Business

Unhappy Customers: Complaints To BBB Up 10 Percent

Complaints to the Better Business Bureau were up nearly 10 percent last year, with the banking industry seeing the biggest jump in unhappy customers.

Complaints about banks spiked 42 percent to 29,920 in 2009, according to the annual report released Monday by the BBB. That made banks the third most complained about industry, after cell phones and cable- and satellite-TV providers.

It was the second year in a row that the banking industry saw a big jump in complaints. Complaints about banks rose 15 percent in 2008.

"Trust in the financial sector is already extremely low and the dramatic increase in BBB complaints against banks reflects the growing discord between consumers and the industry," Stephen Cox, president and CEO of the nonprofit group, said in a release.

The BBB said it hasn't yet examined the specific nature of the complaints against banks.

Overall, complaints by consumers to the BBB rose 9.7 percent to 1 million. Complaints rose by 7 percent in 2008, and dropped by 3 percent in 2007.

The broader spike in complaints last year reflects the pressure consumers are feeling amid high unemployment and the downturn, Cox said.

Consumers can file complaints with their local Better Business Bureau online, via phone, or mail. The group then presents the complaint to the business, and asks if a resolution will be made.

Cell phone providers got the most complaints with 37,477, a 2.1 percent increase over 2008. The cable- and satellite-TV industry got 32,616 complaints, up 8.7 percent.

However, both industries also resolved a greater portion of the complaints against them. Cell phone companies resolved 97.4 percent of complaints, while the cable and satellite TV industry resolved 97.2 percent.

The resolution rate by banks dipped slightly to 95.2 percent.
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Lenovo Plans Mobile-Internet Business Focus

Lenovo Group expects wireless Internet products to account for up to 80 percent of its sales within five years as it pursues expansion in faster-growing emerging markets, CEO Yang Yuanqing said Friday.

Lenovo, the world's fourth-largest personal computer maker, jumped into the mobile Internet market in January with the unveiling of a smart phone and two Web-linked portable computers.

"Mobile Internet is very important," Yang said in an interview. "Even today, notebook sales already are higher than desktops. Mobile Internet products are going to be 70 to 80 percent of our sales ... within three to five years."

Yang said Lenovo plans this year to focus on promoting mobile Internet and sales in emerging economies in Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe.

Lenovo, based in Beijing and Morrisville, North Carolina, was hit hard by the global crisis, which prompted its core corporate customers to slash spending. It suffered three losing quarters before rebounding to a profit in the second half of last year.

Yang said Lenovo's longer-term strategy, dubbed "protect and attack," calls for building up its dominant presence in China. The country accounts for nearly half of Lenovo's global sales but it faces competition from industry leaders Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc., which are creating products tailored to Chinese customers.

In the latest quarter, Lenovo said sales in India and other emerging markets rose 52 percent over a year earlier, far ahead of the 13 percent sales growth reported for the United States and Western Europe.

Lenovo, which acquired IBM Corp.'s PC unit in 2005, says its global market share last year rose to 9 percent, its highest level to date.

Yang said Lenovo has no plans for foreign acquisitions but is ready to look at any deals that fit its strategic plans.

Corporate spending on computers has yet to rebound but companies are expected to step up...
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Smartphones Transforming Business Travel

Business traveler Mike Monroe no longer rummages through his bag at the airline counter fishing for his flight ticket or confirmation number.

The consultant from Lakeland, Fla., has gone paperless, thanks to Continental Airlines' electronic boarding passes. Once he checks in online, the carrier e-mails a bar code to his phone. That code is scanned at security checkpoints and gates instead of a boarding pass. "It takes away a lot of annoyances."

Monroe also uses his BlackBerry for airlines' flight-change alerts, routing all calls into one number provided by Google Voice, turn-by-turn driving directions when he's behind the wheel and watching TV on Slingbox when he has downtime. He also carries an iPod Touch -- like an iPhone but without the phone -- to make international calls using Skype, get the latest sports scores and weather from Viigo and access Urbanspoon's reviews of nearby restaurants. "Nothing really cutting edge," Monroe says, "but I'm just trying every day to reduce the stress."

Monroe is a member of a growing army of tech-savvy travelers whose smartphones are transforming their travel habits. Beyond online maps and travel guides, travelers are turning to their phones to look up aircraft seat configuration, track taxis, reply to early hotel check-in requests, order room service and locate nearby colleagues.

Few Americans remain untouched by the effects of the mobile Internet. But the tech industry's core mission of getting people to lead untethered lives inevitably invites road warriors such as Monroe as early adopters of all their bells and whistles. The travel industry has responded with some of the most innovative applications available on smartphones. And more are coming.

Airlines and hotels are refining their mobile Web sites and creating applications, or "apps," for downloading to popular phone models, such as iPhones, BlackBerrys and Google Android phones. Entrepreneurial software developers are rolling out...
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