Where did all the Virgin's goodness go?
I was a huge Virgin fan, emphasis on was....why am I changing?... because the brand promise keeps getting broken ..here are 4 reasons why reaffirming your brand each and every day has to be key
- I get my new phone based on THEIR recommendation, only to find that most of the attributes don't work on their service - like e-mail! (I actually asked for a phone with e-mail, internet etc...as a key feature I wanted to use, never did they say actually we do not support that feature on our mobile service)
- When I ring up to say why sell that phone to me, they say the phone does all the things we said, even though you can't use them on our service!
- Oh did I say it took 42 minutes to get through to customer service and I believe I was being charged for it!
- My broadband was through NTL, Virgin took them over. I rang to ask about my package and found out that unless I change my email address I have to pay more than the original Virgin customers and have a reduced broadband speed....now clearly I want to change but they cannot redirect my business e-mail.
As I always say, for all the advertising in the world it is not what you say your brand stands for..it is the experience that the customer feels when they interact with you. (1) broke my trust....(2) broke more trust and left me totally frustrated...(3) made me feel devalued...and (4) makes me want to find a new supplier, if I have to change email address anyway!
The interesting thing is that I want to be a Virgin customer which shows how much they had built their brand with me...it reminds me of all the promises that you make to your employees at meetings or at recruitment...never forget an employee trust needs building for life not just in one off comments at meetings
I will announce the winner to the latest business book give away tomorrow so for your chance to win just leave a comment to 5 Thoughts on Bonfire Night!
