

How not to do customer retention - pg
http://www.zagat.com/Discuss/ForumPosts.aspx?TID=2853

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jkent
I've had the same experience with Audible, who make it easy to sign up but not
easy to stop auto-renewal. To cancel, I had to email and they replied asking
for my billing address 'for security'. They then proceeded to argue with me,
telling me that their policy existed because they "like the interaction with
the customers". I on the other hand did not enjoy the interaction with them.

To me it looks like the companies are getting an extra payment in before a
customer manages to cancel (weekends, out of hours, remembering to), and
increasing the costs of their customer support.

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notauser
This is what credit card chargebacks are for. The punishment for failing to
honour cancellations (which DO NOT have to be via the approved route, provided
there is evidence that the company should have seen it - the reply from the
CSR drone in the Zagat thread would be enough) is pretty high.

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babul
They (and similar companies) should read
[http://www.whatisleft.org/lookie_here/2008/02/big-
company-s-...](http://www.whatisleft.org/lookie_here/2008/02/big-
company-s-1.html) (and similar) and learn?

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devicenull
There are reasons for this.. the biggest one I can think of if someone wants
to cancel for some reason that can be fixed. Maybe they can't figure out how
to use a feature, or they've run into a bug with a fairly easy fix. If you've
got automated cancellations, they are gone. However if they have to talk to
someone, and they mention it's because of this, then you just kept a customer.
This happens very frequently where I work.

That being said, the fact that you have to call them is really unacceptable to
me, since email is nicer for pretty much everyone involved.

~~~
ivey
Then say so. Have an online cancellation option that says "We find that many
of our customers who are canceling stay with us, if we get a chance to try to
fix it. If you're canceling because of a problem with the service, check here
to have someone contact you to attempt to resolve it. What time would you like
us to call?"

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shafqat
I can't believe someone from Zagat isn't all over this issue, responding on
the forum, their blogs, and going out of their way to apologize to those
unhappy customers. This is 2008. Word spreads like wildfire online. The
flipside is that doing something unexpectedly nice to your customers also
spreads.

