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CRM for Financial Services, Part 1: Unmet Potential November 06, 2009 
The chastening effect of the recession has many financial services firms taking a cautious view of future CRM investments. One reason is that these firms are husbanding their resources. Another is a growing awareness that investments in CRM by the financial sector have not been all that successful.
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Southwest Doesn't Fool Around November 06, 2009 
This week, I headed southwest as I continued making the rounds of travel-planning Web sites for the E-Commerce Times. My first impression of Southwest Airlines' Web site was that its online presence faithfully reflected its corporate persona: It looked to be a roll-up-your sleeves, no nonsense outfit.
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JetBlue: Light on Frills, Heavy on Friendly October 30, 2009 
My tour of travel-planning Web sites for the E-Commerce Times has included stops at some of the aggregator sites, some discount companies and some alternative services. I'm now entering new territory with explorations of the Web sites of the operators themselves. First stop: JetBlue, a discount airline that has carefully cultivated a customer-friendly reputation.
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New Medical Web Site to Open Window on Out-of-Network Fees October 28, 2009 
Consumers across the country soon will be able to find impartial information about out-of-network healthcare costs on a new Web site, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday. The information will be collected by a new not-for-profit company, FAIR Health, in partnership with a research consortium based at Syracuse University, Cuomo said.
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Judge: Customers in Ameritrade Class Action Deserve Better Deal October 27, 2009 
A federal judge has refused to approve a class-action settlement over contact information stolen from online brokerage TD Ameritrade. U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco says the deal offers little significant benefit to the more than 6 million current and former customers affected.
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Citi Dumps Credit Card Customers at the Pump October 23, 2009 
Shannon Burdette tried to pay with her Shell Mastercard after filling up her gas tank this weekend but found the card rejected. Confused, she called the Citibank customer service line and was told the account was closed because of something that appeared on her credit report. The only negative thing on her report, it turned out, was "closed at credit grantor's request" on the Shell MasterCard account.
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Priceline Is Weak Sauce for Shatner's Hype October 23, 2009 
As I got ready to jump off at the next stop on my whirlwind tour of travel-planning Web sites, I found myself in the grip of something close to excitement. Trying out Priceline.com was going to be a new experience for me as well -- but it already felt familiar, thanks to my beloved William Shatner (hello, fellow Trekkies) and his branding of the site.
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Debt Settlement Firm Penalized for Customer Fraud October 16, 2009 
An Arizona-based debt settlement company accused in a lawsuit of preying on people who can't pay their bills has been ordered to pay nearly US$200,000 in penalties for defrauding customers in New York state. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo launched a nationwide probe last spring into a "renegade industry" of debt settlement businesses.
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Hotwire Helps You Score a Cool Deal October 16, 2009 
Hotwire is a discount site that sells off unsold inventory by masking the identity of the hotel or rental car service or airline until the purchase is complete. I have to confess the concept never appealed to me that much -- it conjured up visions of middle-row airline seats and secluded hotels that could serve as sets for the movie "Psycho" -- and thus, I dismissed it. I was wrong.
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Bookit.com Has Some Nifty Features Hiding Under the Clutter October 09, 2009 
Clutter, clutter, clutter -- will they never learn? Well into our survey of travel-planning Web sites, a common design theme continues to predominate: a crowded user interface that detracts from the supposed utilitarian purpose of the site. As I examined Bookit.com, though, a few features jumped out of the busy display, dispelling my initial less-than-dazzled impression.
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BofA Won't Hit Customers With Rate-Hike Squeeze Play October 08, 2009 
Bank of America on Tuesday pledged not to hike credit card interest rates or fees before a new law intended to reform industry practices takes effect in February. Since most Bank of America customers have variable rate cards, however, they could still see their interest rates go up. The interest on variable-rate cards is tied to the rise and fall of the prime rate.
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Bing Travel Gets You Where You're Going, but No Peanuts October 02, 2009 
I remember when Kayak accused Bing of "borrowing" some of its design features last year. At the time, I wondered if indeed Kayak had a legitimate complaint -- the sites' designs are similar. However, after reviewing four separate travel-planning Web sites,
I have concluded that Bing and Kayak could not have sprung from the same ideological source.
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The Overdraft Overhaul September 29, 2009 
Banks are backing off harsh overdraft fees and policies. That's the good news. The bad news is they'll probably look to make up that lost profit elsewhere. It's a worrisome prospect for the vast majority of customers who never overdraw their funds and have grown accustomed to perks like free checking accounts.
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Kayak: A Boatload of Delicious Simplicity September 25, 2009 
Continuing the E-Commerce Times' exploration of travel-planning Web sites, I paddled over to Kayak this week, and after a few minutes of playing around with the site, I was
inexplicably struck with the desire for ice cream. Specifically, Haagen Dazs' five simple ingredients ice cream.
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Dell Looks for Tech Services Gold With Perot Acquisition September 22, 2009 
Dell will spend $3.9 billion for the technology services company Perot Systems in an attempt to expand beyond the PC business and compete more aggressively with HP -- which recently bought another tech-services company founded by H. Ross Perot. Dell said Monday it will offer $30 per share in cash for Perot Systems -- a 68 percent premium over its closing price Friday.
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Orbitz Has You Running in Circles September 18, 2009 
For this week's installment in the E-Commerce Times' series on travel-planning Web sites, I took a spin around Orbitz, completing my tour of the top three aggregators. The Orbitz site presented a simple two-column layout. Still, its design called to mind those "parked domain" Web sites that are used to seed ads or random content but have no real purpose.
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