Does Qwest finally get it?

Two years ago, I left Qwest for VoIP because I was so upset with Qwest and their lack of knowledgable workers. I felt that everytime I called, I had to teach them about technology so that they could help me.... it was a pain. From a marketing percpective, one of my biggest complaints was that they were more concerned about new customers than existing customers. You would get a better deal as a new customer than a loyal customer. I got a post card on Saturday from Qwest that is titled "Qwest invites you to kick start your day on us.... just show us your Qwest bill for a free cup of coffee." Well, I thought, that is a good start in showing customer appreciation. It may be a small token, but it is good for the exisiting customers. I looked at the bottom of the card and saw the following tag line, "Not a Qwest customer yet? Bring in your service provider bill and we'll show you how to save big. Plus you'll get coffee on us!" So, the question I have is this... Are they finally understanding what it means to take care of loyal customers or is this a cheap marketing gimmick because they don't do something special for existing customers that they aren't doing for new customers? I would be interested in your comments about how Qwest is managing the customer experience.

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Corey Smith is the Vice President of Innovation at Fisher’s Document Systems where he maintains a blog on business and technology.