You are a Valued Customer (Unless You are Too Old)
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| You Stinker! |
In October I received an email from Roku inviting me to participate in a survey. "As a valued Roku customer, we want to hear what you think!" the message announced. I had a little time on my hands that morning, and as I had recently upgraded my Roku equipment successfully I was feeling quite favorable towards the company.
I clicked through to the survey link, which took me to a site from Maru Surveys. I started out answering the usual demographic questions, my zip code, gender, and my age, but I was asked only these three questions. Once I put in my age, which is 67, the response was "Thank You" and the survey was over.
I thought: is this a glitch or are they gleaning out elders here?
To check that out, I changed browsers, returned to my email, clicked through to the survey again, and this time I lied about my age, entering 37. There were MANY questions for a 37 year old, but there had been basically NONE for a 67 year old. Apparently Roku doesn't give a fig about my feedback since I am an elder.
Didn't they realize how a person would feel to be so obviously discounted? My "boomer" generation probably makes up a large percentage of their clientele, and we aren't a bunch of fools. I wrote to Roku outlining my experience, suggesting they should talk to their survey research partner, Maru Surveys, about this, because I was insulted.
A few days later I got a reply assuring me "the survey is not taken by ageism" (awkward phrasing, but you get the gist), apologizing, and telling me my comments would be shared with their "Concern Team." I wrote back, explaining that the survey IS indeed, ageist, and that the company's leadership might want to consider that Americans over 50 control more of the nation's disposable income than younger age groups, and thus their marketing people may want to revise some strategies. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-bradbury/the-7-incredible-facts-about-boomers-spending_b_6815876.html
I clicked through to the survey link, which took me to a site from Maru Surveys. I started out answering the usual demographic questions, my zip code, gender, and my age, but I was asked only these three questions. Once I put in my age, which is 67, the response was "Thank You" and the survey was over.
I thought: is this a glitch or are they gleaning out elders here?
To check that out, I changed browsers, returned to my email, clicked through to the survey again, and this time I lied about my age, entering 37. There were MANY questions for a 37 year old, but there had been basically NONE for a 67 year old. Apparently Roku doesn't give a fig about my feedback since I am an elder.
Didn't they realize how a person would feel to be so obviously discounted? My "boomer" generation probably makes up a large percentage of their clientele, and we aren't a bunch of fools. I wrote to Roku outlining my experience, suggesting they should talk to their survey research partner, Maru Surveys, about this, because I was insulted.
A few days later I got a reply assuring me "the survey is not taken by ageism" (awkward phrasing, but you get the gist), apologizing, and telling me my comments would be shared with their "Concern Team." I wrote back, explaining that the survey IS indeed, ageist, and that the company's leadership might want to consider that Americans over 50 control more of the nation's disposable income than younger age groups, and thus their marketing people may want to revise some strategies. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-bradbury/the-7-incredible-facts-about-boomers-spending_b_6815876.html
Bahaha! I love that you called them on their grave error with the facts provided. "Rage, rage against the dying of the light" or in this case the limiting of the survey.
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