There’s an article today about a businessman, frustrated at BMW, taking an axe to his $150,000 car. See story.
Perhaps he was inspired by the Chinese businessman that hired people to take sledgehammers to his $420,000 Maseratti because he felt they cheated him on a repair… (see video)
Not the kind of stories either company would have wanted to go viral. But it’s a great illustration of how, when you raise customer expectations but then don’t meet them, you’ve dug your own grave.
I recall meeting with a very high-end appliance manufacturer a few years back. Their appliances were many times the price of the kind you would buy in a typical store. They were baffled as to why customers would get so upset because they couldn’t guarantee delivery times. “Customers should be used to this – that you can’t always guarantee that a driver will be at your house within a certain window. I don’t know why they think we can do it any differently.”
Really? With the gigantic margins they are making on these appliances – most of them 4-5 times the cost of th average ones – they could easily afford to set up their system to guarantee delivery windows. They have the opportunity to truly set themselves apart from the Sears brands. Instead, customers get the message – you’re going to pay a whole lot more, but going to get treated the same as people who buy the regular stuff.
The stories above tell you hoow very frustrated customers can be when they feel you are taking them for granted!
