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The Cost of a Broken Brand Promise
The critical importance of institutional goodwill and passionate suppliers
The pile of trash sits forlornly at the end of my driveway, looking more and more like a lopsided snowman, as a late-October snow dumps its soft layers hour after hour.
It’s been out there for a week now. There’s nothing remarkable, spectacular or very interesting about the pile. Just that it’s still there after a week.
Let me back up here.
Last Tuesday, after getting back from a long trip to Mongolia, I had a letter from my long-term trash company that they had been purchased. I was to sign up, on line, and transfer my credit card information over to continue service.
Since there was no information whatsoever about a potential rate increase, I decided to call and find out before I just handed over my CC for their use. I called. Put it on speaker.
Forty-five minutes later, after listening to an insulting message that told me that “someone would be with me right away,” “your time is important,” “this call is so very important to us,” I had already researched and chosen another provider. Right about the time the guy in California picked up on the long hold, I had just secured service- or thought I had — with Waste Management. To their…