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RE: [projectvrm] Accountancy personalities


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  • From: "T.Rob" < >
  • To: "'ProjectVRM list'" < >
  • Subject: RE: [projectvrm] Accountancy personalities
  • Date: Wed, 8 Oct 2014 16:22:20 -0400
  • Authentication-results: mailspamprotection.com; auth=pass smtp.auth=184.154.225.7

> but my trust is in knowing the kind of person who becomes an accountant.. CPAs are not exciting

> people.. in my experience. They are boring and accurate and conservative we love them like that

> because they do a great job that way. The profession attracts a certain sort of person.

 

Hence the Accountancy Theme as performed by Steppenwolf: 

 

Get your pencil sharpened

Empty out the ash tray

Looking for a ledger

Earnings to defray

Yeah Darlin' got a gig in Akron

Write reports in a bold fontface

Fire all of your Temps at once

And rent some cheap office space

 

Right on time forms were filed

Cos were born, born to be mild

We can count so high

And we never, ever lie

 

Born to be mild

Born to be mild

 

Kind regards,

-- T.Rob

 

From: M a r y H o d d e r [mailto: ]
Sent: Wednesday, October 08, 2014 15:56 PM
To: Adrian Gropper
Cc: Doc Searls; Graham Reginald Hill; ProjectVRM list
Subject: Re: [projectvrm] Unhappy Customer: Comcast Told My Employer About Complaint, Got Me Fired

 

Adrian, 

 

I agree that large accounting co's can be a big issue (arthur anderson ??? amongst others --

When I used to work for lawyers, I dealt with them all the time.. )

but my trust is in knowing the kind of person who becomes an accountant.. CPAs are not exciting

people.. in my experience. They are boring and accurate and conservative we love them like that

because they do a great job that way. The profession attracts a certain sort of person.

 

That doesn't mean they are all like that.. but given the situation.. I am stereotyping him a bit,

and thinking his actions fit with what he does for a living.

 

Could be wrong.. but I'm thinking his employer is also a big part of the problem here.. but we'll see.

 

I'm getting the popcorn for OCT 14 when the suit is filed.

 

mary

 

 

On Oct 8, 2014, at 12:26 PM, Adrian Gropper wrote:



Accounting companies can also be an issue. Their customer is the large company.

A group I work with had the experience of being "fired" by a big 5 accounting firm when the group publicly took issue with a policy of a large customer of the accounting firm.

Adrian

 

On Wed, Oct 8, 2014 at 2:29 PM, M a r y H o d d e r < " target="_blank"> > wrote:

Actually.. even though I know Comcast can be evil (in the google sense) I didn't believe it when I saw the headline..

 

Because.. Comcast is a company and they have policies and I was thinking that there was no way they didn't have a policy against retaliating against customers no matter what,

and for sure against putting themselves between a customer and a financial relationship or working relationship the customer might have .. 

 

So I thought it might be some low level, relatively uneducated person who thought Comcast screwed them.. when in fact it wasn't true.

 

Then I read the several articles.. the one posted here.. the followup on Consumerist, and the artechnica one.

 

And I do believe it.. not because it's Comcast.. but because the guy is an accountant, with incredibly detailed records on the whole

thing, and because he worked for PwC.. and it seems far-fetched to me that he would *not* be accurate in his statements after all that.

 

But I really really want to see the call transcripts and the email.

 

I believe that will likely be fairly damning for Comcast.. and I would bet at least $1 (I don't bet.. so that's big money) that he's in the right

and Comcast really really screwed up.

 

 

 

On Oct 8, 2014, at 11:09 AM, Doc Searls wrote:



On Oct 8, 2014, at 10:48 AM, M a r y H o d d e r < " target="_blank"> > wrote:



Graham,

 

The article is detailed a bit more than you say:

 

The writer contacted both PwC (accounting employer) and Comcast.

 

Both admit an email was sent from Comcast to PwC.. and PwC admits that due to the email, they have

fired this CPA.

 

Given how precise and careful the customer (accountant ) has been detailing the exact problems with Comcast (spreadsheets, timeline, total dollars, etc) and his profession (the accounts I know, every single one, are incredibly precise and detailed and don't engage in hyperbole or threats) ...

 

Still, the Consumerist story only gives Conal O'Rourke's (the employee's) side of the story. PwC's shows up in this follow-up story <http://consumerist.com/2014/10/08/former-employer-of-man-fired-for-complaining-to-comcast-speaks-out-but-doesnt-say-much/>, but provides little in the way of details, other than what's in Ars Technica: <http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/10/comcast-got-me-fired-after-billing-dispute-says-california-man/2/>. Specifically, that O'Rourke was fired for unspecified ethical violations.

 

Philadelphia Magazine has possibly the best follow-up on the story...

 

 

... which is far from finished.



I believe the story.

 

Well, I do too, for (as I said earlier) ad hominem reasons. Getting this dude fired was in character for Comcast.  But that doesn't mean that's what happened in this case.


But I think he needs to sue Comcast to get tapes of all the calls he had with them, and a copy of the email exchanged.. and then hopefully we'll all know more.

 

Agreed.

Doc



It's tertiary interference.. what has happened with Comcast. And with the employer.. don't yet know what he would sue under.

 

But this is one of the rare times I would recommend a law suit.

 

mary  

 

 

 

 

On Oct 8, 2014, at 9:27 AM, Graham Reginald Hill wrote:



Hi Doc


Thanks for your rapid reponse. I only wish I had more time to respond to more of your posts more thoroughly.

 

My problem with the Consumerist story is almost a syllological one. The story seems to go...

 

1. A customer has an awful experience with Comcast

2. Comcast complains about the customer to his employer

3. Because of the complaint the customer is fired.

 

I have no experience of Comcast but they do seem have a well deserved reputation for awful customer service. Many other large telecoms companies do too. As you rightly point out, this is not a defence. There is no detail provided of the complaint Comcast allegedly made to the customer's employer, so we are completely in the dark as to what was actually said, if indeed anything was said. And then there is a huge leap to the unfounded conclusion that because Comcast allegedly complained that the customer was fired as a consequqnce. This is the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy. The story as written does not hold water. Certainly not without a lot more thorough journalistic fact checking (that apparently was not carried out).

 

I agree that there are lots of companies out there that treat their customers with almost disdain. But that doesn't mean we can assume that all of a customer's problems, even the ones that we would like to be related, are actually caused by these companies.

 

Best regards from Bristol, Graham

 

 

Gesendet: Mittwoch, 08. Oktober 2014 um 16:27 Uhr
Von: "Doc Searls" < " target="_blank"> >
An: "Graham Reginald Hill" < " target="_blank"> >
Cc: "Adrian Gropper" < " target="_blank"> >, "ProjectVRM list" < " target="_blank"> >
Betreff: Re: [projectvrm] Unhappy Customer: Comcast Told My Employer About Complaint, Got Me Fired

On Oct 8, 2014, at 7:45 AM, Graham Reginald Hill < "> > wrote:

 

Hi Adrian
 

I suggest that there may be more to this story than just the one-sided tale of woe reported on the Consumerist. Comcast does have a poor reputation for customer service. In that it is not alone.

 

Poor doesn't cover it. And not being alone is no excuse for Comcast's well-earned reputation for awfulness.

 

Here is a short summary in Wikipedia: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comcast#Criticism_and_controversy

 

And there are many other stories:

 

 

And flat-out bad reviews:

 

 

Consumer Reports, the fairest of the fair doesn't bottom-rate Comcast for service:

 

<Screen Shot 2014-10-08 at 8.15.48 AM.png>

 

(That's from behind a paywall, or I'd point to it.)

 

But the American Customer Satisfaction Index bottom-rates Comcast and Time Warner, which will soon merge, thanks to the legislators and regulators both companies have bought.

 

 

But wouldn't it be prudent to try and uncover all three sides of the story before jumping to a premature conclusion? 

 

There were other sides to that story, and it could be that the dude was fired for reasons other than whatever it was that Comcast did. But it's still hard to ignore the degree to which Comcast is a well-documented bad actor in the marketplace.
 

Incidentally, looking at the earlier comments reminds me of someone who erroneously wrote about trolling a little while back.

 

If you're talking about me, I stand by what I said.

 

Doc

 

 

Best regards from Bristol, Graham

 

 

Gesendet: Mittwoch, 08. Oktober 2014 um 15:18 Uhr
Von: "Adrian Gropper" < "> >
An: "John Wunderlich" < "> >
Cc: "Doc Searls" < "> >, "Tom Crowl" < "> >, "ProjectVRM list" < "> >
Betreff: Re: [projectvrm] Unhappy Customer: Comcast Told My Employer About Complaint, Got Me Fired

and doubly so coming from a Doc

 

On Wed, Oct 8, 2014 at 10:16 AM, John Wunderlich < "> > wrote:

That's an insult to hearts and bile - both of which consistently provide service

 

 

John Wunderlich

Privacist @PrivacyCDN

 

On 8 October 2014 10:12, Doc Searls < "> > wrote:

Interesting story.

 

It should be clear by now that Comcast has a heart of bile, and the last company to welcome VRM of any kind.

 

Doc

 

 

Talk about bad VRM...

 

Unhappy Customer: Comcast Told My Employer About Complaint, Got Me Fired

 




--
Adrian Gropper MD

 

 

 




--
Adrian Gropper MD

 



  • RE: [projectvrm] Accountancy personalities, T.Rob, 10/08/2014

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