Getting The Ask

As a consumer, I am always interested in how different companies respond to "The Ask". " The Ask" is usually a request to reduce a charge, upgrade a service or provide extra perks because you are a good customer and most important, because your request is not only reasonable, it's fair.

Just yesterday I succeeded in getting "The Ask" for my daughter Berit and I have at least 24 hours of goodwill because of it. As it turns out a lot of people were going for "The Ask" this weekend.

Driving to the car dealership this morning for what I thought was a major problem ( I thought one of the potholes I hit had caused my car to shimmy--the customer service rep took one look at my car and said, " Did you notice your left tire needs air?)

I was listening to one of my favorite radio talk shows, Ian and Margery, a husband a wife team. Their conversation  centered on their weekend " Ask"  with their mobile phone provider. As they told the story, Margery said she  had lost her cell phone in October. She immediately called her provider to see if someone was using it.

They weren't.

She checked the next month. They weren't. Evidently Margery doesn't use her cell phone quite as much as I do because at this point she assumed the cell phone must be somewhere in her home .

As my daughter Berit likes to say, "assuming makes an ass out of u and me."

Fast forward to December and all of a sudden there is $175 in charges for ring-tones and wallpaper.

When Margery asked her mobile phone company to reduce the charges , they declined, informing her that since she hadn't filed a police report saying  the mobile phone was stolen,  she was still responsible for the charges.

Over the next two days, both Margery and Ian spent a couple of hours chatting with customer service. They wouldn't budge.

Then they went to a retail store and threatened to take their service elsewhere. The  folks at the retail store level informed them there  was a special department ( the name of which escapes me right now--it was something like the Assessment Department) that evaluated just these types of claims.

After three days, the mobile phone company reduce her bill by 1/3. Margery was happy.

Their weekend plight mirrored mine.However, instead of a cell phone it was the new IPOD video.

Using her hard earned money from the coffee shop, my daughter Berit bought the new IPOD Video. When she got it home she discovered that her OS was too old and wouldn't accommodate the IPOD.

Now to her back story. This was not her first IPOD. This was her 4th. I bought the first...a 10 GB. She outgrew that one and bought a 20. This summer, she decided to upgrade to the 60. Using her money from her job in a coffee shop she made her purchase . At the time she asked when the new video IPODs were being released. She was told not until Christmas.

Three weeks later the video IPODS were released.

So now its Saturday. Berit wants to download video and her computer isn't cooperating.

We go to the genius bar. We tell our tale of woe. Our "Ask", upload the required software on her computer.Our rationale: when she made the purchase no one mentioned her system wouldn't accommodate the video IPOD and since the boxes are not on display, there was no way she could check system requirements until she got the IPOD home.

And besides that, she has owned four previous IPODS.

Sympathetic, the genius tells us  they no longer sell the upgrade she needs and that she can purchase it on EBAY.

I didn't like that answer and told the genius that I wasn't happy. He went to talk to the manager. I took that as a good sign. He came back and said the manager says there is nothing we can do.

At this point my daughter says she'll return the IPOD. They agree to waive the restocking fee.

Then the genius, who I believed was really sympathetic,said the prophetic words,"You can talk to the manager." 

What I've learned is when a floor person offers the manager there's a good chance "The  Ask" will be agreed to.

The manager ushered me into the backroom. He was kind . He was reasonable. Most important, he handed me the software to allow my daughter to use her new IPOD.

My daughter thought I was a genius.

Now back to Ian and Margery. While they are willing to take responsibility for 2/3 of those charges, I think they should go back to their mobile phone provider with another "ASK" . They should "ASK" for a free month of phone service.

When Margery called the company to say the phone was lost, they should have flagged the account. They should have reminded her that she should close the account to avoid any charges just in case the phone had been stolen.

The company didn't do that. Their records should show how many times Margery called checking on the phone.

So to me,their mobile phone provider needs to demonstrate some goodwill and give Margery a month's free service.

As I tell my children, it never hurts to ask.