Monday, January 14, 2008

statement of the day

PATRON: Hi there. I was wondering if you would look something up on that computer of yours. I don't have an internet at home.
ME: Certainly, what are you looking for?
PATRON: I just need a number for Reader's Digest.
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I did go on to find this information for the nice patron who doesn't have an internet at home. In the process I learned of a vast network of complaints against Reader's Digest because people were randomly getting invoices from RD saying they owed $10 here and $15 there when they hadn't ordered anything. I didn't ask the patron what department they needed help from but I wonder if there will soon be a world-wide beef with RD and their cheap @$$ products.......mysterious!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi, I don't want to question anyone's personal experiences or views, but FYI I can tell you for a fact that Reader's Digest never bills someone for something they didn't order. Given the scale of our business (the magazine alone reaches almost 40 million US readers) the volume of communications with customers (mail, email) is huge. The overwhelming customer experience is positive (think about it -- how could we have so many longterm customers otherwise?), but our goal is to resolve ANY and all complaints as soon as we know about it. Misunderstandings are possible and are human. If our Customer Service dept. is contacted, almost always we check and find out that SOMEONE in the house ordered the item. In any case, our policy is to trust people if they say they didn't want the service and to help them cancel. We NEVER charge them for things they didn't order, or don't want, no questions asked. The thing is we need to know about it. If someone orders something, our computer does the billing, like any direct-mail company. It only knows what it's told. So if someone has a problem, you're right -- they need to contact us. Our Customer Service is the first number posted under "Contacts" on our website, www.rda.com. We don't want anyone to pay for a service they didn't order, period. By the way, if someone gets a bill and writes "Cancel" on it and sends it back, we'll honor that too. Thanks for listening. Bill Adler -- Reader's Digest

Holley T said...

wow, the Vice President of Global Communications! That was fast...I didn't even have a link in there either. Sorry about the "cheap @$$ products" comment. I don't know that I have a militia of RD readers here but I'll be glad to leave the info up for anyone interested. I really wasn't trying to cast aspersions at RD, I just wanted to make fun of the patron telling me she didn't have an internet at home. I am a fan of RD, I could get through a dr's appt without it!
htw

Holley T said...

that would be couldn't get through a dr's appt without it
:)