You Can Tell a Lot by a Company By How it Handles its Problems
You really can tell a lot about a company by looking at how it handles issues with its customers. People don’t like to be lied to, nor they don’t like it when you beat around the bush, they just want a solution.
Apple and the iPhone 4
Rather than address the needs of its users, and their complaints, Steve Jobs took to a press conference about the iPhone reception issues to turn it into a paid programming special. During the course of the conference, Steve Jobs did little to sooth consumers, and put business before making things right.
Steve Jobs started the event off by calling out two competitors, Samsung and HTC, by noting that their phones drop too. That may be true, however the people who are interested in this conference do not own a Samsung or HTC phone, they own an Apple product and want an Apple answer.
So what does Steve Jobs do next?
Well, he pulls out a BlackBerry, a product of another one of his competitors (RIM) and makes it clear that when you hold it in a certain way it loses reception. Cool, other phones do it too!
Finally, after his salemanship was over, Steve Jobs laid out the course of Apple and how it would solve the iPhone 4′s critical reception loss issue. He hit a home run here, identifying the problem, suggested that it was still a small fraction of phones (more salesman), then said that Apple would give a free case to anyone with problems. That case, known as a bumper, corrects the issue and costs Apple practically pennies.
Apple Needs to Relearn Customer Service
This is a perfect example of poor customer service at its worst (or best?). In the days that followed consumer complaints, Apple suggested that their phones worked perfectly, then it told users that it was a software error, and then it suggested they spend $30 for a $.50 phone bumper.
Then, finally, they got it right. Give the bumper away for free to fix the issue.
All in all, is this a big deal? Not really. Some are still up in arms that they have to keep their phone in a sleeve for it to function, especially after shelling out a few hundred dollars for it. Others are satisfied. Most haven’t really bothered to look.
However, with that said, Apple cannot afford to take their customers so lightly. They sell something more valuable than a low price, they sell unique products, quality workmanship, and most importantly, customer service.
Without customer service, their brand loses value. Plain and simple.
I think Apple took a pretty decent and lingering PR hit in this latest iPhone flap. The perception exists that Apple sometimes can’t be bothered to deal with customers. It’s an odd approach, but I think it has served to create a subtle elitist (or edgy-nerd) vibe with the company and it’s products. This time, though, there really was a serious and fundamental problem and their response was more than lackluster.