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Accountability is a concept in ethics with several meanings. It is often used synonymously with such concepts as answerability, enforcement, responsibility, blameworthiness, liability and other terms associated with the expectation of account-giving. As an aspect of governance, it has been central to discussions related to problems in both the public and private (corporation) worlds.

That word has infinite power.

Let me tell you a story about accountability, regarding the Xerox corporation. I am a member of the Xerox Free Color Printers  program. This program  provides a free printer to anyone, as long as you reach an agreed-upon monthly quota, report your usage every month, and buy all your supplies from them. I knew all that when I signed my contract and knew I would have no problems maintaining the requirements.If you did not maintain your usage requirement, you got fined $100. If you failed to report, you got fined $125. I knew that going in.

Being a dutiful printer owner, I faxed in my reports on time, but always made sure that I printed out the fax confirmation page for my submission. In September of last year, Xerox charged me a $125 non-reporting fee.  Of course, I had my fax confirmation page and knew that I had faxed it in. So I called them, and explained my dilemma to the CSR with which I spoke. She assured  me that a credit would be processed and that I would receive a credit to my credit card  in 3-5 business days.

Those 3-5 days came and went, and still I had no credit. I called them again and this time spoke directly to a  supervisor.  I was a little irritated, to say the least. He told me that the credit had never been processed and assured me that it would be processed immediately. For my trouble, he stated that  he would send me six free ink blocks, worth over $100. I received my credit, but when I received the ink, he had only sent me three. I emailed him immediately and reminded him that he stated he would give me over $100 worth of free ink, which is six  blocks. I informed him that I awaited the remaining three blocks. I finally got them.

On July fourth, I received an email in my  inbox stating that Xerox had sent me an invoice. When I looked at it, they had again charged me $125 non-reporting fee. I tried to call them and of course no one was there, and no one was there the rest of the holiday weekend. Not only had they charged me erroneously, but they had taken $125 on a holiday weekend, to boot.

On Monday I called and again, was assured that I would be issued a credit. At the time that I called, there were no supervisors available, so I left a message stating that I expect to hear from a supervisor that day. I did not hear from one that day or the next I called on the 9th and talked to the same supervisor again. He wasn’t very polite and I asked him why this had happened again. He had no answer for me, only to state that it was done inadvertently and that my money would be refunded. At this time, he offered no good will or anything for my inconvenience.  As a matter of fact, he was quite abrupt. Five business days came and went and I had no refund.

I emailed and asked, again, where was my refund. Mr. Supervisor emailed back and told me that it had not been processed until the 11th. I was livid.  I asked him why this was, asked him if I would have fallen through the cracks like the last  time had I not followed up and demanded to know where my money was. In his infinite wisdom, he had decided to hold my refund until he had spoken to me personally. I asked  him why would he do  such a thing, and was told that there was nothing more to discuss. That was an inadequate answer and I told him so. He then stated that because he had the right, that he was going to terminate my contract. He asked when he could get the printer and I told him that he would not be getting anything until I spoke to the corporate office. He then threatened to turn me over to collections.

I immediately called the corporate office and ended up getting through to the Executive Chairman of customer care. The first time we spoke, she immediately assured me that my contract would not be terminated. She stated that she would check into all this and get back to me. She called me on July 15th and informed me that I had not met my quota and that is why the contract was canceled. I informed her that was a bunch of crap and I had the reports to prove it. I faxed it over to her and she stated that again she would check on it. She called me on the 16th and stated that I wasn’t using enough product (because they had sent me six free inks)  and that I was no longer profitable to them.

Xerox was not accountable for the things that they had done by taking the money in error, or by honoring the contract. Because I was a squeaky wheel, they decided to terminate my contract, even though I was accountable for every part of it. Xerox is not accountable to their customers whatsoever in the program, and I advise all to stay away from it. Please feel free to link to this story wherever you are, because I would hate for someone to get involved in this and have the same experience that I had.

Readers, please be sure that you are accountable to your customers, loved ones and yourself. There is no one to hold you to the accountability but you. Demand accountability from those with whom you interact. If we don’t hold people accountable, no one will.

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