Davos Newbies

I truly wanted some information this morning on doing business with a young, ambitious company. The website has a handy contact form, but it also suggests you can call the main telephone number. I’m always wary of how long it will take to get a response from a contact form, so I called the number.

I reached an automated message that suggested I could:

1. Enter the extension of the party I wanted to speak to
2. Speak to customer service by pressing 0693
3. Speak directly to someone by pressing 4

I pressed “4″. That automated voice answered: “Invalid extension. Please enter the extension you wish to reach.” I pressed “0693″. That voice again: “This mailbox is not initialized.” I pressed “0″, which often works. Reached a general answer machine, which didn’t interest me.

So this company scored a point for me by providing a phone number (too many don’t). But they lost enormously by then directing me down blind alleys. Their product may be great, but I’m very skeptical about their ability to implement anything.

Euro Intelligence:

We are heading for three nice round numbers - the euro at $1.50, gold at $1000 and oil at $100. Yesterday, the financial markets took a giant step in that direction, with the euro going above $1.44, gold just under $800, and oil at $93.

For all their supposed sophistication, I think it’s a sign of the widespread adolescent personalities in the financial markets that round numbers assume such false significance. Although it can be pleasing. It isn’t that many years ago that we almost had a lovely convergence of  €1 = $1 = ¥100.