What's The Diff?

The things Quicken Loans team members care about and want to share with the world

Kelly says fix your hair!

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Dan Gilbert by whatsthediffblog, on FlickrWe’re giving Kelly a break today while she works on some great stuff about reverse mortgages. But, we’ll still put her in the limelight with an email she sent the other day…

CNN: Buy, Sell or Comb-over?

In recent years, a pseudoscience has emerged around the theory that left-partedness signals leadership potential, while parting on the right suggests a little something off-kilter. Among CEOs of the 50 largest companies in the Fortune 500, only three part their hair on the right.

Here is CNN Money’s  hair analysis.

What I want to know is, where is this research? CNN doesn’t quote it, and a simple Google search turned up the same quote used by CNN. Whatever the research, our Chairman has got the right looks for the job.

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Detroit Pistons and Boston Celtics – Dynasty Reborn and Rivalry Renewed?

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Detroit Pistons on the DIFFBy Paul J. Pickett

As a fan of the Detroit Pistons, I hate the Boston Celtics.

But as a fan of the NBA, I love the team in green and white. They’ve won more world championships than any other team in NBA history (16)…including three during the era I became a fan of the game of basketball and the Pistons/Celtics formed a bitter rivalry– the 1980s.

But that’s the thing – the Celtics haven’t won a title (or even been competitive for one) since the 80s. But this year they’re back and their rivalry with the Pistons may just be renewed.

Continue reading “Detroit Pistons and Boston Celtics – Dynasty Reborn and Rivalry Renewed?” »

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Starbucks and my White Hot Chocolate

Monday, April 28, 2008

Free Cup of Starbucks Coffeeby Cora Bledsoe

The other day at Starbucks, I had my heart set on a white hot chocolate. What is this you ask? It’s like traditional hot chocolate with one key difference — it’s made with white chocolate instead of milk chocolate. So after I get my drink, I drive off from the window with moments to spare before I’m off my morning schedule.

Just before I turned out of the parking lot, I took a look at my drink and it looked a little dark. I thought, "That’s weird. Maybe it’s just a shadow.” After all, I was peeping through the hole in my sip top. I took a quick swig even though it was still piping hot to verify my suspicions.

Sure enough it was regular hot chocolate. BLASTED!

Continue reading “Starbucks and my White Hot Chocolate” »

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T-Mobile got it first, now its AT&T’s turn

Friday, April 25, 2008

A while back, Kriste lamented a dispute with T-Mobile customer service, and how hard it was to fight charges on her bill. T-Mobile made good by Kriste and gave her a refund. Her persistence paid off. Next, here comes AT&T with a schedule of fees based on how you pay your bill.

What??

If I happen to be running errands and want to drop my payment off I have to pay extra? And let’s not forget what the good folks at Consumerist point out as the really unfair part — people who don’t have checking accounts to pay their bill pay more, too. Yes, you get charged extra if you pay your bill in cash.

This one hits home because somehow I totally forgot to pay my phone bill a few weeks back, and so I called in a payment to make sure it got there on time. Guess what I found on my next bill! Yes! A $30 fee!

AT&T, I’m sure, realizes it’s the first place people go for basic phone service. Kinda like Blue Cross is the "insurer of last resort" in Michigan. If you can’t afford a cell phone or cable-based phone service, you can still get a basic phone line through AT&T.

I’d like to see AT&T use that situation to improve their reputation, not leverage it to make more money. Can you imagine the power of a movement by AT&T to embrace its position in the community? The ideas are already teeming… identifying community outreach programs is as easy as paying
attention to how people pay their bills.

Does AT&T have the guts to make good, too?

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Web sites that make you run away, make you stay

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Quicken Loans chooses web sitesWhen you get to a web site, what kinds of things make you run away? You know… hit the "Back" button, start a new search, or even shut down your browser. Of course, there are the downright offensive web sites, but I’m talking about seemingly normal sites, where you get there and you just can’t believe "this company" is in business.

Here are a few examples from people here at Quicken Loans:

  1. Circuitcity.com – Ouch! My eyes hurt! And why do they have to use a popup to advertise their sweepstakes? It’s almost as painful as trying to find something inside the store. Hm. Maybe there’s a clue…
  2. Staples.com – If everything is a link, which link do I click? I literally gasped when someone forwarded me this entry. Out loud. And I work all alone. The guinea pig thinks I’m insane. If I wanted envelopes, I’ll subject myself to the corner drug store and pay the higher price, thankyouverymuch.
  3. HM.com – Just go there. After I figured out how to pick the country, I still had no idea what this site was about. And then I got there… the US home page. I still don’t know what H&M (now that I see there’s an ampersand) sells, and the main message is about a podcast. You have to be a hard-core H&M lover already to get past this.

Now, think about the web sites you absolutely love. You know… the ones that grab you in 3 seconds flat and suck you in. Sometimes you’re looking for them, and sometimes you aren’t. Seth Godin talks about the idea of creating an experience that attracts people because they’re ready for you. We’d like to share some web sites that do a great job of this, and even attract people before they’re ready to buy. This next list of sites make sure you’ll come back when you’re ready to plunk down your cash.

Continue reading “Web sites that make you run away, make you stay” »

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Assembly required, but not a headache with this Char-Broil grill

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

grill-partsAfter 10 years, we have finally retired our gas grill. We abused that poor grill through winters and rain and no proper shelter from the flaky Michigan winters. So, we went all out and got an infrared grill from Lowe’s. Don’t get me wrong, I love the grill. Infrared was definitely the way to go for us.

But I just gotta tell you about the packaging on this thing! You know how places like Lowe’s try to sell you the assembly, and, we, thinking we’re smart, decided to try assembling it ourselves. Usually that goes bad. We’ve made that mistake before, and yet we still don’t learn.

This time it was different.

Not only was this grill easy to put together, they even packaged all those tiny bits well. You know it – you open the box, and along with all the random big pieces, you get the wad of plastic bags with screws, nuts, and other silly metal things that are hard to identify.

"Which screw am I supposed to use?"

Continue reading “Assembly required, but not a headache with this Char-Broil grill” »

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Happy Earth Day from Quicken Loans!

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

DIFF_earth-day

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Why I love WOMMA

Monday, April 21, 2008

wommaMay8If I were young and cool, I guess I’d say "why I heart WOMMA."

But since I’m no longer either, I’ll stick with the traditional. "Why I love WOMMA."

Here’s why.

Well, first, for those not in the know, WOMMA is the acronym for the Word of Mouth Marketing Association. WOMMA is the trade association for word of mouth (WOM) marketers and currently has around 100 member companies. About half of the members are brands such as Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Dell, and Quicken Loans.  The other half are agencies that provide WOM services. For the full list check out the WOMMA member page.

Continue reading “Why I love WOMMA” »

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Celebrating life with the Keith Hamm Foundation and the Michigan Humane Society’s Bow Wow Brunch

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Keith Hamm Foundation 2nd Annual Charity FundraiserThis past weekend I was lucky enough to attend two very special fundraising events. They both made me realize that caring people are not a silent minority and that change can happen if we want it to.

The first event, the Keith Hamm Foundation’s annual fundraiser, was a truly amazing night (I went this past Saturday night).  Here’s a little background.

Last year I wrote about Quicken Loans VP Mark Miller being named the Michigan Lymphoma and Leukemia Society’s Man of the Year for organizing the Keith Hamm Foundation, dedicated to the discovery of a cure for blood-borne cancers. Mark and his close friends created the Keith Hamm Foundation as a lasting memorial to Keith, who died of cancer last year.

This year’s fundraiser was a great success and generated over $20,000 for cancer research.

Continue reading “Celebrating life with the Keith Hamm Foundation and the Michigan Humane Society’s Bow Wow Brunch” »

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Happy Tax Day from Quicken Loans!

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Tax time can be frustrating, but here at the DIFF, we found a super simple chart that Yahoo! Finance posted from the IRS which breaks down when you’ll receive your tax rebate by your social security number! However, we must insist you only check it out after you’ve finished filing your taxes, so get on it if you haven’t already….sure hope everyone is getting a refund!

Happy Tax Day from Quicken Loans!

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Thursday, May 17, 2012