A columnist for the LA Times, David Lazarus, has a video about product non-support and asks why we continue to shop at places that don't give us any support.
I loved these holy-state-the-obvious quotes.
"A lot of companies, it seems they don't even like their customers, they hold them in contempt. What's the deal with that?"
The thing is, even though Lazarus is right from the customer point of view, the challenge in service businesses is that human services get more expensive every year, while manufactured goods and technology gets cheaper every year. Outsourcing has only shifted the challenge, and not always solved it.
We don't seem to be willing, as customers, to pay for much in the way of product support, either directly or indirectly. But it's done to keep purchase prices low.
What the heck is the answer to this conflict?
I can tell you one thing that can help. Insist that your executives use the same support services the customers get, instead of the gold-plate support they are probably getting now. It'll be an eye opener.
