I just received an interesting email from AT&T Broadband. They are going to replace the modem I purchased almost three years ago with a new one, free of charge, and give me a $5 credit on my bill if I do the installation myself. If I run into trouble I can contact Motorola's customer suport for assistance.
In case anyone is wondering, the most expensive way to service a customer is by putting someone in a vehicle and sending them onsite. The second most expensive is having a call center taking your calls. The cheapest, up until now, is using a web based or automated phone system to provide that customer interface. Welcome to the dawn of a new age where they credit money to your account to do the work for them! The least they could do is put $5 in the box with the new modem! I guess the final stage will be us paying them for the technical training we receive as they allow us to service our own system.
Posted by bbarton at February 7, 2003 03:41 PM