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View Full Version : Some things never change....DRF


breakage
02-28-2005, 01:31 PM
A few weeks back Marc was on this board helping people with customer service problems in the past with DRF. He alerted the customer service to a past problem I had with them and they added a new month of downloads at no charge.

Today I tried to download any of the remaining 8 cards that I had left. When I was unable to download, I contacted the Customer Service Department for assistance. The expiration date to download the cards is listed on the site as 2/28/05. After talking with the customer service rep., she notified me that the cards really expired on the 27th. Their policy is to have them expire at midnight on the end of the 27th day. I explained to her that when dealing with expiration dates with any other companies (car insurance, banks, etc.) when they state an expiration date, it always runs the full length of that day.

I also stated that I also had a previous problem with their customer service department which orginally soured me on their service. She stated that I needed to send an email to someone in Corporate as there was absolutely nothing that she could do for me there.

Isn't this what customer service is there for??? :bang:

Tee
02-28-2005, 02:28 PM
Has anyone tried signing up for the required free membership lately?

I called a couple weeks ago regarding not getting any e-mail notices from my horse watch. To make a long story short I was told that the problem was fixed. Well I have yet to receive any e-mail notifications & I have plenty of action going on in my watch list.

breakage
02-28-2005, 02:53 PM
DRF has corrected the problem already. I don't think their policy has changed regarding the dates but at least now I am aware of it. Someone other than the person I originally spoke to corrected the situation for me so............ never mind. :)

breakage
02-28-2005, 03:51 PM
By the way, I just ordered a pizza from Pizza Hut with a coupon that expires on 2/28/05 and they honored it ;)

PaceAdvantage
02-28-2005, 04:02 PM
By the way, I just ordered a pizza from Pizza Hut with a coupon that expires on 2/28/05 and they honored it ;)

That's nothing....I've used coupons with Pizza Hut that expired last year....LOL

breakage
02-28-2005, 05:50 PM
That's nothing....I've used coupons with Pizza Hut that expired last year....LOL
Yeah, but did you make them aware of the date like I did? I was just trying to make sure that I wasn't crazy and that most businesses honor the service they render through the day of expiration.

takeout
02-28-2005, 07:33 PM
I’ve had a pretty low opinion of DRF’s sleazy “bar bet” marketing mentality for a long time now but this “policy” takes the cake. Hell, why don’t they just start dealing three-card monte for a chance at a subscription? They’re obviously more intent on screwing someone out of a buck than conducting business in a reputable manner.

PaceAdvantage
02-28-2005, 07:53 PM
They’re obviously more intent on screwing someone out of a buck than conducting business in a reputable manner.

If that were the case, then they would have just told breakage "tough shit" and let it go at that....but they made good, even though it went against their stated policy....

chrisg
02-28-2005, 08:04 PM
Marc from DRF has always been very helpful to me with any DRF related problems. I also received help when I called them. And I was not treated as if he/they were trying to get $ out of me.

Sure there are things I'm not thrilled about w/DRF, but customer service isn't one of them.

Now if they could just convince Brooke Burke to stop stalking me on their website & just stop by the house...everything would be beautiful.

:D

takeout
02-28-2005, 09:30 PM
He’s been helpful to me in the past too. This isn’t about Marc. It’s about DRF’s “gotcha” mentality toward its customers. Who else but DRF would dream up a “policy” like that? Poleeze! I can't believe they peddle that BS and get away with it.

toetoe
02-28-2005, 09:39 PM
PA,
Stated or not stated, it's criminal to honor an expiration for one second, that is until 12:00:01 A.M. Hell, every time I downloaded brisnet they could say I took too long, would get no files and would be charged.

Dave Schwartz
02-28-2005, 09:51 PM
I would bet that it is not as much a "policy" as it is a "software bug" that hasn't been fixed. (And maybe never will.)

Dave Schwartz

Tom
02-28-2005, 10:11 PM
That tears it - I will never buy another pizza from DRF again! :lol:

mhrussell
03-01-2005, 02:03 AM
..You're the greatest Tom!!! :lol:

Brian Flewwelling
03-01-2005, 02:47 AM
That tears it - I will never buy another pizza from DRF again! :lol:

Now we have a boycott i can get behind:D

Fleww

Marc At DRF
03-01-2005, 12:59 PM
"It’s about DRF’s 'gotcha' mentality toward its customers. Who else but DRF would dream up a 'policy' like that?"

Let's stop and review this.

1) A "gotcha" policy. Wow, how stupid would that be on our part? All it would do is scare off and aggravate our customers. How short-sighted that would be? Could there be an alternate explanation?

2) The policy goes like this. Let's say you buy a monthlong subscription with us on Feb 12. That subscription runs through the end of the day on March 11. On March 12, it's a new month. Does that make sense? We think it does. One more example. If you buy a subscription on March 1, it runs through all of March, but on April 1, it no longer is running. Is that a "gotcha" policy?

3) I don't want to get into the specifics of Breakage's situation without her saying she's comfortable with further discussion.

But I have no doubt we weren't trying to execute a "gotcha" policy. We're neither stupid or evil, and both would be necessary, to be trying to screw our customers in this fashion.

breakage
03-01-2005, 02:05 PM
Marc, I don't mind discussion of my situation. In your example, wouldn't it be better to use March 11th as the expiration date instead of March 12th to avoid the confusion? Most people wouldn't remember the actual day they bought the pp's but they do see the expiration date and expect the pp's to be available through that date, especially when your site said I had 8 cards remaining on Feb. 28. Shouldn't it have said zero?

Marc At DRF
03-01-2005, 02:42 PM
Thanks, Breakage.

Breakage's situation was pretty unusual. Her 20-card subscription was a "make-good" for a problem from long ago, when we had different folks running customer service. You guys may remember when I offered that here-- if you had problems via the previous Cservice, let us know, and we will be happy to investigate and take care of you.

So when Breakage dropped us a note in late January to explain a problem from the past, the note in response from our customer service manager read like this:

"I want you to know we are sorry about any problems you may have experienced in the past and we are making a concerted effort to improve our relationship with our customers at DRF. We have added 20 racecards (which can be used to download pdf or Formulator 4 PP's) to your account to be used over the next month. If you need more time to use the cards or have any questions let me know."

And our customer service manager's contact information was enclosed with the note. Rather than contacting the in-house guy at customer service who set up the subscription for her, Breakage chose to call our 800 number. If she had replied to the customer service manager instead, there wouldn't have been the slightest of delays-- as the note says, if you need more time to use the cards, let us know.

There is nothing in the above the note that gets specific on date-- because it was a make-good, and not a subscriber purchase... Again, it's a bit confusing because it was a makegood.

But in general, a month means: Buy it on the 12th, and on the following month, when it's 11:59pm on the 11th, you're in the last minute of your subscription.

breakage
03-01-2005, 03:03 PM
[QUOTE=Marc At DRF]

And our customer service manager's contact information was enclosed with the note. Rather than contacting the in-house guy at customer service who set up the subscription for her, Breakage chose to call our 800 number. If she had replied to the customer service manager instead, there wouldn't have been the slightest of delays-- as the note says, if you need more time to use the cards, let us know.

Marc,

Just a note on your reply. I had no idea that it was the customer service manager who intially contacted me to make good on the intial problem. He told me to contact him with any questions. In the latest incident he stated that I could contact him directly with any future problems or questions.

Bottom line is that if an individual has a problem they should be able to contact the 800 number and talk with a customer representative who is able to provide assistance with your problem. Instead of being told that "They are unable to assist you with your problem and that you should contact the Corporate office"...they should be directed to take the problem to a higher level to resolve. The management level of customer service may have improved, however, the customer service representatives are the ones who answer the phones and represent your company.

BTW....my better half has the DRF account, Breakage is the other half :)

Marc At DRF
03-01-2005, 03:09 PM
Fair enough. What time of the day did you contact the 800 number?

If it's during regular hours, I would say I agree that they actually should have just transferred you to the manager here. If it's after hours, there's not much they can do other than say: we'll forward this to NY to take care of in the AM. I'm not sure how it was initially explained, though if you said "I got this free sub through someone in NY" I could see why they might say "contact that person to address that issue." But if there's a way to facilitate it, I agree they should.

Again, though, it's pretty unusual, in terms of it being a free sub, etc.

breakage
03-01-2005, 03:22 PM
Fair enough. What time of the day did you contact the 800 number?

If it's during regular hours, I would say I agree that they actually should have just transferred you to the manager here. If it's after hours, there's not much they can do other than say: we'll forward this to NY to take care of in the AM. I'm not sure how it was initially explained, though if you said "I got this free sub through someone in NY" I could see why they might say "contact that person to address that issue." But if there's a way to facilitate it, I agree they should.

Again, though, it's pretty unusual, in terms of it being a free sub, etc.

It was 1:15PM EST that they were contacted and no.....I did not state that "I got this free sub through someone in NY." In any case, I am grateful for the effort to make things right.

takeout
03-01-2005, 09:42 PM
Marc, I don't mind discussion of my situation. In your example, wouldn't it be better to use March 11th as the expiration date instead of March 12th to avoid the confusion?
Of course it would and only DRF would look at it any other way. Sure glad to hear that it’s not a “gotcha” policy though. It’s just different than the way everyone else in the country does it. What a confusing outfit DRF is. I wonder why? I was so confused that I could have sworn it was a “gotcha” policy. Silly me.

Brian Flewwelling
03-01-2005, 10:06 PM
Marc

I don't know about this incident, and really don't want to know. But i am interested in the general question of dealing with Customer Problems or incidents in general.

It seems to me that IT (Information Technology) departments create an Incident Report for every call they get. When a user calls, all their Incidents become available to the Service Rep as soon as the user id's themselves.

I wonder if that sort of system would be useful in a large organization like DRF? That way the Incident, and its resolution, would be in an accessible database, not just someones sent-mail box.

Do you want to enlighten us on the system used at DRF?

Brian

Macdiarmadillo
03-01-2005, 11:02 PM
Tee, did you check the little box for email notifications for each horse? It's not automatic. If you did, then you must have a lot of laid-up horses. I've had the same problem as was noted, now I'm getting a flood of watch emails.

Tee
03-02-2005, 01:30 AM
Tee, did you check the little box for email notifications for each horse? It's not automatic. If you did, then you must have a lot of laid-up horses. I've had the same problem as was noted, now I'm getting a flood of watch emails.

Yep, all the boxes are checked - I also updated everyone in my watch list recently to make sure.

I can check the messages by logging in to drf, so it's not that big of a deal. It would just be easier getting the info by e-mail.

saratoga guy
03-02-2005, 06:41 AM
From reading this thread I'm not totally sure what info was provided by DRF in regard to an expiration date. But if, as breakage maintains, the expiration date was listed at 2/28 -- and yet the program ended on 2/27, that does seem like an improper definition of "expiration date".

I think it's commonly accepted that an something expires on the expiration date -- not before the expiration date.

(A quick web search found this glossary entry on the FCC website: Expiration Date The date after which an FCC-granted license ceases to be valid. For example, a license with a 12/1/98 expiration is no longer valid at 12:00am on 12/2/98)

GMB@BP
03-02-2005, 08:58 AM
From reading this thread I'm not totally sure what info was provided by DRF in regard to an expiration date. But if, as breakage maintains, the expiration date was listed at 2/28 -- and yet the program ended on 2/27, that does seem like an improper definition of "expiration date".

I think it's commonly accepted that an something expires on the expiration date -- not before the expiration date.

(A quick web search found this glossary entry on the FCC website: Expiration Date The date after which an FCC-granted license ceases to be valid. For example, a license with a 12/1/98 expiration is no longer valid at 12:00am on 12/2/98)

I would agree, maybe this thread helps DRF recongnize if that is truely the way the list "experation" then it needs to be modified. I like the way race replays does it, they give the date, the minute, heck even the second when it expires, no confusion there.

breakage
03-02-2005, 01:08 PM
From reading this thread I'm not totally sure what info was provided by DRF in regard to an expiration date. But if, as breakage maintains, the expiration date was listed at 2/28 -- and yet the program ended on 2/27, that does seem like an improper definition of "expiration date".


Yes this was exactly the situation. I'm sure Marc would confirm this. It also showed that there was 8 cards remaining to download on the 28th when in fact I couldn't download any. Maybe a couple of changes need to be made in their software to avoid this confusion.

takeout
03-02-2005, 03:00 PM
I can check the messages by logging in to drf, so it's not that big of a deal. It would just be easier getting the info by e-mail.
Lots of places have that service. (BRIS, TSN, Equibase, etc.) Just use one that works.

Marc At DRF
03-02-2005, 03:14 PM
Tee-- It sounds like you've got a security default setting issue and all e-mail from us is getting blocked. Contact Lgoldfeder@drf.com and he'll help you fix it.

Breakage-- It was really unclear to me until today that you are probably talking about the "account" page, as the e-mail sent to you (I quoted it earlier) did not mention a specific date. Where it says the exp. date on the account page-- It could go either way (exp date meaning you can't use it that day vs. exp date meaning it's your last day), but I think it's less confusing to have it the way you suggest. So we're having it changed.

Brian-- We're not interested in publicly discussing the organizational flow of Cservice here, given the inevitable feedback of guys like Takeout. I hope you understand.

takeout
03-02-2005, 03:43 PM
Brian-- We're not interested in publicly discussing the organizational flow of Cservice here, given the inevitable feedback of guys like Takeout. I hope you understand.
I think everyone understands.

breakage
03-02-2005, 03:48 PM
Breakage-- It was really unclear to me until today that you are probably talking about the "account" page
Exactly, I use that page to review the remaining cards and the expiration date.