Email Archive

  • AT&T apologizes to customer warned off emailing the CEO: ‘This is not the way we want to treat customers’

    AT&T apologizes to customer warned off emailing the CEO: ‘This is not the way we want to treat customers’

    Posted on June 3, 2010 | No Comments
    AT&T's Executive Response Team certainly caused a little controversy yesterday after it warned reader Giorgio Galante that sending another email to AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson would result in a cease and desist letter, but apparently it was all just a mistake -- Giorgio tells us that he's received a sincere apology from an AT&T senior VP, who took responsibility for the mixup. Apparently the cease and desist warning came about due to bad reading of AT&T internal policy -- Giorgio was told the rep who made the call is "not having the best of days today" -- and AT&T tells us it's reviewing its procedures to make sure it doesn't happen again.

    As for Giorgio, he says AT&T's rep sincerely listened to his concerns about the new data plan pricing schemes and that he's accepted the company's apology, but ultimately he's decided to switch over to Sprint and the EVO 4G anyway. That's to be expected, we suppose -- and we'd say next time Randall might do well to use up a few bytes of his 2GB limit and write back to a dissatisfied customer. Here's AT&T's official statement on the matter:
    We are apologizing to our customer. We're working with him today to address his questions and concerns. This is not the way we want to treat customers. From Facebook to significant customer service channels, AT&T strives to provide our customers with easy ways to have their questions addressed. Because of this incident, we are reviewing our entire process to ensure a situation like this does not happen again.

    AT&T apologizes to customer warned off emailing the CEO: 'This is not the way we want to treat customers' originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Jun 2010 17:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Dan Hesse email: ‘no current plans’ to alter data pricing

    Dan Hesse email: ‘no current plans’ to alter data pricing

    Posted on June 3, 2010 | No Comments
    Bypassing a company's power structure altogether and contacting the CEO directly is the vogue thing to do right now -- and in light of the AT&T incident this week, it probably behooves said CEOs (and / or their assistants) to earn some PR brownie points by responding with a positive attitude. Take this response from Sprint boss Dan Hesse, for example, in reply to a request that the company "keep [its] great pricing and customer service, and most importantly -- keep unlimited data." In short, Hesse says "one can never say 'never,' but [the company] has no current plans to change our pricing." That's certainly the "correct" thing to say coming off AT&T's big strategy shift toward killing unlimited and hints from Verizon that it'll do the same, but whether Sprint is able to hold the line when the WiMAX airwaves are flooded with EVO 4Gs and EVO 4G-like devices is another matter altogether. We'll see.

    [Thanks, Matt P.]

    Dan Hesse email: 'no current plans' to alter data pricing originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 03 Jun 2010 16:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Nokia and Yahoo announce ‘worldwide strategic alliance’ on email, IM, maps, and more

    Nokia and Yahoo announce ‘worldwide strategic alliance’ on email, IM, maps, and more

    Posted on May 24, 2010 | No Comments
    Carol Bartz and Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, CEOs of Yahoo! and Nokia, respectively, are on stage right now announcing a "strategic relationship" between the two companies on some of their core services. Nokia will be using Yahoo to power its Ovi email and IM services, while Yahoo will be using Nokia / NAVTEQ's competencies for its mapping and navigation services. Both companies see it as a way to grow their respective userbases, with Yahoo hoping to grab onto the 9 million Ovi users out there, while Nokia hopes that Yahoo could provide it a bit of a USA mojo. Interestingly, Olli-Pekka confronted the US problem head on: "We are an unusual global company in the sense that we are clearly a global leader in our industry, and yet we do not lead in the US." Carol was similarly forthcoming, saying that Yahoo had "lost its focus on maps a couple years ago," then correcting herself, saying that they "chose to focus on other areas." The first merged services should launch in the second half of this year.

    During Q&A the big answer to everything seemed to be "scale," but we also heard Carol toss in "downstream" at an opportune moment. When asked how this relates to Android, iPhone and so forth, Carol clarified that this doesn't change anything they're doing on those fronts. "It's not exclusive from that point." Each service will be branded as "powered by Yahoo" or "powered by Ovi." Yahoo will be announcing some "social-like" services for its mail and IM soon, but it's unclear if that's specifically related to this announcement. Neither company is talking financial specifics, but Olli-Pekka did make it very clear that a Yahoo-branded device wasn't forthcoming.

    Nokia and Yahoo announce 'worldwide strategic alliance' on email, IM, maps, and more originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 May 2010 10:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • BlackBerry email down / delayed in North America (update)

    BlackBerry email down / delayed in North America (update)

    Posted on December 17, 2009 | No Comments
    Gonna be a long day for BlackBerry users: RIM's confirmed to multiple outlets that its BIS servers are acting up and that email services are being delayed -- and we're actually hearing that they're just down, period. BlackBerry Messenger still works, though, so you can still BBM your BFF or whatever the kids do nowadays. No word on service restoration, but we'll update you when we find out.

    P.S.- That's two months in a row with significant BIS problems -- what's up with that, RIM?

    Update: ... and we're back!

    [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

    BlackBerry email down / delayed in North America (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Dec 2009 12:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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