Should HTC/Sprint give good will gesture?

[Scotlac]

Source?

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Android Central Forums

Here ya go!

 

[Sapient]

I think that the original post does have some merit and only brings up a question on how to quell an escalating situation. How you can comment on something you didn't fork out $200 for and criticize others for requesting compensation baffles me. It's not about entitlement. It's about doing the right thing for consumers who did not see this coming. Sprint or HTC could be doing some sort of damage control.

Right now, we don't know how this is going to turn out. The phone could be released from customs next week, next month or later, and all we have seen is press clippings and reports from an insider blog. If you are going to have an event in NYC announcing the product and being out in front of it, don't be hiding from the public now that the balloon had the air escape from it as everyone is looking for answers and updates as to what is going on. No media press conference to be found, yet they can spends millions on commercials for a product that is either not available or only partially available to those fortunate to have purchased it sooner. My two cents. Keep the change (unless it's over $200).

But they DID tell people what was happening. I'm not sure what more you could expect them to do. How many times do they need to let you know that they don't know why customs will release the phones?

Quite honestly, this situation hardly seems serious from the customer's end. It is mildly annoying to have to wait for an item you pre-ordered. On the other hand, I would imagine that just the cost of providing CSR's to answer questions about this issue (even if you find those answers unsatisfying) is not insignificant to Sprint.

Sometimes things in life are beyond your control. If you want compensation from someone for this reality, at least target the people most responsible for causing your difficulties. If anything, Sprint is your ally in this situation. You want the phone. Sprint wants you to get it. Your interests are aligned. Do you really doubt that Sprint is not wielding whatever influence it has behind the scenes to further your shared goal?

 

[vhira82]

Entitlement. Its why our kids are walking around with their pants around their ankles thinking they know what they are talking about. "Pants on the ground, Pants on the ground, Looking like a fool with your pants on the ground"

 

[jeffreytz]

I say Sprint, because they charged my credit card before they were ready to ship the product. When I pre-order anything from Amazon they never charge my credit card until they ship. I've already sent an email to Dan@Sprint.com that I will never purchase anything through Sprint again unless they change their policy.

 

[_Severability_]

I say Sprint, because they charged my credit card before they were ready to ship the product. When I pre-order anything from Amazon they never charge my credit card until they ship. I've already sent an email to Dan@Sprint.com that I will never purchase anything through Sprint again unless they change their policy.

Yep I agree my friend..

 

[jb23fan]

No compensation is owed.

 

[learntall]

I want to take a minute to talk about why I started this thread. This is mostly to explain to those of you who continue to use words such as owed, entitled, compensation etc... When I used the words "GOOD WILL GESTURE" I mean just that, nothing is owed to anybody. My general question is based around the way HTC and Sprint ended up in this situation and how they handled it.

I believe that HTC has done something wrong, can I pinpoint what that something or somethings may be, no, we could speculate many different scenarios. Nonetheless they would not be in this situation had they not done something wrong. Sprints manner of handling the flow of information and addressing the issue with us the customers could have been a lot better. Is it business, yes, did we pre-order without a date, yes, do things go wrong sometimes, yes. This is still a question of keeping your customers happy.

With this in mind, Sprint set a date and did not meet it, ok stuff happens, but you have to be more forthcoming with your customers and try to keep them happy. A "Good Will Gesture" comes from Sprint/HTC saying to the customer 'Hey I Messed Up, in whatever way, And I Want You To Know That I Appreciate You as a Customer and Want to Keep You Happy, Here's 10 bucks, Go Get a Cup of Coffee on Me.'

A good will gesture isn't something owed, it's something that comes from the niceness of someone or something(i.e. company) and offered with respect and dignity.

 

[arrector_pilus]

It would be nice to receive some type of good will gesture. If I ran Sprint I would offer one however, I would not say anything about it until I knew the phones where shipped. I would do this for two reasons.

1. I length of the delay may affect the value of the gesture I would offer. The longer the delay, the more valuable the gesture. If a gesture is offered and the wait is longer then everyone would be ticked that it 'wasn't good enough' and 'how dare them offer something of petty'.

2. I would only give the gesture to the people who waited and did not cancel their pre-order.

I do not believe anything is owed and would not be surprised if nothing was offered. But it would be nice.

Just my two-cents!

 

[Phoenix Rev]

I want to take a minute to talk about why I started this thread. This is mostly to explain to those of you who continue to use words such as owed, entitled, compensation etc... When I used the words "GOOD WILL GESTURE" I mean just that, nothing is owed to anybody. My general question is based around the way HTC and Sprint ended up in this situation and how they handled it.

I believe that HTC has done something wrong, can I pinpoint what that something or somethings may be, no, we could speculate many different scenarios. Nonetheless they would not be in this situation had they not done something wrong. Sprints manner of handling the flow of information and addressing the issue with us the customers could have been a lot better. Is it business, yes, did we pre-order without a date, yes, do things go wrong sometimes, yes. This is still a question of keeping your customers happy.

With this in mind, Sprint set a date and did not meet it, ok stuff happens, but you have to be more forthcoming with your customers and try to keep them happy. A "Good Will Gesture" comes from Sprint/HTC saying to the customer 'Hey I Messed Up, in whatever way, And I Want You To Know That I Appreciate You as a Customer and Want to Keep You Happy, Here's 10 bucks, Go Get a Cup of Coffee on Me.'

A good will gesture isn't something owed, it's something that comes from the niceness of someone or something(i.e. company) and offered with respect and dignity.

You are operating from the false premise that all of the customers are unhappy. I am not. I was disappointed that I didn't have my phone on Friday, but I am not unhappy. When I didn't get it, I had other things to do in my life than worry about a phone, a gadget, a luxury item that will be in my hands soon enough.

As for HTC and Sprint managing information, there are two parts here. First, I know my pre-order agreement clearly stipulated that the May 18th delivery day was "estimated." There is also not a single word in the agreement that my EVOLTE is "guaranteed" to be in my hands on a particular date. (Disclaimer: I pre-ordered at Best Buy.) I am willing to bet that there isn't a person holding a receipt or contract that says they will absolutely, positively, without fail have the EVO in their hands on May 18th. (And even if it did, I doubt anyone could prevail in court because of the circumstance regarding U.S. Customs.) So, we all hoped for May 18th, but it didn't happen.

Now we turn to the other half of the information chain. HTC and Sprint are NOT going to release any info that hasn't been thoroughly vetted by their legal counsels and their PR departments. They also may not be able to release anything but the most vague of information due to their agreements with HTC or whomever.

Yes, a good will gesture may be nice, but that is about all it is. It isn't going to make the phone get here faster, and for every person that feels placated by some token, there will be two or three more whining and sniveling that the HTC/Sprint good will gesture isn't good enough.

If people want to stomp their feet and feel disrespected and less dignified because HTC and Sprint didn't offer them some token gesture, well, I certainly can't stop them, but I will question their priorities. I would much rather HTC and Sprint focus their attentions on meeting with US Customs and getting the situation resolved and the phones to us than spending time worrying about a token gesture that the majority of people won't appreciate anyway.

Mark my words: If Sprint or HTC offer a good will gesture, you WILL see a thread on this forum complaining about how lackluster that gesture is.

 

[F4tB4st4rd]

Have you called and spoken to multiple CSRs to try and get them to give you different answers? Something about this seems off.

I used to work for RadioShack and sold Sprint phones. Believe me, Sprint reps frequently give different answers to the same question.

Many times I would call on behalf of a customer only to be told something that had been done for other customers, cannot be done. The solution was to say thank you, hang up and call back to get a different rep!

 

[liquidxit2]

neither cause the delay wasn't caused by either one of them.

I don't know why nobody is reading this. It wasn't HTC or sprint folks, rather the greedy and devious crApple. Don't believe me??? Look how they only block HTC phones of this generation on carriers that sell iPhones. Tmobiles version of this HTC is still for sale.

Its a ploy by crApple to delay the inevitable and has NOTHING to do with sprint and HTC.


Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[DavidJ726]

I want to take a minute to talk about why I started this thread. This is mostly to explain to those of you who continue to use words such as owed, entitled, compensation etc... When I used the words "GOOD WILL GESTURE" I mean just that, nothing is owed to anybody. My general question is based around the way HTC and Sprint ended up in this situation and how they handled it. <snip>

.....A good will gesture isn't something owed, it's something that comes from the niceness of someone or something(i.e. company) and offered with respect and dignity.

Sorry learntall, but your explanation / excuse / reasoning just doesn't wash. Maybe this explanation really is how you feel, but that's not how the posts have come across.

When you present your case and submit the question of "is it unfair of us (the customer) to ask for a gesture of good will from them", and then begin with a list of somewhat high dollar compensation items, and ask others to add to that list, it no longer comes across as a you looking for a "good will" gesture, but rather that you're attempting to play the "good will" angle for some sort of monetary gain.

If you really were concerned with "good will", the First item on your list should of been that it would of been nice to have seen a response from HTC or Sprint a little earlier than what they provided. But keep in mind that they were probably caught off guard by this as well and are/were scrambling to figure out what was going on.

Also, what is the brunt that we consumers are having to bear? The fact that one of the new ICS based phones isn't available exactly when they said it would be? Has your life really been that impacted by not having a new phone?

As you talk about customer satisfaction, bear this in mind:

The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) noted Sprint is #1 among all national carriers and most improved in customer satisfaction, across all 47 industries, over the last four years. You can search the ACSI website for the data...

BTW.... I do thank you for your post. It's refreshing to see all these people that accept the ups & downs of life without feeling like their owed something!

Hope you get your new phone soon!

David...

 

[GMoney749]

I'm sorry that you have the need to read into a post and twist it in some form or another. I do not appreciate people putting words in my mouth. You are entitled to your opinion and I value it no matter what it may be, but please refrain from speaking for me. If you did read the other posts then you should be able to appreciate my opinion from my point of view without adding words for me. I posted several comments and they don't mean anything more than the exact words that are written, if for some reason you found them offensive I apologize as I didn't mean to offend anyone. I am, after all, entitled to my opinion as well.

Very nice; you complain that I'm interpreting your opinion after telling me about this "need" I have. Which is just after you told me what I did and did not read.

You're absolutely entitled (interesting choice of words) to your opinion; you expressed it, I disagree and countered with mine. And now we're way off in left field talk about feelings. If you want to get back to facts I'm good with it, otherwise we're done here.

 

[GMoney749]

I believe that HTC has done something wrong, can I pinpoint what that something or somethings may be, no....

/facepalm

 

[learntall]

You are operating from the false premise that all of the customers are unhappy. I am not. I was disappointed that I didn't have my phone on Friday, but I am not unhappy. When I didn't get it, I had other things to do in my life than worry about a phone, a gadget, a luxury item that will be in my hands soon enough.

As for HTC and Sprint managing information, there are two parts here. First, I know my pre-order agreement clearly stipulated that the May 18th delivery day was "estimated." There is also not a single word in the agreement that my EVOLTE is "guaranteed" to be in my hands on a particular date. (Disclaimer: I pre-ordered at Best Buy.) I am willing to bet that there isn't a person holding a receipt or contract that says they will absolutely, positively, without fail have the EVO in their hands on May 18th. (And even if it did, I doubt anyone could prevail in court because of the circumstance regarding U.S. Customs.) So, we all hoped for May 18th, but it didn't happen.

Now we turn to the other half of the information chain. HTC and Sprint are NOT going to release any info that hasn't been thoroughly vetted by their legal counsels and their PR departments. They also may not be able to release anything but the most vague of information due to their agreements with HTC or whomever.

Yes, a good will gesture may be nice, but that is about all it is. It isn't going to make the phone get here faster, and for every person that feels placated by some token, there will be two or three more whining and sniveling that the HTC/Sprint good will gesture isn't good enough.

If people want to stomp their feet and feel disrespected and less dignified because HTC and Sprint didn't offer them some token gesture, well, I certainly can't stop them, but I will question their priorities. I would much rather HTC and Sprint focus their attentions on meeting with US Customs and getting the situation resolved and the phones to us than spending time worrying about a token gesture that the majority of people won't appreciate anyway.

Mark my words: If Sprint or HTC offer a good will gesture, you WILL see a thread on this forum complaining about how lackluster that gesture is.

I can agree with most of your statement and quite like your explanation to tell you the truth. I am not working under the false premise that all customers aren't happy, I put up a poll for a reason, I like to hear everyone's opinion, happy or unhappy.

I don't personally feel disrespected, I do however have to say that, regardless of the fact that I am a customer, I do not like large corporations of any kind that operate behind their lawyers and don't include their customers in matters that directly affect them. Good business and customer satisfaction go hand in hand, I had this thought to ask the community what their thoughts were and I am happy to see so much passion in everyone's responses.

As far as people complaining about a lackluster gesture, I will definitely not be one of them, should they decide to give one. Also I am sure that Sprint/HTC have enough employees to hand something like this off to them without affecting the amount of attention they place on Customs issues or other important things. And I will say that if I see a thread with something complaining about how bad a gesture these companies have given out, should they choose to, I will have some words to say about that because it would be downright disrespectful.

 

[learntall]

Sorry learntall, but your explanation / excuse / reasoning just doesn't wash. Maybe this explanation really is how you feel, but that's not how the posts have come across.

When you present your case and submit the question of "is it unfair of us (the customer) to ask for a gesture of good will from them", and then begin with a list of somewhat high dollar compensation items, and ask others to add to that list, it no longer comes across as a you looking for a "good will" gesture, but rather that you're attempting to play the "good will" angle for some sort of monetary gain.

If you really were concerned with "good will", the First item on your list should of been that it would of been nice to have seen a response from HTC or Sprint a little earlier than what they provided. But keep in mind that they were probably caught off guard by this as well and are/were scrambling to figure out what was going on.

Also, what is the brunt that we consumers are having to bear? The fact that one of the new ICS based phones isn't available exactly when they said it would be? Has your life really been that impacted by not having a new phone?

As you talk about customer satisfaction, bear this in mind:

The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) noted Sprint is #1 among all national carriers and most improved in customer satisfaction, across all 47 industries, over the last four years. You can search the ACSI website for the data...

BTW.... I do thank you for your post. It's refreshing to see all these people that accept the ups & downs of life without feeling like their owed something!

Hope you get your new phone soon!

David...

David, I have to truly thank you for this comment tremendously.... I in no way meant to come off as though I was looking for monetary gain... I have been watching the posts and couldn't figure out why people kept talking about being owed something, entitlement and such... I need to apologize to everyone who understood my post in that way.

When I talk about the customer bearing the brunt, or when I talk about customer satisfaction it is purely situational and not overall. Us bearing the brunt for me I see it as they took pre-orders which is good but with all the small frustrating details of what has been going on with the preliminary release date, customs, rumors some people get frustrated want to cancel their order, had problems doing so until recently, had little information, little things that frustrate customers that don't affect them in anyway. Most of that is where I dig into customer satisfaction, whether we like it or not some people are unhappy, frustrated, mad and that is why I talk about customer satisfaction.

I do also want to say to you that I tend to be passionate about this community right now. A couple years ago I was injured at work and I spend most of my time with my kids and wife, now that I have found this outlet for me I tend to be passionate and emotional as it is a bigg outlet for me. So if some of my comments come off as overly thought up and written with too much emotion I am sorry for the small nuances that this may present.

Thank you again for showing me my error here.

 

[learntall]

/facepalm

I thought we were done here but you needed to turn into insulting me over a comment I made. I may be wrong but I take your comment (quoted above) as a slap in the face. I am not here to be insulted because you feel the need to escalate a discussion to name calling. I would appreciate it if you could refrain from engaging in conversation with me if this is how your going to act. Should you be able to have a conversation like an adult I am more than happy to do so. Thank you.

 

[Phoenix Rev]

I don't personally feel disrespected, I do however have to say that, regardless of the fact that I am a customer, I do not like large corporations of any kind that operate behind their lawyers and don't include their customers in matters that directly affect them. Good business and customer satisfaction go hand in hand, I had this thought to ask the community what their thoughts were and I am happy to see so much passion in everyone's responses.

I don't disagree with you here, except that businesses have to operate behind their lawyers for a very good reason: if they don't, they end up in court... a lot.

In fact, I have already responded to two people on this forum that want to litigate the delay. One implied a small claims court action and the other wanted to start class action lawsuit. Seriously. A large, consumer-driven class action lawsuit (where the only winners will be the lawyers) over the delay of a phone.

I understand your position and why you posted what you did and I respect that.

 

[GMoney749]

I thought we were done here but you needed to turn into insulting me over a comment I made. I may be wrong but I take your comment (quoted above) as a slap in the face. I am not here to be insulted because you feel the need to escalate a discussion to name calling. I would appreciate it if you could refrain from engaging in conversation with me if this is how your going to act. Should you be able to have a conversation like an adult I am more than happy to do so. Thank you.

Sir, you have insulted my honour. I challenge you to a duel.

Adult conversation? That cow bolted from the barn yesterday and she ain't a comin' back.

 

[Glenn]

The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) noted Sprint is #1 among all national carriers and most improved in customer satisfaction, across all 47 industries, over the last four years. You can search the ACSI website for the data...

That's kind of a hollow victory, though. Sprint received 71%, Verizon had 70%, and both AT&T and T-Mobile had 69%.

Basically, it's saying that Sprint is the best (among national carriers), but only barely, and all national carriers are neck-in-neck.