Flame Carly!

Date: Wednesday, March 05, 2003 11:08 AM

H-1B and JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER

www.ZaZona.com

Before you sign up for that Hewlett Packard extended warranty, flame
Carly!

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/29578.html

Flame Carly!

By John Leyden
Posted: 04/03/2003 at 18:48 GMT

A quarterly report on emails sent to HP chief exec Carly Fiorina
reveals growing dissatisfaction among users about the company's
outsourced support services.

Fiorina makes herself available for email feedback from customers
through a Web form on HP's site.
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/execteam/email/fiorina/index.html

Although customers aren't guaranteed a reply to every message, a report
summarising the messages shows that their comments, however critical,
are taken on board.

The overall volume of email messages sent to Carly via the Web form
during Q4 2002 was 6,143, we learn from the leaked report (which is
described as "HP Restricted"). This mail volume, surely only a
percentage of all the email HP's boss receives from customers, is up by
more than 50 per cent on the previous quarter.

Four in five of the comments received through "E-mail Carly" during Q4
relate to consumer products (PCs, printers and imaging equipment). Most
were complaints,
or, as the report puts it: "Customers resort to e-mailing Carly for
help because they were unsuccessful at getting resolution through
regular customer service channels."

More worrying, customer praise in emails to the company's CEO decreased
from 16 per cent to 10 per cent over the quarter.

This drop is partly explained by an upsurge in complaints about HP's
outsourced support services, a point highlighted in a summary of the
messages through the "Email Carly" route.

The report states:

When HP began outsourcing phone support to India a few month's ago
there was a noticeable increase in complaints specific to this issue.
There is a growing perception among US customers that HP has become
'anti-American' as it continues to outsource support to countries
outside of the U.S. in order to reduce costs. In addition to having
difficulty understanding the accent, customers say that they are often
treated rudely, laughed at, put on hold for an unreasonable amount of
time, hung up on, etc. and agents appear to have a general lack of
technical and product knowledge. Customers who have already purchased
an extended warranty are required to pay $35 for an additional warranty
before they can receive support. Customers challenge the "ethics" of
this practice.

This could have an effect on customer loyalty and tarnish HP's
reputation, the report warns.

A lack of confidence is mentioned in numerous messages due to
customers' experiences with outsourced, first-tier customer service
representatives, inconsistent support, warranty policies and
difficulties in general dealing with HP. Customer perception is that
they are no longer thinking of HP as being trustworthy, reliable and
quality-conscious. They say they are willing to pay more for products
for these attributes, but if they aren't going to receive them then
they'll buy elsewhere where the service is better. Also, canned e-mail
support has a tendency not to answer the customers' concerns and sends
them back to the Web site where they already came from feeling
frustrated.

Around 20 excerpts from customer emails are used to support these
assessments. They will make uncomfortable reading for HP's consumer
product managers, who can access the report on the company's Intranet.
.

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