Big Companies Do Nice Stuff

I’ve had two good experiences today. Both nice things that companies have done. So in the spirit of helping to spread good stuff I’m going to talk about them.
First I’m going to praise O2. I’ve had some relatively poor experiences with them in the past, but anecdotally no worse than anyone ever has with a mobile company. But today I got a text message letting me know that I could get a ‘treat’, all I had to do was phone a freephone number and choose what I wanted. (Note: being a sceptic I went and checked the T&Cs online first. But they’d told me how to do that too, which is good). Anyway I called, and I got offered:

• 40 free off peak minutes a month
• Unlimited texts every day between 7 and 8pm
• 40 free texts a month

All on top of my normal package. It’s not like they’re bank-busting offers for O2, but they made me feel nice for a few minutes. I told a load of people in the office, and now I’m writing about it.

The second company to do something good today is Telewest. And it’s all around paperless billing.

Lots of people offer paperless billing, some incentivise it with cash, some play the environmental card, both are good reasons for me to consider it. But Telewest have gone one step further with their environmental pitch. They’ve teamed up with Future Forests, and if you sign up for ebilling they dedicate a tree to you (or a loved one) in the Telewest Forest. I thought that was sweet.