Promises, Promises

On Monday, my landline went from static-y to dead. ATT promised they’d be here yesterday (Wednesday) and I changed my schedule so I could be in my home office all day. They never showed up, even though I called in the morning to check.

They didn’t bother to contact me and let me know they wouldn’t show, either. When I called in frustration with an hour left in their “promise” window”,  they "handled" me with excuses: “We have a system that ensures you’ll get a call if we can’t come out. - -Oh, I see you weren’t called.”, a little scripted empathy and finally another promise to be here this morning.  Color me annoyed.

When ATT made a service promise on Monday,  I formed an expectation. They not only broke their promise, but when they didn't contact me to let me know they wouldn’t be here, they failed to meet another expectation - that they’d keep me informed. Why else would they explicitly ask for a working number at which they could contact me?

By not following through with either the promised service or any basic courtesy, ATT told me exactly how they feel about my value to them as a customer.

This got me to thinking about the promises, tacit and explicit, that are made to customers (or members, if you're an organization) - from brand promises to specific performance - and the expectations, conscious or unconscious, that customers inevitably form.  How well we meet or exceed these expectations day after day can drive or destroy loyalty.  I'm going to start paying even more attention.

We all make promises to customers daily. How well are you keeping yours?