Budget Car Rental: You Can Judge a Company By Its Name

I've been travelling a lot lately. While this serves as an excuse to my lack of postings, I can promise you I have a vault full of great DoB stories.

I rented a car from Budget recently, and I noticed an odd smell when I first drove off the lot. It took me about 15 minutes and watery eyes before I figured out that the car, despite having only 5,000 miles, had been heavily smoked in. I also noticed the large "NON-SMOKING" stickers on the windows which declared a $250 fine for smoking. Once I got to my hotel (about 30 minutes from the car rental location), I called Budget to tell them about the issue. I was neither looking for a different car nor any type of credit; rather, I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't going to be inadvertently charged the fine. The customer service representative informed me that I had 2 options. One option was to bring the car back to the rental location and swap it out for a different car. The second option was to risk paying the $250 fine. Yeah, so thanks a lot.

Ignoring the smoke infusion issue for the time being, I went to use the car the next day and found a partially flat tire. That's when I remembered that the tire pressure warning light did indeed come on shortly after leaving the airport, but I was too busy gasping for fresh air that I didn't notice. I looked up the nearest Budget location to my hotel, and took the car there to see what they could do about the flat tire.

I pulled up front to the Budget office (it was in an urban area, so I wanted to check in before I found a parking space), I informed the agent of my situation,  and she told me I had to park first. About 20 minutes had elapsed by the time I drove to the parking garage and walked back. The agent then found it convenient to inform me that they had no vehicles available and that I had 2 options. One option was for me to replace the tire with the spare. The second option was to call roadside assistance. Again, thanks a lot.

For the sake of keeping this post short, I'll skip the parts about there not being a spare tire,  about waiting on hold for roadside assistance for 45 minutes, and about me showing the garage mechanic how to use an air compressor. In the end, I was informed that it would take between 1 and 8 hours for Budget to come and bring a new car (since there was no spare tire) and that I would have to be there when the tow truck came. I was also informed that there was no way that the 8-hour window could be reduced. Oh, and by the way, we were on vacation. So, again, thanks a lot!

Why Microsoft’s Mobile Screw-up is Worse Than They Realize

It was not long ago when popular Microsoft products such as Windows, Office, Outlook, Internet Explorer, etc. were used for just about everything.  Macs continue to erode the Windows gold standard operating systems.  Firefox, Safari, and Chrome have made the once monopolistic Internet Explorer capture only 50% of the internet browser market today.  And Open Office and Google Docs are starting to steal users from Microsoft’s profitable Office suite, especially rendering their complex collaboration features obsolete.

The one thing that may appear to be stable today is Microsoft Outlook and the associated Exchange client-server.  For those not familiar, the basic idea of Microsoft Exchange is that it provides a powerful email, scheduling, and global address service for medium and large businesses.  The Exchange server acts as the back-end service while Outlook (the Exchange client) provides end-users with email, calendar, contacts and task tools, among other features.

It was also not too long ago when Windows Mobile was a powerful operating system for mobile phones.  While never priding itself as a great web browsing or multi-media experience, the one thing Windows Mobile operating systems have had are native Exchange clients.  In other words, Microsoft Outlook penetrated much of the pre-installed software on the phone.  Unlike a lot of other “bloatware” that comes preloaded on phones, the native Exchange was actually a good thing.  Emails would be delivered directly to your Messages app, phone numbers of Outlook contacts would be stored in the phonebook, and calendar items would synchronize between your phone and Outlook automatically and over the air.

Realizing that Microsoft Exchange nearly served the complete market of enterprise businesses, iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android incorporate Exchange synchronization and functionality.  However, as one would expect, the synchronization is not nearly as seamless as it is on a Windows Mobile phone.  For instance, fields that may contain data in an Outlook contact may not be available on a BlackBerry.  Another example is that calendar/appointment reminders are different between Outlook and iPhone.  And perhaps worst of all, the powerful Outlook task list doesn’t even synchronize with Android mobile operating systems.

Given the utility of a Windows Mobile phone with a native Exchange client, it had everything going for it.  The whole Microsoft ecosystem could be leveraged.  As other phone manufacturers and mobile operating systems began to gain popularity, Microsoft just rode its laurels.  This is not news though – we all know this, and Steve Ballmer eventually fired the head of mobile.

"Right now, [Microsoft] is selling millions and millions and millions of phones, and Apple is selling zero."

After Microsoft’s mocking of the iPhone, they effectively disappeared from the landscape of mobile phones.  They have tried to reinvigorate the product with Windows Phone 7, but this has all but failed.  (On a side note, there are 6 unique models of Windows Phone, and none are available on Verizon and not one has a fixed qwerty keyboard.  Who are they actually trying to compete with?)  But the worst is yet to come.  Because of this mobile screw-up, Microsoft’s “old faithful” – the Exchange server and Outlook client – are in trouble.  Why would users deal with the inconsistent integration of Exchange into other mobile phones when they can just use native applications, e.g., gmail and calendar for Android?  Indeed, Google Apps is being heavily marketed toward enterprise customers.  Google doesn’t currently have a task list, but something like it has to be in the works.

Therefore, because more work is continually conducted on mobiles, and because almost no one uses Windows Phones, enterprise customers may likely start switching to other services offered as native applications on mobile phones, such as those offered by Apple or Google.  The logical next step would be for those enterprise customers to adapt their office workstations to the new clients.  Losing Exchange server and Outlook revenue is when Microsoft’s real blood bath will begin.

Delta Airlines: A Round Trip Experience

The Departure

Our plane had left the gate in Washington, DC, and I was to fly up to New York City for a conference. I was probably engrossed in the most recent issue of Sky Mall for quite a while before I realized that the plane had been sitting on the tarmac, not moving for at least 15 minutes. I looked around and saw the flight attendant, and she informed me that there were major backups on the runway, and that we would have to wait our turn.

Fair enough, I thought. This was not uncommon and just the nature of air travel. But one hour later, not only had we not moved but there were also no announcements. I again turned to the responsive flight attendant, who apologized for not really knowing the status.

Another hour went by. This is all literal; I promise I’m not exaggerating (anyone who’s flown before knows that no exaggeration is necessary when it comes to airline horror stories). At this point, we had been sitting on the tarmac for over 2 hours. I thought to myself, if we don’t leave in 15 minutes, there’s no point in me even flying up to NYC anymore. I told this to the flight attendant, who asked me more information about it. “Where’s the conference?” she asked. “What time does it start, and what’s the latest it would make sense for you to arrive?” Her questions were obscure, but I humored her and answer them. She excused herself and headed toward the front of the plane.

A few minutes later she returns and says, “Thankfully you spoke up, sir. The pilots now have an urgency reason to tell the control tower … this should allow us to take off shortly.” Before I could gasp out of surprise, the captain announces that we’re next in line for takeoff. I assumed that she was being sarcastic with me, and I asked for clarification. She explained that it was Delta’s policy to prioritize departures based not just on the original departure time but also the priority level of passengers. As a master of the art of subtle sarcasm, I can tell you that she was telling the truth.

The flight attendant then proceeds to tell other passengers around me that I’m the one who deserves credit for the plane finally departing. Naturally, they questioned the absurdity of this, and her basic answer was, “All you had to do was ask.”

The Return

I’m not entirely convinced that overselling flights is a good business decision, but I am happy to volunteer for the voucher when it’s convenient for me.  Needless to say, my return flight was overbooked, and I was selected as a volunteer.  I stood aside while the plane was boarded, eagerly awaiting my $400 voucher, meal ticket, and hotel reservation.  The jet way door shuts, and moments later the plane begins pulling away.

Just like real money, it cannot be replaced if lost.

I continued to wait at the desk while the gate agent radioed back and forth with another individual, sounding like they were arguing about numbers.  The gate agent turned to me, and said that there was actually an open seat and they had miscounted.

They miscounted. How does this happen so often? People have to check in for their flights, and a computer scans each individual boarding pass as passengers board.  If that isn’t enough, the flight attendants walk the aisles a number of times, and I would think that an empty seat on a supposedly oversold flight would be pretty damn obvious.

The plane pulls back up to the gate, the jet way door reopens, and I’m rushed aboard the plane.  As I make my way to the back of the plane, I’m given looks of disgust by other passengers who reasonably assume that I was running late and was responsible for holding up their departure.  I head home with no $400 voucher, no available overheard cargo space, and more personal disgust of airlines.

You can’t make this stuff up.

The Black Magic of Kiducation

Photo taken in Waterford, CT

There are no words.

Time Warner Cable: A case on how not to model a company's culture

Over a twelve year period, I moved about ten times, providing me the opportunity to deal with a number of cable/satellite companies, predominantly Time Warner, Comcast, DirecTV, and Cox. They're all bad. But TWC is the worst. Actually, the experience mentioned below was the original inspiration for this blog.

When I moved to my current location of Durham, NC, I signed up for a special promotion of $30 per month for digital cable. The price was to include an HDTV digital cable box, a remote, the basic cable channels, and one outlet. (Time Warner Cable, unlike all other cable companies I've dealt with, actually charges more per outlet.) I prepaid the first month and scheduled the installation.

It took a few weeks to have the service set up, and when I received my first bill, I was charged $60 - $45 for monthly service and $15 for a past due balance. I obviously inquired about this, and I was told that they were no longer running the $30/month promotion. I informed them that there must be a mistake, since I had signed up with the $30/month promotion, which could even be proven by my prepayment of $30. The customer service agent (who was pretty kind, relatively speaking) said there was nothing she could do, blaming it mainly on the computer. After I told her that I wouldn't continue the service if they wouldn't honor the original rate, she told me, in exact words: "Sir, I would do the same thing if I were in your shoes. Unfortunately, there's nothing I can do."

Of course my threat was empty, and I continued to pay the extra $15 per month to get my cable service. After one year, my price shot up to $80 per month for basic cable! I called and asked if I could get a better rate, and they offered me $75 - a $5 discount! Figuring that I could probably negotiate a better deal if I tried to cancel my service, I asked to be transferred to the cancellation department. The agent said that he could actually cancel my service himself, and before I could say, "is that what you really want to do?", my service was cancelled. And that was the end of that.

No worries, though. For a one time payment of $45, I bought this beautiful antenna:

Not your grandparent's old fashioned "rabbit ears."

I get all the stations I watch most in High Definition and for FREE. The only thing I miss out on is ESPN, but thankfully I have ESPN 3 through my DSL internet service.

Bottom line: Time Warner's complete inability to empower their employees and its company culture of not putting the customer first lost them yet another customer. You can't make this stuff up!

Cell phones replacing airlines in the hospitality industry

Traditionally, hotels, airlines, and rental car companies have been considered the heavyweights of the hospitality industry since they compete solely on their level of customer service.  The argument is that there is limited ways to differentiate a Hyatt and Marriott hotel room, and margins are pretty much fixed.  Therefore, a company would gain its competitive edge through hospitality, or exceptional customer service.

Airlines once were considered part of the hospitality industry, but, today, no one would argue that they set any standard for exceptional customer service.  In theory airlines should not have much to compete on: again, margins are fairly fixed, and success is binary (i.e., the plane either lands safely or crashes).  Unfortunately, heavy federal and state government regulation effectively cause an oligopoly in the industry.  The end result is that consumers are usually left with only one option at a reasonable fare.

Interestingly, cell phone carriers (e.g., Verizon, AT&T) appear to be replacing airlines' component in the hospitality industry.  If not already, eventually the service coverage of all carriers will converge, and they will have nothing to compete on other than hospitality.  This already seems to be the case, at least between Sprint and Verizon, who have begun empowering their employees to satisfy customers at all costs.

USA Jobs

Would you invest in a company that lost $2 trillion last year and has a negative net worth of $44 trillion? The “company” is of course the U.S. government, and this was the headline story of a recent issue of Bloomberg Businessweek. Now, I have a lot of correct opinions about politics, the economy, and government in general, but that is neither the point of this article nor the theme of this blog. Rather, let’s look at www.USAJobs.gov, the U.S. government’s primary source for hiring. If any corporation approached hiring in the same manner as USAJobs.gov, they would be out of business within months.

Those who have applied for government jobs are probably already familiar with the frustrations of the application process. Those who are not familiar can just click on any random job posting; you can begin to imagine the frustration by just glancing over the job description (if that’s even what you want to call it.)

Let me bring to your attention 3 complete absurdities about USAJobs.gov:

1) They apparently don't edit or review their work

Throughout the website, including on the “Advanced Search” page, there is an “Applicant Eligibility” question. Ignore for the moment the fact that the jargon it uses is meaningless to the average person (e.g., interchange agreement, competitive service by statute, non-competitive appointment, etc.). It’s basically a Yes or No question which asks you if you meet certain requirements, and it is actually very important and applicable to many government jobs. Yet some lazy bureaucrat has formatted the bulleted list wrong!

Screen shot taken in February 2011

The final 2 bullets (about veterans’ preference and appointment eligibility) are independent from Federal civilian employees with non-temporary appointments.  In other words, it should read like this:

Are you:

• A current or former Federal civilian employee who holds or held a non-temporary appointment
• in the competitive service in the Executive Branch or in a position not in the Executive branch specifically included in the competitive service by statute, or
• in an expected service position covered by an interchange agreement, or
• eligible for reinstatement?
• A veteran eligible for veterans' preference or separated from the armed forces under honorable conditions after 3 years or more of continuous military service?
• A person with non-competitive appointment eligibility?

In fact, if you don’t believe me, just look at the help menu.  It’s formatted correctly there.  You can also simply read it like a sentence and see that it does not make sense.  For example, it would read like this:

“Are you a current of former Federal civilian employee who holds or held a non-temporary appointment a person with non-competitive appointment eligibility?”

Why is this important?  Because the website which represents tens of thousands of government jobs can’t even figure out how to properly ask questions!

Being the good citizen I am, I promptly informed customer service of this several weeks ago (in February 2011).  All I received in return was someone explaining to me what the technical jargon means.  (Just for reference, I am one of the few who probably know what the jargon means.)  After exchanging a few more emails, I was eventually told: "Your comments and/or suggestions will be considered as we make improvements to the website" and that my request would be handled by the appropriate authority.

At least the website design is nice!

2) Your application may not even be reviewed by a qualified hiring manager

So let’s say you get past the difficulties of figuring out what a job description means and are miraculously able to submit an application.  Have you considered who actually looks at the resumes and applications?

A friend of mine works for a well-known government contractor, and he is currently assigned to a high-profile agency.  That agency had an online job posting.  Apparently the hiring manager at the agency didn’t feel it necessary to find the right fit.  Instead, he or she asked my friend (who’s been out of college for less than a year) to pick the new hire.  So there was this contractor, several levels removed from the actual agency, making a hiring decision.

3) The turnaround time is an embarrassment

Sometimes when you apply for a job you hear the bad news right away or within a few months.  Sometimes you may not hear any bad news at all, and so assume no news is bad news.  However, my wife recently received bad news about a position she applied for at the Justice Department … SIX years after submitting the application.

You can’t make this stuff up!