Speak up - you never know what will happen

Having expanded this blog beyond the original specific economy of politics focus into the realm of why I (and perhaps you as well) might start or stop spending with a particular entity (thereby voting with your wallet), today I share a success story.  

I purchased tickets online recently (to a UofA Mount Lemmon SkyCenter evening - if you are in Tucson and haven't done this, run right out and sign up), and the transaction ran through a third party ticket sale application called Tix. I purchased 3 tickets, but when I went to print them I couldn't find a way to eliminate a page in between each one that printed only the Tix logo, and my 3 page print job therefore took 6 pages. Needless to say I found this annoying, and in the spirit of vocal activism decided to let Tix know about my experience.  I used their "contact us" link and sent them the following kind, gentle note:

Subject: Your print process is environmentally unfriendly and truly annoying

Dear Tix web people,

I purchased 3 tickets to an event today and could not find any way to print them in under 6 pages because you set up your system to print your logo all by itself on a separate page after each ticket.  So because you find your logo so enchanting that you need it not just on the header of the ticket page but also on a separate page in isolated splendor for each ticket, you wasted my paper, my toner (thereby also using twice the environmental resources necessary), and my patience.

If my next Tix experience still has the same annoying features, I will start sending notes to the underlying ticket issuers asking that they change to some other ticketing website and explaining why yours is nasty.

Thank you for your attention to the environment…and me.

Stephanie Bader

A week later I received the following reply:

Dear Stephanie Bader,

First of all, thank you for taking your time to bring this matter to our attention.  We do apologize for the inconvenience and wasting of resources.  Please do know, that Tix is very concerned about the environment.  We never intended for our logo to print on a separate page (regardless of how splendid it may be!) and that the extra page was due to a formatting issue.  This has now been corrected.

Thank you once again for your feedback.  Please let us know if you need any further assistance.

Tix Customer Service

The response was a satisfying positive for me on several levels. The first and most important being that by speaking up and pointing out a previously unidentified "undocumented feature" (Intuit in-joke) in the Tix printing process, I've struck a small blow for resource conservation. Second, all Tix customers going forward will have an improved experience. Third, in a world where the individual customer is all too often a speck of fly excrement on the map of corporate priorities - too small to even notice - this company took the time to read my complaint, understand the cause, fix it, and let me know - with an injection of humor included.

I am now a big fan of Tix. I don't know how I can promote their business, but I can publicize their good service. And should anyone in one of my entrepreneurship classes be setting up a business requiring ticketing, I will be sure to let them know about my positive opinion of Tix.

So take the time to speak up. You never know what will happen.