<nettime> The rich get serviced

[David Mandl <dmandl@panix.com>]

Interesting bit in an article about U.S. mobile phone service in
today's WSJ:

--------------

At VoiceStream Wireless, a unit of Deutsche Telekom AG, the higher
your bill, the less time you'll spend on hold. A computer system
routes customer-service calls based on, among other things, how much
the caller pays each month. In general, those with cheap plans are
routed to the least-experienced representatives. Those on pricier
plans may be offered special rates or new phones.

--------------

One aspect of the ongoing Death of Customer Service is that eventually
there will be a wide gulf between the service that rich and poor
people get.  Nothing new there, but here we have two-tier service for
the _exact same product_, helped, of course, by databases that track
whether you're worth serving or not.  Good news if you're rich: You
may not have to navigate your way through phone-menu hell any more.
Bad news if you're poor: You'll probably be spending more and more
time there.

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1018991847208768640,00.html?mod=Page+One

   --D.

--
Dave Mandl
dmandl@panix.com
davem@wfmu.org
http://www.wfmu.org/~davem

#  distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission
#  <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
#  collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
#  more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body
#  archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net