Isabel Walcott Draves

Looking forward to mobile alternatives

Milk is the same price per gallon at your grocery store no matter who drinks it.  And there's gotta be a law against charging some people in a neighborhood more than others for their kilowatt-hours.  Has someone started a cell phone carrier yet that just charges everyone the same hourly rate based on how much time they use?  That works with every phone?  Because that would make sense, wouldn't it?

I switched to T-Mobile in December, explained to the guy at the counter how many minutes I used based on my past history, and he got me set up on what looked like it was the right plan for me with the right amount of minutes plus unlimited data and text.  I didn't ask for a document containing proof of the name of which plan I chose with his help, as it didn't occur to me that there would be a discrepancy later (my first mistake). I set up an automatic payment (my second mistake) and trusted T-Mobile (my real mistake).  By trusted, I mean, I didn't check the next month to make sure they were charging me the rate they were supposed to.  I'm not a paranoid person, or at least I wasn't in December. I'm busy, and I reviewed the guy's recommendation, and thought it was all fine.

NOT!

Had a look at my bill the other night and WHOA!  I've been going hundreds of minutes over the monthly allotment every month since I had the new phone!  Wasn't on the right plan at all.

So I called T-Mobile to tell them there must have been some mistake.  They told me the mistake was mine - not checking up on them sooner.  If I had called within 60 days, they could have helped me, but at 90 days, it was my own fault.

Seems so reasonable, right?  Let's think about it. We cheat you, and if you notice right away, we'll say, "OK, we're so busted", and we'll make you whole.  If you don't notice right away though, we'll keep your money.  It's perfectly easy for us to see that there was a mistake - you signed up for a new plan and you're using double the minutes the plan gives you.  We have your phone number and it would be so easy to call you and tell you that there's been a mistake.  But we don't!  We cross our fingers and hope we can just get past the 60 day mark, and then we're home free.  No such thing as satisfaction guaranteed with us!

I asked them then, what it would cost to get unlimited calling.  Well, it turns out that they have a plan where for the same price I was paying for 500 minutes, I can get unlimited minutes.  "We want to save you money", said the call center representative.

Huh!  Is that why you were charging me $.40/minute for hundreds of minutes each month, which obviously should have been coming to me for free (since I now am on a plan that gives me unlimited calls for the same price?)  Do you have ANY costs-of-goods-sold rationale for why my minutes should cost .$40 each?

What a bunch of scammers these cell phone carrier companies are, with their hundreds of complicated different plans and their hidden deadlines and their different prices for minutes depending who's using them and whether you already used some or not.  The pricing's all completely fake anyway.  I'm tired of being jerked around, and everyone else is too. 

What a great opportunity for someone to start a carrier business where a minute is a minute is a minute.  Your real savings would be in the call center staff and billing departments.  Just use an open-source program and have all customer service done over email, which would be ok since there wouldn't be much since your billing is so simple and clean.

Grr.  Really just wanted to make a public statement saying how much T-Mobile sucks.  Telling me it's my own fault for not checking their work - though certainly true - is just proof that they're happy to screw their own customers every chance they get.  There should be a better way.

Just a little shout-out to my peeps:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOY9bg3kUAw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTogqJbUSos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eREN9IadtNk&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZWpBnYz35A&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zujZk2CHBA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACXIgD8s78U&NR=1

Amazon's big announcement

Got an email from the Amazon Associates Program today announcing a that they are no longer going to pay referral fees to associates who use paid keyword search (i.e. Google Adwords et al.) to drive traffic to Amazon.

Amazon is good at research.  They've clearly determined that the amount of purchases they generate through these channels are not worth it.  Since keyword buys are priced based on demand, associates' use of these keywords is driving up Amazon's own paid search advertising costs.  So Amazon has decided that it costs them more to pay the referral fees and higher ad prices, than they earn from this incremental traffic.

It's quite obvious that, as an e-commerce company, if you can figure out on your own every case where you can make money getting your customers via paid search, there's no reason to share that revenue with anyone - just do it yourself.  With handy companies like Marin Software (my brother's company) to help organize your paid search campaigns, you no longer need to rely on your Associates to figure out these sweet spots for you.

Amazon may also have noticed that they were funding Google's revenue growth with a share of their profits -- perhaps that factored into their decision as well.  I wonder how much of Google's Adwords revenue comes from Associates-type referrers, and how much of a hit Google will take if the idea of cutting off payments to referrals that come via paid search takes off.

Many other e-commerce sites have referral programs as well.  If their programs are working, they're probably thrilled to have the extra revenue, and perhaps haven't considered that referrer buyers are bidding up their search prices or that they could do this advertising by themselves and skip the referral fees.  Now every company in this position will need to take a look at their situation and see whether they couldn't do better on their own.

Another interesting question is how angry will the Associates be who have come to depend on a revenue stream from buying search keywords and referring customers to Amazon - and how hard will they bite the hand that no longer feeds?

Here's the text of the email:

Dear Amazon Associate:

We’re writing to let you know about a change to the Amazon Associates Program. After careful review of how we are investing our advertising resources, we have made the decision to no longer pay referral fees to Associates who send users to www.amazon.com, www.amazon.ca, or www.endless.com through keyword bidding and other paid search on Google, Yahoo, MSN, and other search engines, and their extended search networks. If you're not sure if this change affects you, please visit this page for FAQs.

As of May 1, 2009, Associates will not be paid referral fees for paid search traffic. Also, in connection with this change, as of May 1, 2009, Amazon will no longer make data feeds available to Associates for the purpose of sending users to the Amazon websites in the US or Canada via paid search.

This change applies only to the Associates programs in North America. If you are conducting paid search activities in connection with one of Amazon’s Associates Programs outside of the US and Canada, please refer to the applicable country’s Associates Program Operating Agreement for relevant terms and conditions.

We appreciate your continued support and participation in this advertising Program. If you have questions or concerns, please write to us by using the Contact Us form available on Associates Central.

Sincerely,

The Amazon Associates Program