I just wanted to pass along a story of a truly honest customer.

The software company I work for put out a version available for download early 2007. It was a success, however for the first two months there was a small problem. As soon as you purchased it, you were able to download it BEFORE your credit card was validated. This led to the company getting burned until it was fixed.

Back in 2007 we had a customer who tried to pay for the download in Pakistan, and then paid for it with a debit card. It was the only card payment he had, and it was rejected. He had no other forms of payment, and we had to write it off as a loss while he got to enjoy using his software for free. Whatever, it was our web engineers' mistake that caused it.

In October 2008 a letter came in the mail with a check from a customer for the Download version. Obviously this raised some questions as we could not process a download order paid by check. I opened up the file with the name on it, and lo and behold, there was the guy from Pakistan who we had written off the charge for.

I called him up, and it turns out that he just moved to the US and one of the first things he did when he had gotten a checking account was to send a check to us for the full amount of the software that we had written off over a year and a half prior.

Honesty, and memory like that is hard to find these days. I wonder if coming from another country and culture had anything to do with it.

(Photo: Getty Images)

Customers have asked why at least on Wegmans brand, we couldn’t keep size the same and just increase price (or better yet, keep size and price the same!). Wegmans brand suppliers often make products for other retailers (different recipes but same package size). It’s more costly for them to produce varying product sizes for different customers. So they often limit production to only one size; when costs rise sharply, it’s a new “smaller” container.

Well, that was refreshingly honest.

Up or Down? [Wegmans](Thanks, Aaron!)
(Photo: Tom Simpson )

Maegan writes (to Banana Republic):

...I pay every bill I have online bi monthly. That means that 2x every month I get so frustrated with BR I want to shred my card and never shop in the store again. I have set and reset my login/email/pw etc, multiple times. I can realistically say that I have potentially reset all of this info every single time i have used the site to pay my bill! I write the login info down in my budget and never does it work again.

Then, I try to retrieve my "lost" info and it says my secret answers are wrong. The questions I picked and the answers, I have written down at least 20 times. My life is technology based and i am always plugged in. I find that there is absolutely NO easy of use with your site(in terms of "Managing your account") and it is driving a loyal customer away from your store. Please revamp the usability ASAP. or see a loyal shopper move to JCrew. Argh!

Here's the response she got:

Dear Ms. [Redacted]

Thank you for your e-mail. We apologize for the difficulty you have experienced with our site. With CheckFree's WebPay E-Bill Service, you can pay your Bananacard online. Please note that the online bill payment section of our web site links directly to www.checkfree.com. For questions regarding online bill payment, may we suggest contacting CheckFree's Customer Support directly at 1-888-212-9342, or by e-mail at ebillinfo@checkfree.com.

For questions regarding customer service or account information for your Bananacard, please call the Bananacard Customer Service Department at 1-877-969-0327, Monday through Saturday 8:00 A.M. to midnight, Sunday 10:00 A.M. to 10:00 P.M., Eastern Time.

If we may be of further assistance, please contact us via e-mail at custserv@bananarepublic.com or by calling 1-888-BR-STYLE. Our Customer Service Consultants are available 24 hours a day for your convenience.

Sincerely,

Dana
Customer Service Consultant

Maegan says she doesn't appreciate the canned response and doesn't like using CheckFree, and would rather use the website to pay. Time to get a J. Crew card?

From The Somogyi Perspective:

However, a week ago, I decided to purchase an MP3 album from Amazon's MP3 store. (Rage Against the Machine's "Evil Empire", if you MUST know.) I'd totally forgotten about 2 things, by this point:

1 - That my old, canceled card was linked to my Amazon account.

2 - That I'd turned on "1-Click" purchasing for MP3 albums.

So, I clicked purchase and the album immediately started downloading. It was at this point that I had the thought cross my mind: "Did I update my credit card info?"

Well, no, I didn't. Before the album finished downloading, I was trying to change the method of payment. Turns out, for a digital purchase, you can't do such a thing. So, I waited and wondered was was going to come of this...

An angry letter from Jeff Bezos, perhaps?

Well, I DID receive a letter - via e-mail - telling me that they could not successfully charge my card, and that my purchases would be canceled.

Now, I'd already downloaded the album. So, I opened up my music folder, and - even though I knew there was no way they could do this - expected the music to be missing... or at least unable to play. I was wrong on both accounts. I still had the music, and it still played.

Well, it was never my intent to dupe the giant corporation, nor steal from them, so I wanted to put this right. I'd bought the album - I wanted to pay for it.

So I went to Amazon and found their "contact us" page and used their nifty "Call me back" feature. In a couple of seconds my phone rang. The hiss of static on the line let me know that my case was important enough for someone in India to make a long-distance call to set things right.

I explained the situation, and I was met with silence. After a pause, I resumed my case, pleading, "I didn't MEAN to steal. I just want to pay for what I bought."

Another moment of stunned silence followed. Right now, I could only imagine what the operator on the other end of the line was thinking. (Probably the same thing a cop thinks when a criminal turns himself in... that being, "WHY?!"... Well, either that, or he was scrolling through all of the computer-based answers to find the correct response to "Fraudulent purchasers is calling to make good on payment - which is probably buried way deep in the page, as it's not often used.)

Finally, the operator chuckles a bit and says, "Well, thank you for your honesty... ummm... but digital download transactions are charged at the point of purchase. We CAN'T charge you again. What you can do, is re-purchase the album, if you REALLY want to be charged for the purchase."

Well, that's very kind of them. Don't you think?

Amazon Doesn't Want My Money [The Somogyi Perspective] (Thanks, James!)

Some more findings from the AP:

A third of surveyed doctors said they would order an unnecessary and expensive MRI scan just to get rid of a complaining patient.

A quarter said they would refer patients to an imaging center in which they had a financial interest without revealing the conflict of interest, which could violate certain laws.

Two-thirds of the doctors said they accepted patients who are unable to pay, and three-fourths said they had volunteered without pay at least once in the last three years. Overall, 28 percent of the responding doctors' patients were uninsured or on Medicaid.

Fewer than 1 percent said they had lied to patients, and 3 percent reported withholding information from patients or family that those people should have known. Eleven percent reported breaching patient confidentiality.

Docs Don't Always Turn in Bad Colleagues [AP]
(Photo:Pfau)

We don't currently find ourselves in a position to speak intelligently on the topic of which satellite radio service sucks more, but we do appreciate Mel's, uh, frankness.. —MEGHANN MARCO

Sirius Satellite Radio Boss: 'We Suck Less!' [Fox News]

One of the reasons they greet you might be to stop you from stealing. But it turns out you can prevent shoplifting and not puncture your customer's personal bubble: just paste eerie cardboard eyes all around the store.

A researcher at Newcastle University discovered that by pasting a pair of accusing eyes on the communal teachers' lounge coffee pot, contributions to the 'honesty box' were three times higher than normal.

The effect may arise from behavioural traits that developed as early humans formed social groups that bolstered their chances of survival. For social groups to work individuals had to co-operate for the good of the group, rather than act selfishly. "There's an argument that if nobody is watching us it is in our interests to behave selfishly. But when we think we're being watched we should behave better, so people see us as co-operative and behave the same way towards us," Dr Bateson said.

Replacing Wal-Mart greeters with stern cardboard cut-outs? Sounds great to me, but then, how are they going to pressure us with their sales pitch? Cardboard word bubbles?

The eyes have it for making people behave more honestly [Guardian]