My name is RamPrasad Moudgalya. Readers of this blog and people in my professional circle know me mostly as RamP!. No one had any problem with my name or nickname if you will. Or so I thought. But LinkedIn has a problem. They have problem with my putting professional nickname also in my LinkedIn page. They said it is not professional - "(RamP!) undermines the professional nature of our site and services" . They have threatened to delete my LinkedIn account if I don't comply.
I've two problems with this.
First, the interaction from their customer care center was one that of an intimidation. I had (free) premium account with them and wanted them to "downgrade" me back to the basic account (I was not willing to $20 just to see a bigger list of people "who saw my profile"). I requested them to do this change and in response they said "Once these changes have been made, please reply so I can assist you with canceling your subscription". Afraid that it was one of their tricks to make me pay for the premium account, by delaying the downgrading, I tried removing my credit card details and realized you cannot do that.
I wrote a lengthy mail saying:
- That my name has got nothing to do with canceling premium services
- That their mail amounts almost to blackmail
- That I have name like that ever since I opened my account, 6 years ago
- That I'm indeed known as "RamP" (people recommending me on LinkedIn have called me RamP, my twitter ID is @ramp, my gmail is ramp.ramp@gmail.com etc.,)
- That I'm trying to build my personal brand around this word.
- That I should be allowed to talk to someone higher up and get a waiver
I got a response that they had a discussion about my name and they can allow RamP, but not RamP!. Currently my name in LinkedIn appears as RamPrasad "RamP!" Moudgalya and they want it to be changed to RamPrasad (RamP) Moudgalya. Thank god they seem to be OK with the name my parents choose and my surname. Surely, Reid Hoffman has some brilliant set of people in his staff (I wonder how he'd react to someone in his team strictly going by the rulebook and not using an iota of discretion and being a little polite in their communication).
I do see a bigger problem. I just realized that in the absence of another similar network, we have given complete control to LinkedIn. LinkedIn is so vital in getting connected to world professionals, remain competitive and be up-to-date. I've no option but to comply with their dictat, unless someone helps me connect with Hoffman.
BTW, I added the humble exclamation mark infront of my name after being inspired by managment uber guru Tom Peters. The red exclamation mark stands for the "Spirit of WOW" - for the people who understand what "WoW" is and can be and NOT for the "spirit of bureaucracy" - sorry LinkedIn you disappoint.
Thank you very much,
RamP!
ramp.ramp@gmail.com
I've two problems with this.
First, the interaction from their customer care center was one that of an intimidation. I had (free) premium account with them and wanted them to "downgrade" me back to the basic account (I was not willing to $20 just to see a bigger list of people "who saw my profile"). I requested them to do this change and in response they said "Once these changes have been made, please reply so I can assist you with canceling your subscription". Afraid that it was one of their tricks to make me pay for the premium account, by delaying the downgrading, I tried removing my credit card details and realized you cannot do that.
I wrote a lengthy mail saying:
- That my name has got nothing to do with canceling premium services
- That their mail amounts almost to blackmail
- That I have name like that ever since I opened my account, 6 years ago
- That I'm indeed known as "RamP" (people recommending me on LinkedIn have called me RamP, my twitter ID is @ramp, my gmail is ramp.ramp@gmail.com etc.,)
- That I'm trying to build my personal brand around this word.
- That I should be allowed to talk to someone higher up and get a waiver
I got a response that they had a discussion about my name and they can allow RamP, but not RamP!. Currently my name in LinkedIn appears as RamPrasad "RamP!" Moudgalya and they want it to be changed to RamPrasad (RamP) Moudgalya. Thank god they seem to be OK with the name my parents choose and my surname. Surely, Reid Hoffman has some brilliant set of people in his staff (I wonder how he'd react to someone in his team strictly going by the rulebook and not using an iota of discretion and being a little polite in their communication).
I do see a bigger problem. I just realized that in the absence of another similar network, we have given complete control to LinkedIn. LinkedIn is so vital in getting connected to world professionals, remain competitive and be up-to-date. I've no option but to comply with their dictat, unless someone helps me connect with Hoffman.
BTW, I added the humble exclamation mark infront of my name after being inspired by managment uber guru Tom Peters. The red exclamation mark stands for the "Spirit of WOW" - for the people who understand what "WoW" is and can be and NOT for the "spirit of bureaucracy" - sorry LinkedIn you disappoint.
Thank you very much,
RamP!
ramp.ramp@gmail.com
3 comments:
This is really blackmailing. This is like blindly following some religious rules even in cases where practicing them turns out to be against very purpose of the rule itself.
Thanks Paresha. It was a bad bad incident and I'm surprised that 1. LinkedIn can be so insensitive and 2. They can be so bureaucratic, hiding behind some policies
Thanks for sharing this, RamP. It is surprising to see the level of customer insensitivity LinkedIn showed.
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