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Wednesday, July 19, 2006
There are no secrets
Following Vincent Ferarrii’s release of the now infamous recording of his attempt to cancel his AOL account, PRWeek reported that AOL had taken action to address the issue. According to AOL’s Corporate Communications VP, Nicholas Graham, the PR team and corporate executives sent a pair of emails and a talking points memo to employees “reinforcing its dedication for them to comport themselves with the highest ethical standards and respect for customer’s wishes.”
That claim—that the company wants its customer service reps to respect a customer’s wish to cancel—seems a bit disingenuous in light of the “AOL Retention Manual” that was sent anonymously to the folks over at The Consumerist. According to the manual, reps are not to view customers calling to cancel as customers, but as prospects. The Consumerist post reveals a frightening array of tips and tactics from the manual that reps are supposed to use to keep callers from carrying out their desire to cancel the service.
While AOL took the right step in canning the employee—he did cross the line, even based on the guidelines in the manual—the company also stepped in a pile of trouble when it claimed to respect customers’ wishes while issuing a manual that seemingly proves otherwise. And if they thought that manual would remain company-confidential, well, there are no secrets anymore, just information the audience doesn’t yet have.