Being a Customer

Microeconomics is way too early. At least, that’s how I felt this morning. But after going through (note, I did not say, “endure”) an hour or so of class, it was much better. When I walked out of Berkey Hall and crossed the street to wait for the bus, the sun came out and that made my day.

While waiting for the bus, Nick showed up. He was going to take the route #1 bus to get some groceries so we chatted a bit while waiting. Lucky for him, route #1 comes every ten, fifteen minutes so even though he came to the bus stop later than I did, he left way sooner. Oh well.

While we waited, we chatted about the classes this term and getting additional people for our study group. In macroeconomics, study groups are recommended, but however, only for groups of two or three. Our group had four. I emailed Dr. Doblas-Madrid regarding that issue and he said that we can’t have that many people per group, but he did say that we could form two groups of two and go from there. So the plan now is to get some “new blood” into our group and see what happens.

As for the rest of the day, had a bit of a nap. Later on in the evening, I compiled a list of the textbooks both required and recommended for this term, and went down to the basement to search for books that I’ve already owned.

As for the books that I have to purchase, buying online at Amazon.com is really neat. The marketplace is great. I got a book for $20.95 plus shipping for what would usually cost $60 (and that’s already with a slight discount). Nowadays, I don’t even check the university bookstore. Why? Because the prices are absurd, I have to wait in line, and their return policy sucks.

Another cool feature of Amazon.com is that when I looked at books that I have already bought, even though I didn’t quite remember it, Amazon “remembered” for me by putting a little notice on the top of the webpage, stating when I purchased it. That’s how I found out I already had some of the books and didn’t have to be a fool and spend money again on something that I’ve already owned. Now that’s a shopping experience that I clearly enjoyed.

On another note, a contrary commercial experience. Earlier on during the evening, I received a call from Dish Network regarding special promotions on digital channels. As often is the case, the sales rep had an accent (Indian) and couldn’t even pronounce my name. I would assume it was another outsourced call center doing business from beyond the borders. Regardless, the sales rep tried to encourage me to go for a package deal priced at $31.99 per month. Sure there are a lot of channels and stuff, but the price is still high; I conveyed that message and low and behold, that bastard hung up on me. I was furious.

And when I’m mad as hell, I talk. So I went upstairs, fired up the browser and went to the Dish Network’s website. I looked for their service phone number and called them. Once I was connected to a sales rep (this one clearly an American), I told her about my experience and expressed concern about the image that Dish Network was conveying with such business practices. She noted my concern and informed me that she (or the corporation) has received other such complaints and apologized for the bad experience. Then there was a bit of spin from her saying that the call could have came from a regional affiliate doing local promotions. Regardless of the situation, it’s still not good business practice. So after a bit of hem and haw, she asked me if there was anything that she could do. This is the time where I get free satellite for a year, but I don’t live anywhere near perfect, so I just told her, nothing and bid adieu.

Needless to say, I’ll be looking at DirectTV instead of Dish Network.