I shouldn't complain, But I'm going to anyway

I figure if I point out when brands blow it, then maybe my 6 readers (I’ve got more now!) might actually be learning what NOT to do. Similarly, If I point out GOOD and GREAT brands, then they might actually have something to aspire to.

In the GRAND SCHEME, these guys don’t suck as bad as these guys per se, but my own little personal experience forces me to put them in my new brand cartegory: SUCKBRAND

It’s taken me a while to post this… Too long in fact. But it’s relevant none the less. Christmas has come and gone, but it’s not over. Best Buy really screwed the pooch this year. As I tell this story, keep in mind they had a built in safety valve (They still suck though): Lucky for them, my daughter’s birthday was in late January.

So the first week in January, my wife and I are sitting on the sofa catching up on our precious “quiet time without kids” and she mentions that since my daughter’s Christmas gift didn’t show up on time, that I ought to check in with BB and see what happened…

Rewind to December 12th when I ordered the gift. SImple enough. We were headed to the in-laws for Xmas so rather than buy the item and schlep in on a plane, we sent it to the in-laws house. Now, by my estimation, the pony express could have gotten the product from their HQ in Minnesota or wherever one of their many logistical hubs are, to my in-laws house in the allotted time. Which if your keeping score at home, is 13 days. 12 if you don’t count Xmas day.

Well that didn’t happen. And they don’t even use horses and carts anymore, they have trucks and stuff now.

Well, you can see the problem. Right before the holidays (around Halloween) They put stuff on their site that claims they’ll deliver before Christmas if you order by such and such a date… Even right up to December 23rd for those slackers among us.

Now there could be a million reasons why it didn’t get there until after Christmas. Like an extra water stop for the horses. It doesn’t really matter. And it doesn’t personally matter to me, because ultimately, my kid is 2 and she doesn’t understand grand scale disappointment… YET.
And her Xmas gift became her birthday gift.

But what this shows, is that fairly often companies are missing the point. they miss the point that their big behemoth logistical coolness takes the human connection out of the equation. Customer Service matters. Let me say that again. CUSTOMER SERVICE MATTERS. NO WHERE ELSE IS YOUR BRAND MORE VIVIDLY APPARENT TO YOUR CONSTITUENTS THAN IN THE CLOUD CALLED CUSTOMER SERVICE. That can mean a lot of things. From me walking in to a store and talking to a sales person to calling to cancel my credit card.