I was paying my mobile phone bill when I realized even more clearly than ever that my service provider clearly DOES NOT KNOW ME AT ALL.

I’m logged into my account ready to pay the bill when a window pops up telling me I may be eligible for a free upgrade. Oh yeah! I bit. I click. The next screen tells me: TA-DA, I am definitely eligible for a full, free phone upgrade. Hell YEAH!! I look at the shiny, lovely image of a…what is that…a…an HTC smartphone. *crickets* I know you hear the air whooshing out of my lovely Apple-shaped bubble.

Let me pause to say that I love Samsung. My TV and Blu-ray player are Samsung. And if you’ve been reading any of this blog, I’ve said Ad nauseam how in love I am with all things South Korea right now. I think Samsung/Androids are good stuff. Just not my stuff.

So my company has me on the hook. Prime opportunity to target market to me and reel me in. Direct mail messaging is for the masses. So when I get mail about adding a second line or unlimited texts when calling and texting are the least used features for me, I don’t care. But I’m logged in. You have my profile. You know that I have an iPhone 4. You even know who I call most when I do call. A new iPhone was just announced a couple of days ago. So wouldn’t my upgrade be to the iPhone 4S? Wouldn’t the shiny, pretty gadget on my seal-the-deal page be just that–an iPhone 4S?

My service provider is a huge company. They have the resources to do target marketing research. They should know that I’m an Apple fangirl. That I have had previous pay-per-call service with them for years because I didn’t want a contract. That I kept the same cheap phone because I don’t call much. I waited to get an iPhone until I couldn’t wait anymore. That the most usage of my iPhone 4 is the data side. So the customer who hates phone contracts signed on for 2 years so I could get the smartphone of my dreams. When I finally got it, four or five months later another company was finally able to offer it. Too late for me.

My company should know that my connection to their company is solely because ORIGINALLY THEY WERE THE ONLY COMPANY TO PROVIDE THE iPHONE.