Dell-ay

I recently wrote about my experience with a crashed hard drive in my Dell laptop and the lack of delight in my customer service experience. Despite the best of intentions, Dell has further soured me based on my experience this week.

After my informing the company of my issue, I was told a new hard drive would be arriving in the next three to five days. So far, so good. I could wait. This conversation took place last weekend, and I thought, "OK, a few days is reasonable."

On Monday I received a call to inform me my new drive would arrive by Tuesday evening. Yay! Thanks for the update, Dell! How redemptive to have this kind of proactive communication, except for the one tiny detail: the drive did not arrive on Tuesday.

Wednesday I received a second call from the fine folks at Dell, inquiring about my receipt of the drive. When informed that said arrival had not occurred, a quick inquiry was conducted. "I'm sorry, Mr. Lancina, it appears there was a problem on our end. The drive did not leave the warehouse. It will be shipped today and will arrive by the end of the day tomorrow, Thursday."

Somewhat skeptical, but still hoping for the best, I waited and checked and checked and waited all day Thursday. No drive. No nothing. Frustration, anger, disappointment... But no drive.

On Friday, I did not receive a call to check on the delivery of the drive. I finally did receive the drive after dark. Instead of the relief and pleasure of having a new part to get my laptop back to functionality, I was simply angered at the repeated hope/disappointment cycle I'd been put through.

What's the lesson? Make commitments you can deliver. I was actually ok with the "three to five days" timeframe originally provided, and indeed Dell delivered the drive within the five days (just barely!). By delighting me with news of quicker delivery, my hopes were raised only to be dashed. And by then repeating this cycle Dell lost much of its brand credibility with me.

The credibility topic is something I'll pick up in another posting. It is one aspect of the on-going stream of "moments of truth" when brands either delight or disappoint. The stakes are high for brands and businesses because disappointment can lead to long-term rejection, on-going bad word-of-mouth commentary, and worse. On the other hand, on-going delight in each moment of truth can turn a customer into an evangelist... and we all want evangelists supporting our efforts, right?