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Last week's SKYPE outage, and the eBay-owned firms reaction to it, suggests that the company has taken the same philosophy as eBay- damn the people paying for the service. To insult subscribers with a free week of service is a total understatement. Let alone the asinine excuse for the cause of the outage...What are we? Not dummies! (UPdate- SKYPE has now stated that Microsoft was not responsible for the outage, but their software was!)
Are they going to buy me off for less than $.50 credit for the year? i don't think so. The problem with eBay and its related companies, is they are so non-customer service oriented is shameful. For Billion Dollar Corporations that have the ability to make rules, change rules, and control the lives of millions of consumers who use their services is something that is entrusted to them. Sure, eBay makes themselves look like a consumer-friendly company, but if you are a seller, you know how difficult it is to get a decision on any policy question you may have? Email us? Call us? Lots of Lipservice from employees with no decision making power. I have told Meg Whitman CEO of eBay that their customer service is like the Stepford Wives. And the only way you can deal with SKYPE is thru email- and I am still waiting for answers to emails I sent 2 months ago. I guess you get what you pay for: 29.99 for a year of service.
Back to SKYPE/VOIP Small Business- CNET has a story on how VOIP does affect small business.
(Update- SKYPE has now stated that Microsoft was not responsible for the outage, but their software was! Also Yahoo VOIP jumps during SKYPE outage)
http://eplay.typepad.com/eplay_online_sports_fanta/2007/08/yahoo-voip-jump.html
eBay customer service is currently hurting the firm as listing numbers have crested and are starting to crumble. Skype sadly may be going the same way with this blow to its reputation.
Skype has been an ok service , I hope they can be more attentive then eBay in their division of this mega-company.
Posted by: Chairman | August 27, 2007 at 08:36 AM
eBay has hit critical mass, and (quite frankly) doesn't appear to have any pixie dust up its sleeve to improve seller relations. This years effort is on the "Buyer Experience", and with that alone, sellers have experienced rule changes without notification that have severely hampered selling ( Check Auctionbytes blog). eBay sellers are just waiting for a viable alternative, and when it comes, you shall see a mass exodus that will gain international attention.
As far as SKYPE, they and Paypal are the other two high profile eBay companies that are making money for eBay, but also lacking in customer service. Shop.com, Stubhub and the other eBay companies seem to be doing fine, as they fly under the radar, and don't affect a massive amount of customers when problems occur.
my two cents
Posted by: Richard | August 27, 2007 at 08:48 AM