Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!lll-winken!telecom-request From: brendan@cs.widener.edu (Brendan Kehoe) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Bell of PA's Guardian Service Message-ID: Date: 27 Mar 91 14:14:37 GMT Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Organization: Widener CS Dept Lines: 27 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 247, Message 4 of 6 Bell of Pennsylvania's Guardian Service ($2/mo for basic jack repair) has always struck me as being a blatant attempt to take advantage of people who just aren't aware of certain information. The commercials show Mr. Normal running a book case into a wall jack, while his wife talks to the camera about the service. She looks back disdainfully, as if to say, "See what I mean?" For $2, only when it actually happens, they could install a new jack for themselves (even Mr. Normal, the astonishingly slow witted middle-American). I have to wonder what was said in the early meetings, when some upstart said, "Well, why not give them a pamphlet telling them how to do it themselves? Good PR!" Something akin to, "No WAY, this is $20 million in revenue in one year alone!", I would guess. [As a quick side note, a local television news team discovered that if the cause for trouble is your phone, and not the line or the jack, customers will get whacked $56 [$40 for the visit, $16 for 15 minutes of lineman time] for the service call. No where in the ad does it mention this.] Brendan Kehoe - Widener Sun Network Manager brendan@cs.widener.edu Widener University in Chester, PA