Archive for the ‘Wireless’ Category

Whataburger loses its way

Sunday, January 22nd, 2012

[Update: On January 23. 2012 9:59am, Whataburger revised their response and did an awesome job.  Way to go!  See the end of the post for more details]

Whataburger loses its way

 

It’s 2:24am in Austin, Texas and exactly 24 hours ago someone with some late night hunger got home from a Whataburger to discover that half the order was missing…again.  Infuriated and frustrated, the consumer tapped out some frank feedback on their smartphone and sent it via Mifft to the Whataburger management for the Barton Springs location.  A Mifft Messenger phoned the location at approximately the same time early this morning in hopes of catching the same shift manager.  Unfortunately, the manager said that he “did not take complaints from third parties.”  We asked him if he would at least hear the feedback and he agreed to do that.  Kudos!  Afterwards, he said he encourages customers to contact him directly.  We get that, but we explained that this particular customer chose to have us deliver the feedback on their behalf because it’s less confrontational and definitely more convenient.  No joy.  So we got his name, rank, and store number and then asked for the corporate phone number so that we could lodge the complaint there.

 

Next, we called 1-800-6-BURGER, which is Whataburger’s consumer line.  The lady who answered the phone wasn’t exactly sure how to deal with us, so she put us on hold for 5 minutes.  When she returned to the line, she told us that she wouldn’t be able to take a complaint from us because she would need to take personal information from the guest and said she couldn’t do that with a third party.  She told me to tell the consumer to contact them directly.  We reminded her that calling businesses can be inconvenient–and that she did place me on hold for 5 minutes–which is why consumers would be attracted to a service that contacts businesses on their behalf.  She told us that call volume was high.  One wonders why a lot a people would be calling the consumer line at 2 in the morning.  We went round and round for a little bit.  We asked her if her response was going to be “Declined to respond” and she got a little annoyed saying that we were twisting her words which is why they don’t deal with third parties.  Fair enough feedback, and so her response was recorded as “We do not accept feedback from third parties.”   We probably should have added “We encourage you to contact us directly,” but frankly, we ourselves weren’t feeling very encouraged by their customer service so far.

 

This response doesn’t surprise us since Whataburger is a big company, and by implication, too big to be bothered at this time.  This is the de facto initial stance du jour that too many big companies take before they eventually get bothered into doing something different (see Bank of America and Verizon).  Whataburger Corporate is the first business we have called that declined to accept feedback at all, let alone respond.  Note that we didn’t even get to the point where they could respond.  We were even willing to read it over the phone and if  we could have gotten her off script, we would have offered  to email it, fax it, or send it with a stamp.  But she was more determined to deflect than listen to what her customer had to say.   Apparently, if a complaint doesn’t fit into their bureaucratic process, then it doesn’t count.  And we’re afraid that that’s all too common for customer service in corporate America.  If you’re gonna complain, you need to do it their way, or no way.  What ever happened to “have it your way”?  Yes, we know this is not Whataburger’s slogan for customer-centric service, but given Whataburger’s corporate-centric, complaint-handling process, we’re not surprised that the consumer is mifft.  Corporate culture rolls down hill and leaves disgruntled consumers holding a half empty bag (which by way, was the early morning problem that began this adventure — half the order was missing…again).  Whataburger showed us tonite by putting up an arbitrary barrier that they have elected to distance themselves from our customer in common.  This was disappointing because we weren’t able to help out this time.

 

But things are changing.  Consumers have choices for providing feedback and it doesn’t have to be provided in the format that a business dictates.  Whataburger seems to have forgotten that Yelp is essentially consumer feedback delivered by a 3rd party, as is every other public forum like Twitter, TripAdvisor, and CitySearch.  The difference is that Mifft actually took the time to have a human being call another human being to privately discuss the problem like civilized human beings.  Isn’t that a better way to get feedback than getting blasted in a public forum?  Whataburger’s reflexive response to this customer service incident was to deflect rather than to listen and solve.  Today, as of 2:47am, January 22, 2012, Whataburger does not recognize a Mifft as a gift.  That’s a mistake.  We could have prevented another negative review from hitting the internets.  We could have converted some negativity into a positive outcome and a happy customer.  Woulda, coulda, shoulda.  What-a-burger.  Just like you like it.  #whatashame

 

The Mifft Team
www.mifft.com

Update from Mifft’s Facebook page:
Great news!  The general manager from the Whataburger – Barton Springs location called to provide an updated response to our consumer’s feedback and we think she did an AWESOME job.  Because the details of the feedback and the response are private, we can’t show you what she said, but we can tell you it contains all the right elements–a sincere apology and an offer to correct the issue from a person with the authority to make it happen.  We just sent the updated response  the consumer and we hope that it brightens their day as much as it brightened ours!  It feels good to see good customer service in action.
http://www.facebook.com/mifftmobilefeedback/posts/287976641260706

June 2011 ChimpIt Leaderboard

Saturday, June 11th, 2011

Welcome to the June 2011 ChimpIt Leaderboard!

These active Chimpers have soared through the ranks of commoners and have landed a coveted spot on our whimsical leaderboard. Through a mysterious calculation, their Chimping has been scored and we have bestowed them with meaningless Rank, Level, and Title.  Some of them have even managed to attain a Level and Title above their Rank.  Well done, you clever Chimpers!  Keep on Pimpin’ da Chimpiin’ and don’t worry yourselves over the “points”– they are for entertainment purposes only.  Thanks for being a good sport and a good customer.

Action Highlights: jmvcortez, jcrebok, faithswords, and critzo all promoted to Super Chimper, though they are still missing from Top 10 action.  Among the leaders, normo, chefmuhs, unless_spring, h.skrille, owlspectre, lisajean, and coltrice are paralyzed providing an opportunity for Dustie64 to bump h.skrille out of the #4 spot.  In a tight race for the middle, andrewkorab2000, palonghorn87, and mnaylor all picked up points without changing position.  The on-going 3-way tie for the basement continues, with the bottom dwellers extremely vulnerable to any bursts of Chimping activity from the stands.  Perhaps our new Super Chimpers will rise to the moment!

Rank Username Leaderboard Level/Title
1 normo 155 L0 – Chimper
2 chefmuhs 90 L0 – Chimper
3 unless_spring 85 L0 – Chimper
4 Dustie64 82 L5 – Supreme Solid Chimper in Waiting
5 h.skrille 75 L0 – Chimper
6 andrewkorab2000 75 L0 – Chimper
7 palonghorn 61 L3 – Power Chimper
8 mnaylor 55 L5 – Supreme Solid Chimper in Waiting
9 owlspectre 50 L0 – Chimper
9 lisajean 50 L0 – Chimper
9 coltrice17 50 L0 – Chimper

We hope you continue to enjoy Smart WiFi and ChimpIt!

4,000,000 WiFi connections

Friday, May 20th, 2011

 

Less Networks connects four-millionth WiFi session

4 Million and Counting

 

Austin, TX – WiFi-enabled marketing solutions and service provider Less Networks counted its four-millionth WiFi connection this week.  “I saw the counter at 3,999,000 and some change a few days ago and knew four million was coming up, but by the next time I looked again, it had already tipped over,” says CEO Rich MacKinnon.  “To me, four million means reliability and dependability.  People take reliability for granted, but we know that giving people that impression takes a good team standing behind good work.  We’re very proud of what we’ve built here.  Anybody can create a prototype technology and startup service, but operating a quality service with the test of time is an accomplishment.  Our users create accounts and login from all around the world 24 hours a day using PC notebooks, Macs, notepads, and smartphones and they just expect the service to work.  And so do we. ”

Less Networks takes reliability seriously.  MacKinnon continues: We built our service on what we call the “Yahoo model.”  We wanted to create a free WiFi network that was more sophisticated than Starbucks and just as easy to use as Yahoo.  In other words, we wanted our user interface to be intuitive or self-explanatory enough that most people would be able to figure it out without assistance.  But unlike most Internet companies like Yahoo or Facebook, we provide an 800 toll-free number and support email address on our website for people to let us know when they need help.  We rarely get these kinds of communications, but when we do, we take note and revisit our experience to see if there’s anything we can do to improve it and reduce those types of calls in the future.  We love hearing from our customers, but when someone calls for help using our system, it means that we didn’t build it as good as we could have. 

On the other hand, like every company, we’ve gotten our share of humorous support calls that no amount of design and solid architecture can prevent.  Our favorite calls come from people sitting in their own homes, miles away from one of our hotspots, complaining about poor reception.  Our least favorite calls come from our competitors pretending to be prospective customers.  Yeah, we’re wise to y’all, but we’re polite just in case :-)

MacKinnon says the 4,000,000th connection is very different from the 1st one logged in 2003.  Back then free WiFi was a novelty and Starbucks was still charging for it.  Facebook didn’t exist for most folks and MySpace was just getting started.  We had a concept of a WiFi community, really a very early social network, where you could upload a photo of yourself and meet others logged into the same coffee shop or at another hotspot on the network.  It was a benefit of having a WiFi account.  At Starbucks you needed an account to hold your credit card info.  At Less Networks, you needed your account to socialize with others on the network.  “I guess we were ahead of our time,” says MacKinnon.  “We don’t really get much credit for being the world’s first WiFi social network.  That’s okay.  We know it.” 

Today, instead of primarily displaying a business’ website to WiFi users, the emphasis is on connecting consumers with a business’ social media.  “I’d say it’s the biggest change and it’s a perfect fit for us.  If one of your customers is going to use your WiFi to connect to the Internet, there’s no better time to introduce them to your Facebook fan page, Twitter page, email newsletter, and other web-based marketing.  It’s so much more effective than a paper sign in your store that says ‘Follow us on Facebook.’  Why not simply take them to the page?  And yes, we still help WiFi users meet one another on the network.”

What’s in store for the next million connects?  “In a word?  ChimpIt,” says MacKinnon.  “It’s our secret weapon.  Our competitors have nothing like it and it’s going to blow the top off WiFi-integrated marketing.  We’re already getting a terrific response from digital marketing directors as they begin to wrap their heads around what ChimpIt can do for their brand engagement, customer relationships, and market intelligence.”

Anything else?  “We’re about to log our half-million registered user,” says MacKinnon.  “It took us a while to get here, but that’s a lot of people nonetheless.  In addition to ChimpIt, we’ve got another exciting technology up our sleeves that will help us enter new markets and get us up to a million users real quick.”

Sounds like Less Networks is continuing to innovate allowing them to provide even more ways for businesses to get value from providing free WiFi to their customers.

May 2011 ChimpIt Leaderboard

Monday, May 2nd, 2011

Welcome to the May 2011 ChimpIt Leaderboard!

Action Highlights: mnaylor promoted to Supreme Solid Chimper in Waiting.  Nice!  Dustie64 gains on h.skrille. andrewkorab2000 appears out of nowhere. palonghorn87 and mnaylor leap to center of pack. owlspectre, lisajean, and coltice17 in 3-way tie for Top 10 elimination.

As an active Chimper, you have soared through the ranks of commoners and have landed a coveted spot on our whimsical leaderboard. Through a mysterious calculation, your Chimping has been scored and we have bestowed you with meaningless Rank, Level, and Title.  Some of you have even managed to attain a Level and Title above your Rank.  Well done, you clever Chimpers!  Keep on Pimpin’ da Chimpiin’ and don’t worry yourself over the “points”– they are for entertainment purposes only.  Thanks for being a good sport and a good customer.

We hope you continue to enjoy Smart WiFi and ChimpIt!

Rank

Username

Leaderboard

Level/Title

1

normo 155 L0 – Chimper

2

chefmuhs 90 L0 – Chimper

3

unless_spring 85 L0 – Chimper

4

h.skrille 75 L0 – Chimper

5

Dustie64 71 L5 – Supreme Solid Chimper in Waiting

6

andrewkorab2000 65 L0 – Chimper

7

palonghorn 55 L3 – Power Chimper

8

mnaylor 51 L5 – Supreme Solid Chimper in Waiting

9

owlspectre 50 L0 – Chimper

10

lisajean 50 L0 – Chimper

10

coltrice17 50 L0 – Chimper

–Less Networks ChimpIt Team

www.chimpit.com



Social Mobile: Do games work?

Sunday, April 10th, 2011

 

We’ve watched with interest as Loopt, FourSquare, and Gowalla experiment with games to incent interaction.  But one wonders whether the game is needed because the content is lacking?  In other words, what else do you get out of “checking-in” besides checking in?  It’s no wonder that we’re starting to see discounts, coupons, and recognition bolster the game model.  Along these lines, we’ve become interested in customer loyalty programs and their success at achieving their intended goals–customer recognition, increased customer interaction, and increased customer loyalty.

We thought this article on poorly conceived customer loyalty programs was terrific!  We agree, that there is a real risk that a loyalty program will engender loyalty to the program, not necessarily the company or the brand.  After much thought, we’ve developed a hybrid model with elements of gaming and customer recognition.  In essence, we have two programs, one where some of our most active users can publicly and informally compete for bragging rights, and another where we publicly recognize our outstanding users for their roles in helping us achieve our corporate goals.

We decided to use social media and published thank you’s on users’ Facebook walls to publicly recognize them for their loyalty and support.  We also included a gift certificate from Amazon.

Customer Recognition to Increase Brand Loyalty

Customer Recognition to Increase Brand Loyalty

Shortly after these were posted on customer’s walls, there was a bump in site traffic and downloads indicating that our customers’ friends appreciated our customer appreciation.

 

 

 

Simultaneously, we published a leaderboard  because we noticed that it encouraged competition among users who care about and enjoy a little competition.  Below is the first leaderboard.  No prizes are awarded, just bragging rights.  We’ll be watching over the next few months to see how the different programs work independently and together in helping us help our users enjoy the product and recommend it to their friends.

Welcome to the April 2011 ChimpIt Leaderboard!

As an active Chimper, you have soared through the ranks of commoners and have landed a coveted spot on our whimsical leaderboard. Through a mysterious calculation, your Chimping has been scored and we have bestowed you with meaningless Rank, Level, and Title.  Some of you have even managed to attain a Level and Title above your Rank.  Well done, you clever Chimpers!  Keep on Pimpin’ da Chimpiin’ and don’t worry yourself over the “points”– they are for entertainment purposes only.  Thanks for being a good sport and a good customer.

We hope you continue to enjoy Smart WiFi and ChimpIt!

Rank

Username

Leaderboard

Level/Rank

1

normo 155 L0 – Chimper

2

chefmuhs 90 L0 – Chimper

3

unless_spring 85 L0 – Chimper

4

h.skrille 75 L0 – Chimper

5

Dustie64 62 L5 – Supreme Solid Chimper in Waiting

6

owlspectre 50 L0 – Chimper

6

lisajean 50 L0 – Chimper

6

coltrice17 50 L0 – Chimper

9

palonghorn 48 L3 – Power Chimper

10

mnaylor 47 L4 – Mega Chimper

– Less Networks ChimpIt Team
www.chimpit.com

Social-Loco Startup Competition

Sunday, April 10th, 2011

 

Social-Loco Startup Competition

Social-Loco Startup Competition

 

Enter the Social-Loco Startup Competition for a chance to pitch your company to 100s of

social-location obsessed VCs, angel investors, executives and media at the 2011 Social-Loco conference in San Francisco. ENTER NOW!

Vote for ChimpIt as your favorite Social-Loco startup.  Click here to view our profile and cast your vote.

Social-Loco: the convergence of the social web, mobile and local-business

Sunday, April 10th, 2011
Social-Loco Conference

Social-Loco Conference

 

Social-Loco: the convergence of the social web, mobile and local-business

Social-Loco will dive into social and mobile web convergence, and what that means for SMB, big brands and consumers. Learn from real-world successes in daily deals, location based services and advertising, mobile marketing platforms and more. Executives from Groupon, Facebook, Google, ATTi, Microsoft and leading investors will address these topics in a highly interactive setting.

Social-Loco takes place on May 5, 2011 at the Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco.  ChimpIt will be demo’ing there and giving away our cool schwag.  Come on out to participate and meet us.  We’d love to meet you!

Read more and register

Add ChimpIt to your must-have fave Travel Apps

Friday, March 25th, 2011
National Geographic Travelers Travel App Round-Up

National Geographic Traveler's Travel App Round-Up

The Radar: Travel Apps Edition

By Giovanna Palatucci, March 24, 2011 9:00 AM

Navigation. Information. Communication. Travelers are syncing their mobile phones with handy tools and guides before they hit the road. Apps are a great way to tap into the local conversation or condense a stack of guidebooks into one slim device. Here are a few apps to consider downloading before your next trip [read more].
Photo: Rammesh Nav/My Shot
 
Got a favorite travel app? Let NatGeo know . Tweet your favorites to @NatGeoTraveler using the hashtag #ngtradar.  Better yet, tweet < @NatGeoTraveler #ngtradar @chimpit > to vote for ChimpIt as  your favorite app.  Here’s a comment on ChimpIt that we tried to share on The Radar’s site, but there was something wrong with their submissions form:
 
ChimpIt travel app makes your notebook location-aware

ChimpIt travel app makes your notebook location-aware

ChimpIt is a travel app that makes your notebook location-aware like a smartphone.  It works great in your hotel room or cafe while planning your outings for the day.  It automatically welcomes you to your hotel, displays its logo and location on a Google Map and builds a local portal with local news, weather, and deals nearby.  The Google Map is highly optimized for easy searches like “atm” or “pharmacy” or “museum.”  Amazingly, even the international movie listings seem to work in most places.  Unfortunately, the local deals nearby are not as reliable abroad due to the app’s dependence on Groupons.  This feature will improve with Groupon’s success.  There’s even a built-in feature that makes it easy to share your location/experience with your Facebook friends.  Give ChimpIt a try!

 

 

ChimpIt joins StartUp Crawl at SXSW

Wednesday, March 9th, 2011
StartUp Crawl presented by the Capital Factory

StartUp Crawl presented by the Capital Factory

Startup Spotlight: ChimpIt, Moodfish & StereoWagon are about you and discovery.  ChimpIt and Moodfish help you find things to do based on where you are and what you want right now.  StereoWagon takes your search for auditory bliss online. Ditch the industry and discover straight from the source. That’s the cool part.  The fun part?  Dunk-A-CEO.  Toss down a brew or two and see how quickly you can dunk-a-ceo at the startup dunking booth.  ChimpIt, Moodfish and StereoWagon will all be at Conjunctured (conjunctured.com) on the uber-hip East Side.  1309 E. 7th Street.

Easily tour these three cool companies and mingle with their teams by hopping the free StartUp Crawl Shuttle.  Shuttles travel a circuit from the Convention Center (3rd and Trinity) and depart every 15-20 minutes from 4-10pm.  Get more details on StartUp Crawl and the rest of the participating companies at http://www.atxstartupcrawl.com/

Free Beer, Free Coffee, Free WiFi @ SXSW Interactive

Wednesday, March 9th, 2011
Use ChimpIt's Great Local Deals Around You to find the secret location of valuable ChimpIt buttons

Use ChimpIt's Great Local Deals Around You to find the secret location of valuable ChimpIt buttons

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ChimpIt will greatly enhance your WiFi experience by providing you with FREE BEER and FREE COFFEE during SXSW Interactive in Austin, TX. 

Everyday, ChimpIt users will learn the secret location where they can pick up their ChimpIt button.  Up to 100 buttons will be distributed to the lucky folks who find them. 

There will be 3 ChimpIt special events for button wearers.  One of the events will feature free beer for all button wearers.  The first 20 to arrive will also receive a free 22oz ChimpIt stein.  The other two events are caffeine-oriented to get your morning started with free coffee for all button wearers.  The first 20 to arrive will receive a free 15oz Chimpit ceramic travel mug.  These mugs are worth stealing!

To participate in this promotion, you will need to install Chimpit on your notebook and check the Great Local Deals Around You for the ChimpIt button location.  Arrive at the specified time.  New locations and times will be displayed everyday until all the buttons are gone.