Forcible Conversions
First of all, let me clarify that I am not talking about relegious conversions here. This is about this new trend of improving Average Revenue per Customer followed by practically every product or service you use from a TV to a mobile phone to Google.
I am sure that this must have been a common experience many of us share - you have a simple mobile phone which has excellent voice quality but doesn't have all that advantages of talking address books and synchronised calendars et al. (Well, frankly only a miniscule population in this world needs a synchronised calendar). But if you try walking into a store to buy that phone, the guy at the counter looks at you like you are this uneducated alien (cheapo & moron are the words which feature heavily on this thought bubble) and tells you that that model is no longer available. At a similar price (which actually means Rs 3 K more than the original) he recites this long list of additional features, which sound alien to you. You try being firm with him, doesn't work.And you can't repair your old mobile, it cost more than the new phone. So you walk out of the store with an upgraded phone you dont want for Rs 3 K more.
Or the bank which keeps trying to upgrade you from an ATM card to a debit card. Or Google which forces you to keep `upgrading' your blog. Or Windows which keeps upgrading its office suite and forces you to go higher and pay more. Or laptops which come up with vague features. Or ipods which offer you more and more storage for which you need to pay that online music site more and more to download more and more songs. In none of this does any customer inconvenience get addressed; all of them are meant to upgrade the pockets of the companies which put out those services.
For instance, take Google. I have been forcibly upgraded to use this new version of blogger. My templates remain the same. I have the same problems of editing text. It takes me the same amount of time to organise the blog and I still can't do an automatic email of updates to friends who read my blog(or who are forced to read my blog). So I see no `upgrade' value, but Google doesn't give me a choice. Worse, I am wondering what I am losing to this upgrade - is it privacy? IS some anonymous person sitting out there analysing my online usage patterns and drawing conclusions as to my mental health? It is scary, especially when I see a flash of `Google analytics' when I click on something. And in all probability, I have signed something which says Google can access all this when I opted to become a blogger. The problem is one never understands what it means when you sign on that `Terms and Conditions' till you actually use it.
If I opt not to go in for the upgrade, I pay a premium for that too either in actual cash terms or productivity terms. For examples, banks just automatically convert your ATM cards to debit cards and then charge you for the debit cards. If you insist on retaining the ATM card, you are charged more. Similarly for the upgraded mobiles or TVs or Windows suite.
I wonder what implications all this has from a customer protection side. Can I by law seek to protect my status to remain static - not go for upgrades - without paying through my nose? I don't know and I am supposedly a well-educated, rights aware consumer!!
I am sure that this must have been a common experience many of us share - you have a simple mobile phone which has excellent voice quality but doesn't have all that advantages of talking address books and synchronised calendars et al. (Well, frankly only a miniscule population in this world needs a synchronised calendar). But if you try walking into a store to buy that phone, the guy at the counter looks at you like you are this uneducated alien (cheapo & moron are the words which feature heavily on this thought bubble) and tells you that that model is no longer available. At a similar price (which actually means Rs 3 K more than the original) he recites this long list of additional features, which sound alien to you. You try being firm with him, doesn't work.And you can't repair your old mobile, it cost more than the new phone. So you walk out of the store with an upgraded phone you dont want for Rs 3 K more.
Or the bank which keeps trying to upgrade you from an ATM card to a debit card. Or Google which forces you to keep `upgrading' your blog. Or Windows which keeps upgrading its office suite and forces you to go higher and pay more. Or laptops which come up with vague features. Or ipods which offer you more and more storage for which you need to pay that online music site more and more to download more and more songs. In none of this does any customer inconvenience get addressed; all of them are meant to upgrade the pockets of the companies which put out those services.
For instance, take Google. I have been forcibly upgraded to use this new version of blogger. My templates remain the same. I have the same problems of editing text. It takes me the same amount of time to organise the blog and I still can't do an automatic email of updates to friends who read my blog(or who are forced to read my blog). So I see no `upgrade' value, but Google doesn't give me a choice. Worse, I am wondering what I am losing to this upgrade - is it privacy? IS some anonymous person sitting out there analysing my online usage patterns and drawing conclusions as to my mental health? It is scary, especially when I see a flash of `Google analytics' when I click on something. And in all probability, I have signed something which says Google can access all this when I opted to become a blogger. The problem is one never understands what it means when you sign on that `Terms and Conditions' till you actually use it.
If I opt not to go in for the upgrade, I pay a premium for that too either in actual cash terms or productivity terms. For examples, banks just automatically convert your ATM cards to debit cards and then charge you for the debit cards. If you insist on retaining the ATM card, you are charged more. Similarly for the upgraded mobiles or TVs or Windows suite.
I wonder what implications all this has from a customer protection side. Can I by law seek to protect my status to remain static - not go for upgrades - without paying through my nose? I don't know and I am supposedly a well-educated, rights aware consumer!!
Labels: I have issues with all these
posted by penuryof thought @ 10:24 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
I feel your pain. For some time now, I have complained about the US automobile market which gives you sixteen way electronically adjustable driver's seat for free but charges you extra for antilock braking system. In the five years I have owned my car, I dont think I have adjusted my sixteen way adjustable seat sixteen times. The pointless features come with the product but you've gotta pay for the useful ones.
So the market is forever trying to expand your idea of what is essential. Back to cars, somewhere along the way keyless entry and automatic windows became "basic features". I have them too. My window motor broke recently and I spent $100 to fix it. Really, how difficult is it to roll down a window?
George Carlin, in one of his standup shows some years ago spoke mockingly of man's quest to find signs of life in the moon - now that we've solved all the problems on earth, we should look for new markets on the moon so we can sell them pink shoes with blinking lights.
But buck the trend, dont cave in and make a conscious effort to not buy things you dont need. The Joneses are in our faces and its time to ignore them.
As for Google throwing up ads, stop complaining. They arent the first company to scan the content of your emails - firewalls, web servers etc have been doing it for a long time - its just that you havent seen them before.
Sigh. Sometimes I really think bucking the trend is a lot of effort. Apart from the scorn heaped by all the salesguys, it is just the sheer effort of communication that tires me. One day I hope I will be rich enough not to own anything!
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