Comcast is famous for downright crappy service. Their horror stories are well-covered, blogged, and insane.
But what would happen if they did something really great? What if they blew us away with awesome features, fantastic service, and a wonderful experience?
We still wouldn’t recommend them.
The trust is over, forever. Word of mouth is based on trust. We don’t recommend products and services to our friends – however much we like them – if we think that our friends are going to have a bad experience. I’m not risking my relationship with my friends for any company.
The medium of word of mouth is trust. Never, ever break it. There’s no second chance.
I’ve had the same experience with some other brands. Best Buy, especially, has given me some horrid experiences–from disrespectful floor workers who ignore my mother and me every time we go there (even though they rush to help the male customers), to a painful warranty repair service, to the horrid experience when something goes really wrong with my purchase and needs to be replaced.
Earlier this year, Best Buy did make a herculean effort to change my mind–they comped a new computer for me without struggle after my old one required $2000+ in repairs–but it was too late. Although I now believe that the Geek Squad CEO, Robert, truly cares about the experience of his customers, I still know that the rest of Best Buy does not.
Great post, Andy. Like you said, word-of-Mouth in general relies on people putting their names next to a recommendation. The idea extends beyond companies, too. It can work for anything, especially your experience with people.