Hope you had a great weekend, albeit hot I bet, and today should be another scorcher across much of our land. So my prescription for all of you is to park in front of your air conditioner and watch FOX News Channel all the livelong day.
Over the weekend I was thinking about customer service while I was waiting for an Apple technician to tell me how to fix my iPod (The remedy was to use a different USB plug in the back of my computer). When you have a product that doesn't work right or you've got a complaint about something, everybody's got a customer service number. I'm a handy guy who likes to fix things that poop out, so I've been on many a line and generally after waiting for a period of time when a savings bond could mature, you do speak to a human and they can usually solve your problem.
Where am I going with this? At "FOX & Friends" we do have our 888-TELL-FOX number for people who want to speak about a topic du jour on the air, but we don't have a customer service phone number per se. However, we do have our reliable e-mail box friends@foxnews.com which every day winds up being the show's de facto customer service line. People write to tell us that their local cable system is missing the audio portion of FOX News; they write to tell us that they didn't like a certain guest; they'll answer our question of the day, and they'll spend half an hour writing a five-page screed that complains about our hair (the color, the cut, the conditioner).
Generally, once people write they hit send and don't hear from us. Many probably think that we never see their e-mail... that would be wrong. You should know that we do read almost every e-mail even though we receive thousands a day. However, if we open up a note and see that it's also been sent to every show on the channel and every show on every other cable news network, we realize it's not just for us so we'll generally close it and not read it. There are a couple of viewers who write 10 500-word letters a day. I just wish I had that kind of spare time.
I mentioned a moment ago that we don't usually write back due to the volume. However, if a note is directed specifically at me, I generally will respond because most of them are positive and they just want more information. However there are always a few cranky viewers who complain directly about me and so I write them back directly. Generally they're shocked that they get a response from me, and 90 percent will write back saying they were having a bad day, or "Thanks for helping me understand what you were saying."
Then again, I think some of the people I write to think that they're actually receiving a response from an intern or an assistant, but that is not the case. Our interns are busy doing real television work, like getting Mr. Kilmeade's dry cleaning.
So next time you've got a comment, think of our friends@foxnews.com as our customer service line. And know that even if you don't hear back, we do read your e-mail... unless it's about our hair.
Have a great week.
Steve Doocy
Start your weekdays with "FOX & Friends First" at 6 a.m. ET and send your comments to: insider@foxnews.com
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