New Plymouth couple Dianne and Grant Dobson learnt the N perils of basing their business on Facebook Marketplace last month when their account was shut down without notice or explanation. "Arrange With Style" specialises in decluttering and downsizing, selling unwanted items on behalf of others and taking a commission for its efforts. Although the Dobsons have a website, most of their trades happen on Marketplace, Facebook's free listings site, which is accessible via app and website. Repeated appeals to have the page reactivated were met with automated messages. The account was restored nearly three weeks later but only after an RNZ story on the couple's plight went viral.
When my own Facebook account was hacked in March, I was in a similar position until contacts at Facebook owner Meta's local public relations agency pulled some strings on my behalf.
Any goodwill we once showed towards the companies in our lives - the retailers, utilities, and financial service providers who scrambled to shift their services online during the pandemic - seems to have evaporated in the past year. Chronic staff shortages and lingering supply-chain issues have played havoc with many business operations.
The "please respect our staff" signs behind the counter in retailers and restaurants advertise the simmering tensions. We've faced escalating prices for essentials such as fuel and groceries, turning sentiment against companies that seem to be profiting handsomely from our misery.
Surveys around the world reveal languishing levels of customer satisfaction. One of the biggest annual surveys, the 2023 Forrester customer experience index, which polls 96,000 US consumers on 221 brands, has seen scores slump for a second consecutive year. Only luxury car brands showed any meaningful improvement.
Esta historia es de la edición October 14-20, 2023 de New Zealand Listener.
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Esta historia es de la edición October 14-20, 2023 de New Zealand Listener.
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First-world problem
Harrowing tales of migrants attempting to enter the US highlight the political failure to fully tackle the problem.
Applying intelligence to AI
I call it the 'Terminator Effect', based on the premise that thinking machines took over the world.
Nazism rears its head
Smirky Höcke, with his penchant for waving with a suspiciously straight elbow and an open palm, won't get to be boss of either state.
Staying ahead of the game
Will the brave new world of bipartisanship that seems to be on offer with an Infrastructure Commission come to fruition?
Grasping the nettle
Broccoli is horrible. It smells, when being cooked, like cat pee.
Hangry? Eat breakfast
People who don't break their fast first thing in the morning report the least life satisfaction.
Chemical reaction
Nitrates in processed meats are well known to cause harm, but consumed from plant sources, their effect is quite different.
Me and my guitar
Australian guitarist Karin Schaupp sticks to the familiar for her Dunedin concerts.
Time is on my side
Age does not weary some of our much-loved musicians but what keeps them on the road?
The kids are not alright
Nuanced account details how China's blessed generation has been replaced by one consumed by fear and hopelessness.