Disconnect Between the Brand & CS

This is not a post to throw a brand and/or company under the bus, but rather to share contrasting experiences as a customer and business leader.

To set the table my wife and I moved to Grand Rapids and purchased our second home that fully embraced the late 70's. With excitement, we decided to update the kitchen with new appliances and budgeted $10k. We did our research based on product quality ratings, customer reviews, features & design to arrive at our decision.

From the get go, we encountered a number of initial issues (wrong parts shipped, quality issues and assembly issues). Unfortunately, this was only the tip of the spear because four years later and 10-12 service visits across all 3 appliances and buckled hardwood floors (from both the dishwasher and fridge leaking)...we have to replace the dishwasher and the fridge continues to have electrical issues that continue to be unresolved.

We reached out to their Tennessee based customer service and shared our story about our experience with all 3 appliances, hoping they would have some empathy and meet us halfway with regards to the dishwasher and fridge (i.e. by supplying the dishwasher part at a reduced price and we would cover the full cost of labor). Based on the age of the dishwasher and their policy to only consider 1 issue per call (couldn't take into account the issues we were facing with the 2 other appliances)...in very polite southern accent the associate shared they could not help us, apologized and wished us a great day.

As a consumer we felt let down...I get it...the appliance is 4 years old and we opted out of the extended warranty. Our perception of the brand for being known for high quality, commercial grade design and being mid-tier to premium in price didn't match up with the customer service experience and/or solutions offered. The result is we decided to disengage the brand and any other brands the parent company produced for our replacement dishwasher. We will likely have to replace our fridge in the coming months as well.

Businesses are constantly faced with challenges keeping customers happy. As well, fraudulent claims are countless as people try to take advantage of a company's good will. While this is an apples to oranges comparison, from past experience at Keurig, customer service was phenomenal (shout out to Kathy Kelley & team) at asking probing/engaging questions and for coming up with solutions to keep a consumer positively engaged with the brand. The quality of the customer service matched the quality of the product (both perceived and what the company strived for). This was one of the reasons Keurig thrived and it helped fuel the disruption of the coffee industry.

In my opinion, it's important (at a minimum) to align customer service with the attributes/voice of the brand. The brand and product marketing teams should consistently engage their customer service leads and ensure everyone is rowing as one. By doing this you may not make everyone happy, but you'll at least keep the majority of consumers positively engaged with your company.

#customerservice #kitchenaid #keurig #quality #brand