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Lycos Deletes Emails and Says 'Too Bad!'
Billosaur writes "The Consumerist brings us a tale of woe which is apparently generating outrage in some quarters, along with death threats. Lycos email customer Whitney did not access her account for 30 days. This resulted in Lycos deleting over two years worth of email. It isn't so much Lycos' policy that's the problem (though that requires some scrutiny), but the response of the 'manager of all of Customer Service,' Mike Jandreau. Apparently he's not too service oriented, as his exchange with Whitney shows. And since this story was posted to The Consumerist, apparently Mr. Jandreau has become the focus of some unwanted attention. Of course, his final response to her might have something to with it: 'I'm sorry, no one here has any intentions of helping you with anything. I am the manager of all of Customer Service. There is no one higher than me that you will speak with. You violated our policy, which is, despite what you say, completely clear. No one is holding anything hostage. Your e-mails have been completely deleted, and no amount of money can now restore them.'"
... and then they whine more.
She used a free service. The terms of service said that her mail may be deleted, and that it would not be restored. She had to agree to those terms.
When she failed to live up to her part of the agreement, they deleted her email in accordance with the terms of service, and refused to restore it, in accordance with the terms of service.
She whines. They tell her "no". She whines some more. Just a classic luser. As for him being harsh, I worked customer service many years ago, and trust me: There are people out there (like Whitney) who simply refuse to take "no" for an answer, even when *they* are clearly the party at fault. They will simply keep pestering and pestering in hopes of getting a "break", and you have no option than to just come out and say "No, it's not going to happen."
I really can't see anything out of the ordinary, or even remotely newsworthy about that story.
Oh, you're not stuck, you're just unable to let go of the onion rings.
Yet another reason why I am right in running my own mail server. I've done this since I got screwed over by my old ISP in 2000. I will NEVER let anyone host my mail ever again. It's too precious to trust to idiot like the folks at Lycos. And to add to that, I finally have a reason to not bother using Lycos for anything ever again. (I used to use their People Find) Goodbye Lycos. Hope you and that asshole manager rot in hell with maggots infesting your anus and genitalia. No one screws with Frank Lazarro! NO ONE!
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
This person is not a customer; they used a free service, didn't like the terms, lost their data, and then refused to follow the terms and pay to get the data back after not logging in for 30 days.
Do you want customers like that? That only cost you money?
First of all, the customer is not always right. Sometimes the customer is a huge pain in the ass and you just want them to go away and never come back. At the same time, you don't want them to go running around and telling everyone that you suck, because that's not good for business from the people who actually make you money.
Second of all, make sure the product doesn't suck? I got news for you, hotmail and yahoo do the same thing. It's standard for free email. The product was ostensibly no worse than anyone else's.
This is a clear-cut case of a user IN THE WRONG. Or, well, it is assuming what we're told about the TOS is correct. Following on these assumptions, It's also a clear-cut case of a manager who is an asshole. But it doesn't make the user any less wrong. Pay, or fuck off. It's just that simple.
They're offering a free service. People will use it just because it's free. Incidentally, and anecdotally, the only person I ever knew that used free lycos email was happy with it.
Doesn't sound like they "lost" it to me. Sounds like it was temporary and they were done.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
In fact, that was his fucking defense at his trial.
The bottom line is this guy's job isn't to be an obnoxious dickhead. What exactly do you think that second word in "customer service" means? Is this really rocket science to you Ayn Rand groupies?
I like this manager. The customer is NOT always right. Infact the customer is DUMB. Why should he have to waste his time explaining why she has no email? It was deleted. You cant get it back. end of story. And the part where he says no amount of money can get the email back was nice too. This just means it is technically impossible to get the email back but because the customer is dumb and doesnt know this, she will get angwy. This is nice because the manager will get some own back. (no sarcasm intended)
It's important to note that Lycos is owned and run by Europeans, in Europe. Euros don't understand, care for, or practice good customer service, because they're all a bunch of socialist jerks who can never be fired. Oh, and they expect people -- even Americans -- to be able to do things like read and understand warnings and policies. (That's right, I just insulted Europeans, and Americans in one post. That just happened.)
Dude, I think I can see my house from here.