basically a con. It is virtually impossible to return the car empty, and hence what you are doing is buying fuel for the hire company who can re-sell it to another unsuspecting punter.

However, on this occasion I was informed that Europcar have now deemed it "mandatory" (the assistant's word, not mine) to buy a tank of fuel from them. Nowhere on the web site or any of the confirmation material I received from Europcar did it state this. I returned the car about half full so I paid for about 20 litres of fuel I could not use. What next, I wonder....

3) When we stayed in the Paddington Hilton I noticed that there was a "charitable donation" charge on my bill of £1 per night. I guess 99.999% of people who get this charge ignore it. I must be in the 0.001%.

There is a point of principle here (maybe, like the Europcar case it's a "mandatory" charge). I like to be informed in advance if some charge is going to be levied - and the option to opt in, rather than having to positively opt out. I also assume that Hilton are collecting a lot of money from their customers, donating it to charity and getting some marketing mileage out of it. So, looks like their getting their customers to pay directly for some of their marketing....

just call me Mr. Grumpy. Happy New Year.... "

A new year, more of the same or a new approach?

For 4 years now, Budd has been championing the cause, developed at Amazon, of "The Best Service is No Service".

With our passion for "How do we stop doing dumb things to our customers and people?" we remain focused on how companies can drastically improve their customer experiences by reducing contact by 20%+ per annum, with its consequent impact on operating budgets.
But, and there is a but, many companies appear to be adopting the strategy of saving 20% of their operating costs without a good understanding of what it takes to avoid inflicting pain on their customers.

So - your strategy is to reduce unnecessary contact by 20% in 2008 - but how much damage or how much good will you do for your customers?

The most common problems are:
--- A focus on cost not the experience. The focus must be on the experience first with cost savings as a consequence
--- Starting projects to fix the problem. It's about implementing proven, sustainable processes that constantly take out unnecessary contact. Projects rarely sustain the behaviours required over years
--- Trying to do too much too fast. The first wins are critical but they need to be part of a coherent approach
--- Leaving out the frontline staff. Regardless of new tools to gather data, tapping into what the frontline staff know and their engagement is key to sustainable success
--- Doing again what worked a year or two ago but lapsed as soon as the next focus appeared

Budd brings proven processes that can be embedded to make the savings year on year. Our top clients are saving 80% of their operating budgets now.

On a £100m operating budget, you'd be saving £20m per annum in the first year. That's £1.67m per month, £400k per week. If it's done well you'll be a hero. If its done badly it will cost another £100m to regain your brand's reputation. Do you feel lucky? Or do you need to get it right first time?

Contact us if you'd like to talk through your ideas - peter.massey@budd.uk.com

The product versus the service 6 - the final word (for now...)

I thought it was all sorted but no..... The Porsche dealer phoned to pay the whole thing. Common sense prevails. I just have to get the car there now for 2 days. No one has come back to try and give me a better price for my car in order to buy another

So where am I emotionally 5 weeks after all the excitement of wanting to buy a “new motor”.

At 3 weeks I'd moved from raving fan to neutral at best. At 5 weeks I've had time with the car again. An empty road down to the coast at dawn. A few beers with local fans who've bought them and I'm back in the fold. But....

But they have generated the desire to change car. They wanted to prise me from something special and get me into something even more special. But they weren’t able to close on it. So now I have mentally detached but not attached to the next thing. They have put me in mind to switch.

So I’m out trying new motors…. But no calls coming from Porsche whilst I’m prospecting. Aston Martin? Went to see round the factory last year – drool!! Drop dead gorgeous but no way to drive it everyday, more fragile than a china cup in field of bulls, and half the fuel consumption. It might be British Racing Green, but its certainly not environmentally green and a pain to keep filling up. An Alfa Romeo like the one we hired and burned across Europe in. A steal for such good looks and a great drive, even if the diesel is the one to go for. Or a Mini like my daughter’s or the Cooper S I drove when the tyres were being changed on my car. Totally impressive to drive even in basic form, the Cooper S is a barrel of laughs and I’d have to give it away to make it depreciate as far as the Porsche.

Will I sell my dearly beloved? Maybe. Will I buy another new Porsche, unlikely. Am I a raving fan again....getting there

A WOCAS New Year - as in "Wishing Our Clients All Success"

On the twelfth day of WOCAS our clients gave to us.......
Twelve joyous directors,
Eleven recommendations
Ten Net Promoters
Nine resolved Issues
Eight CCOs a-leaping
Seven cost reductions
Six sigma blackbelts
Five gold awards
Four process owners
Three root causes
Two new voices
One boss promoted
And a nice big bonus just for me!

Jonathan Wilson

The product vs the service 5 - The Best Service is No Service after all

So the nice guy at Porsche who does know what's wrong with the car has rung up and explained it properly. A coherent reason why the car is worn.

It says "Play in O/S/F rack end" and everyone has explained that to be a problem with the steering rack. It isn't. It's a problem with the track rod end where it meets the steering rack. The track rod takes a real bashing and knowing the roads where I live I'm not surprised its worn. Nothing wrong with the steering rack as I thought....

So sound explanation. I'll book it in. That's all it took

Interesting to write down a journey as it occurs. I'll look back and see what my personal ethnography says about root causes.....

What do I feel about buying another....back to neutral. Still passionate about the brand, but would I go sell them to my friends. Not at this moment. one of the guys I persuaded to buy one has been on text as I write......

I can already see where it ends though.... you guessed it: "The Best Service is No Service".