What Bill Gates Did (Reportedly) It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood, A beautiful day for a neighbor. Would you be mine? Could you be mine?… –Fred Rogers, “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” It’s no secret that new construction can be annoying for the neighbors. The endless procession of contractors, the noise, the debris —...Read More
How to Get Out of “Customer Service Purgatory” Want less of something bad? Tax it. Or fine it. So, aggressive phone solicitations have been dramatically slashed by federal legislation establishing “Do Not Call Lists,” and fining transgressions. Of course, if you truly want zero of something . . . make it illegal (prostitution, meth, etc.)....Read More
“You Couldn’t Make This Up” Department, or How to Make Misspelling Into a Profit Center [Editor’s Note: The views expressed here are solely those of Ross Kaplan, and do not represent Edina Realty, Berkshire Hathaway, or any other entity referenced.] Based on my less-than-satisfactory first three months as a new CenturyLink customer (to say the...Read More
Unhelpful “Help”: Profit Center For Them, Aggravation Center for Customers Tied up in knots recently with Intuit’s “Quicken” financial software, I reluctantly popped another $35 for access to their help line for 3 months. Yup, Intuit charges for customer service (make that, “premium customer service”). Which just made me even more aggravated, given all the 27...Read More
Is Bad Behavior “Stickier” Than Good? First, a caveat: good real estate outcomes — especially in the land of “Minnesota Nice” — are by far the rule. But, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any deals that end badly — or don’t end at all. See, “Get Me Out of the Deal!”: Statutory Cancellation for Beginners.”...Read More
