Twenty five minutes; I have been sitting in the office of the Credit Union's customer service clerk for twenty five minutes. Very few pictures, no magazines, nothing to do but become angry. It's hot. I had been riding my bicycle. My shorts are riding up the crack of my butt. The pressure is building, the emotional gauges are at the red-line. I am a micro- second removed from an embarrassing, if not violent incident.
The earliest locomotives did not show the pressure of steam in the boiler, but it was possible to estimate this by the position of the safety valve arm which often extended onto the firebox back plate; gradations marked on the spring column gave a rough indication of the actual pressure. Sweat and shaking hands are my pressure gauges. When the sweat is flowing and the hands are swirling I am an accident ready to happen.
My eyes also play tricks. Although it was high noon, darkness was descending. I am in an emotional twilight zone.
I have relocated, and am trying to do things, by my own standards, right. I am approaching the back end of my career on earth. Its now or never. I have moved to a working class neighborhood, and joined a Credit Union. The experience has been less than fulfilling. I have been unable to wire funds into my account. The credit union does not have an ABA number (wire reference number). Funds must be posted from the parent to the child account. PayPal, my home base for funds, must validate a new wire transfer account with a ping, before transferring funds on a regular basis. They send to wires of $ 1.00 each. My Credit Union rejected these transactions. Forty minutes on hold with the Credit Union's bank resulted in a comment from the bank's representative that PayPal "sucks". I was on my own. Meanwhile my checks and deposit slips were forgotten in the vault.
“Customer service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer expectation."
PayPal "sucks"! Who is PayPal? PayPal offers a full range of payment services that includes debit and credit cards, a savings account paying more than 5%, and loan options on major eBay purchases. Sounds pretty much like a bank, doesn't it?
But are they bigger than a neighborhood Credit Union? According to eBay's earning release the other day, PayPal ended the quarter with 123 million accounts, 36 million MORE than they had a year ago (41% growth). The new accounts alone would dwarf almost any financial services company in the world; for instance, American Express has 74 million accounts worldwide (as of June 30), up 7 million since a year earlier.
So yes, by number of accounts, PayPal is clearly a global leader in financial services. However, by most other measures, PayPal's size is more modest.
Those 123 million accounts made a total of 146 million payments worth $9.1 billion. In comparison, American Express card members spent 15 times more, $141 billion in thesecond quarter.
In summary, PayPal is a really, really big financial services company, growing far faster than most rivals. But it's still a niche service for online purchasing, primarily at eBay. However, with more than 100 million accounts and one of the most widely recognized online brands, PayPal is in a position to compete with major banks around the globe.
My Credit Union has 8,700 members, has lost my checks and can't figure out how to receive a wire transfer from PayPal.
In the field of marketing, a customer value proposition consists of the sum total of benefits which a vendor promises that a customer will receive in return for the customer's associated payment (or other value-transfer). Put simply, the value proposition is what the customer gets for his money/time. Accordingly, a customer can evaluate a company's value-proposition on two broad dimensions with multiple subsets: 1. relative performance: what the customer gets from the vendor relative to a competitor's offering; 2. price: which consists of the payment the customer makes to acquire the product or service; plus the access cost
Friendly, courteous and quality service? Is that too much to ask for? I better run, not walk out of this place. Ready, set, bolt!
May I recommend for your enjoyment: "The 2009 US Rowing Masters National Championships"
You may also enjoy reading: Howdy Doody, a freckle-faced boy marionette, had 48 freckles, one for each state of the union..
You can also search the content of all my blogs with the following search tool. Give it a whirl. Enjoy.
Tony Stark, Iron Man, is an industrialist playboy and genius inventor who suffers a severe heart injury during a kidnapping and is forced to build a destructive weapon. He instead creates a powered suit of armor to save his life and escape captivity. He later decides to use the suit to protect the world as Iron Man. Through his multinational corporation, Stark Industries, Tony created military weapons and his own metal suit is laden with technological devices that enable him to fight crime. Initially, Iron Man was a vehicle for Stan Lee to explore Cold War themes, particularly the role of American technology and business in the fight against communism.
Iron Man first appeared in 13- to 18-page stories in Tales of Suspense, which featured anthology science fiction and supernatural stories. The character's original costume was a bulky gray armored suit, replaced by a golden version in the second story (issue #40, April 1963). It was redesigned as sleeker, red-and-golden armor in issue #48 (Dec. 1963); that issue's interior art is by Steve Ditko and its cover by Kirby. In his premiere, Iron Man was an anti-communist hero, defeating various Vietnamese agents."
Lee later regretted this early focus. Throughout the character’s comic book series, technological advancement and national defense were constant themes for Iron Man, but later issues developed Stark into a more complex and vulnerable character as they depicted his battle with alcoholism (Demon in a Bottle) and other personal difficulties. Tales of Suspense #48 (Dec. 1963), the debut of Iron Man's red-and-gold armor. Cover art by Jack Kirby & Sol Brodsky. From issue #59 (Nov. 1964) to its final issue #99 (March 1968), the anthological science-fiction backup stories in Tales of Suspense were replaced by a feature starring the superhero Captain America. After issue #99 (March 1968), the book's title was changed to Captain America.
Stumble It!
web blog: Comics Legends and Lore
web blog: Time Less Images
web blog: Tom's Cats
web store: Time-Less-Image Ebay Store
MySpace Profile: Time-Less-Image on MySpace
Technorati Tags: customer
Blogs are ranked in various ways, and one of the more significant ones (besides linking or subscribing) happens via Technorati. In brief, Technorati tracks millions of blogs and lets users search them, tag them, and rank them. If you own a blog, or if you read them, I recommend signing up with Technorati (it's free and takes a couple minutes). And if you enjoy this blog, I encourage you, please, to "favorite" it. 
