I thought that getting online from behind the Waseda firewall was an enormous hassle, but my recent experience with Qwest has broadened my perspective. During a two-week flirtation with Qwest last month, I found that company's amazing incompetence actually makes Waseda's IT department look good.

You could say we got off on the wrong foot: Qwest shipped the modem to the wrong address, didn't contact me when it was returned as undeliverable, and then billed me at the end of the "first month." (As one of my friends pointed out, it's interesting that they couldn't get the modem to me, but they had no problem delivering a bill.) After two more tries, I eventually got my hot little hands on my DSL modem, but then I found that they hadn't given me any log on information. After a few long waits followed by unsatisfying chats with technical support, I cut my losses and fired Qwest.

Of course, as soon as I decided to cancel my service, I got the best customer service you could hope for. "We're so sorry that you've been having these problems. Would you like a discount to stay with Qwest?" "Gee, that's awfully kind of you, but I don't think so." It's interesting that so many companies think that they only have to provide good customer service at the time of initial commitment and again when customers attempt to defect. My direct marketing professor - a fervent devotee of CRM - would not agree.