Several weeks ago, I wrote about my struggles with Apple in getting an Apple Watch sent in for repair. It was newsworthy based on the fact that Apple rarely gets the small stuff wrong and made an error instead of their usually stellar customer service.
If you read the previous blog entry, you know that after an unnecessary delay, my Apple Watch was eventually sent off for repair; so it was a bit of a concern for me when, about two weeks later, I received the following notice from Apple:
As you can read, it clearly says that Apple cannot repair my watch and it’s on its way back to me.
Really? After all of that, they’re saying, “Hey, your watch is irretrievably broken, so here it is, we’re giving it back to you.” And of course the statement, “We apologize for the inconvenience.” Inconvenienced? Nope, not me. Getting my repaired watch back after all the hassle would be an inconvenience. Getting my unrepaired watch back is much more than an inconvenience, it’s a total failure on the part of Apple. The message could have said, “We were unable to repair your watch, so we’re sending you a new replacement watch. Sorry for the inconvenience.” That would have been an encouraging message to have received, but the one above — totally unacceptable.
After receiving the Apple message, I went on a trip and didn’t have time to contact Apple right away about this issue. Upon returning from my trip, there was a small box waiting for me. I was most interested in looking at the “additional information” promised by Apple as the reason that my watch was unrepairable. I opened the box, and lo and behold, my watch was in there with a nice note from Apple saying that the watch was fully functional and ready for use. Thinking that this was another screw-up (i.e.: A note saying the watch was repaired but in fact wasn’t), I immediately booted up the watch and attempted to synch it to my iPhone. It worked! The watch has been working fine and I have been using it consistently since that day.
What’s worse? Saying the watch is unrepairable and then returning it repaired, or saying that a repaired watch is on its way and receiving a dead watch? Clearly the latter, but that doesn’t make the former good. Getting the service and messaging right are equally important. I am still an Apple fan and talk often of the great products and service they provide. Their overall excellent customer experience is such that this one fail for me doesn’t tarnish the overall brand.
How does your company’s messaging and service align? Could the mismatch in message and service that I received from Apple in this example, occur at your business? What have you done to specifically ensure that it can’t?
Paying careful attention to these types of small details are critically important, especially in light of the majority of millennials being tech critics. They’re critics in the sense that there is an expectation of how things should work digitally and being vocally displeased when they fail to meet expectations.
Take some time this week to examine your service and messaging alignment and ensure that you are constantly meeting or exceeding expectations.