Verizon’s Bad PR Situation: War Widow Forced to Pay $350 Early Termination Fee
This is where having empowered customer service reps –employees who can take common-sense initiative– can save your company a ton of bad publicity, and potentially a ton of dough:
After a woman’s husband died in Afghanistan, a marine felled by an IED, she moved back to her home town to be closer to her family and grieve. In the smaller town, she couldn’t get any reception from Verizon, so she called them up to cancel. Despite being a widow and Verizon not living up to its contractual obligations to provide actual cellphone coverage, they slapped her with a $350 early termination fee.
If you don’t have any coverage, you’re supposed to be able to break your contract without penalty, but customer service reportedly told the widow “Nothing could be done” about the fee.
Reached by CBS13, Verizon’s PR department promised to look into it.
via Verizon: Die Fighting In Afghanistan, Pay $350 Early Termination Fee – The Consumerist.
It’s pretty simple: usually the most common-sensical, decent thing to do is best. Or, you can have your PR people work overtime to clean up the mess.
BP Gets New Face…Will It Work?
Regular readers will note that we have called on BP to do one thing to give them some PR breathing room: fire or otherwise silence the tone-deaf CEO Tony Hayward.
Well, looks like they have done so in the person of BP managing director Robert Dudley. Hayward has been shunted to the background in favor of the Mississippi native. He did a deft job handling Meredith Viera’s pointed questioning on this morning’s “Today Show” on NBC.
A key thing he said is that BP would be “listening” to all parties. A smart move, as this is the first step in making amends: letting people vent, express their feelings and list what they need to be made whole. This is a good first step in raising BP’s sunken PR ship. He also stayed out of the prickly 
federal moratorium issue.
The question is, will he make a difference over the long haul?
The Wall Street Journal’s blog has an excellent rundown of opinions from the punditocracy.
We’ll be watching, and yep, commenting on the PR moves made by all players in this tragic situation.
What do you think? The comments section awaits your thoughts.
Friday Quickie from The Bad Pitch Blog: Hiding Behind Vocus
Use VOCUS or other PR email platforms? Be careful how you use them. Read on…
Got another “pitch” sent via an email marketing platform. I won’t go off on the tangent explaining why I so loathe this approach with every fiber of my being multiplied by infinity with the intensity of a thousand suns — on a stick. But I will share with you a DISCLAIMER that was at the top of this particular piece of spam:
This press release was sent through the Vocus PR platform. Should you no longer wish to receive these communications, please unsubscribe through the link in the footer. If you do not want to be listed on the database, please contact Vocus directly to request for your details to be removed: PHONE NUMBER
If you’re not taking the time to validate your lists whatsoever and think the above disclaimer helps your case? You’re content to spend life polishing turds. Fine, I’m in a mood. But to hide behind Vocus which BPB knows, loves and uses from time to time is lazy.
Read the rest here: The Bad Pitch Blog: Hiding Behind Vocus.
Also worth a read (related to graphic):
Take One for the Team, Tony.
What should BP CEO (and foot-in-mouth disease victim) Tony Hayward do to ease the PR disaster of the oil spill?
Assigning one spokesperson who can stay on message is a start.
Two spokespersons (Hayward and COO Doug Suttles seems to be in a pissing match over who gets to shoot their mouth off in front of the cameras) in a crisis communications situation is almost never a good idea, especially when there is apparently no message coordination. 
Hayward needs to be silent. Some argue he needs to put on a hard hat and clean up the mess with crews on the beach. That’s ridiculous. People will perceive that BP is once again trying–and failing–to manipulate the story in their favor in a blatant way. As CEO, he needs to issue carefully vetted, printed statements only– and only statements that support what their designated spokesperson is saying to the media. If they picked Suttles, he at least has a presence that doesn’t suggest complete ineptitude and emotional vacancy.
Or…
Hayward should take one for the team and resign. He’s a dead man walking already; BP will certainly give him the boot once this whole mess is over. But I think it would speak volumes if he were to exit stage left now. It might just give BP a moment of breathing room with the public so they can get their PR act together. I can’t say I’m optimistic about this happening though.
And P.S.: BP’s apparent heavy handed attitude towards the media (i.e blocking access) is PR suicide.
Wheels in Motion: eBook Trailer for Pilate’s Cross
Just had to share…
So last month we worked on our first audio book and then this month we started working on our first trailer for an eBook. Good thing we’re just as interested in books as we are in audio!
Check out Alex Greenwood’s eBook, Pilate’s Cross, available at Smashwords. As soon as we’re finished with the trailer, we’ll post it for you to view!
KC Small Biz Owners: Want to Grow?
From our friends at | V3 Kansas C
ity Integrated Marketing and Social Media Agency:
KC Small Biz Owners: Want to Grow? Then don’t miss an opportunity to get some advice from America’s leading small business management expert, Jane Applegate.
Applegate is coming to Kansas City on Wednesday, June 23 as part of my friend, Kelly Scanlon and her Thinking Bigger Business Media’s Thinking Bigger Business Speaker Series. She’s the author of four books on small business success, including 201 Great Ideas for Your Small Business, and is a leading expert on small businesses, growth and resources and best practices for small business owners.
With a huge area of focus for today’s small business owners and entrepreneurs being on understanding and navigating the online space, which includes regularly producing online content, Applegate will be an invaluable resource. She has produced online content including not only her columns, but podcasts and TV programs as well. In 2000, she founded Small Business TV, the first streaming video network devoted to small business news and information, which continues to be one of the leading small business resources today.
Applegate is a don’t miss resource for small business owners serious about coming out of a recession and focusing their efforts and energies on growth and change. As an added benefit, Applegate is looking forward to connecting with small business owners in the audience with a view toward including them and their stories in her next book. What a great opportunity to not only learn, but be a part of a book focusing on small business!
Space is limited and I’ve already made my reservation. Hopefully you’ll come and join me and other Kansas City area small business owners for what is sure to be a terrific event! And by the way, the registration fee includes lunch and a book, so it’s a great value. Here’s a link to register and I hope to see you there!
Thanks Shelly–we’ll check it out!
Study Shows Smb Internet Engagement Key To Success
If you’re reading this, you may be more successful than the next guy. Check it out, small business owners:
You’re a small-business owner and you’re a little bit into the Internet. You look at sports scores on ESPN, check out a bit from Jon Stewart, or watch the latest music video. But that’s pretty much it. But your neighbor has managed to avoid that trap and uses the Web to check business news regularly, buy plane tickets online, and do some investing. In doing so, she isn't only more engaged with the key tool of today’s business, she’s more successful than you are.
That’s the result of a study by American City Business Journals, Portfolio.com’s parent. The study shows that how a small-business owner uses the Internet says a lot about how successful their business is. It breaks Internet use down into five groups and shows that, generally, the business owners who are most engaged with the online world are also the business owners with the highest sales.
“People with higher Internet involvement are more successful businesses. I think it’s because that’s how you do business these days,” said Godfrey Phillips, ACBJ vice president for research and the study’s author.
Read more:
Acbj Study Shows Smb Internet Engagement Key To Business Success – Business News – Portfolio.com.
‘American Experience’ Producer to Speak in KC June 10
Mark Samels is the Executive Producer of American Experience, the most watched history series on television. A compelling speaker, he will be discussing Freedom Riders, their incredible documentary about 400 black & white Americans who risked their lives in defiance of Jim Crow laws. He will also discuss history and American Experience in general.
Reserve your free seat at http://www.kcpt.org or by calling 816-398-4259.
Alex to Host “Celtic Woman: Songs from the Heart” June 2 on KCPT
If you enjoy fantastic Celtic music you’ll want to tune in to Kansas City Public Television (KCPT) Wednesday night at 7 p.m., as AlexanderG’s own Alex Greenwood is co-hosting a brand-new “Celtic Woman” PBS TV special concert, titled Songs from the Heart.
The program was filmed in HD in the Irish country setting of the majestic Powerscourt House & Gardens with the musical support of a 27-member film orchestra, 20-member Discovery Gospel choir, 12-member Aontas Choir, 10-member Extreme Rhythm Drummers and an 11-piece bag pipe ensemble performing on a rooftop, the radiant Celtic Woman uplifted their adoring audience with Songs from the Heart.
Of course, it’s also a great time to become a member or renew your support for KCPT, too!
