I've been disappointed several times in the last few weeks.  Not by bad customer service, no, it was worse than that. It was bad customer service from organisations which I had previously held in high esteem.

The 'brand promise' is easy to make, but is nothing more than the actions of the people who represent it.  Forget the fancy logo and the advertising campaign, my guess is you (and me) make our mind up during an interaction (or lack of one). 

No one wants to feel let down by their favourite brand.  The key to a great service brand is your customers will defend and forgive you when things go wrong.  So when I'm faced with a let down I; forgive the first time; simmer the second time and finally throw a wobbler on the third. 

A perfect example was on Monday evening when Christine & I were ignored by the 'greeter' at a food outlet, (eventually) we were seated at a dirty table and dismissively 'tutted at' when we asked if it could be wiped down. We made up our mind to spend our £50 somewhere else.

Unfortunately, you can't do the same on a train.

In the past we've actually taken slightly longer train journeys to travel with a preferred rail provider. After our experiences of the past couple of weeks I'm not sure we'll bother in future.  Too many let downs and nowhere to turn. The challenge with trains and planes is once you're on you can't really get off. Even if the service is shocking. You hold on to the resentments and instead of telling the staff... you tell your friends. Admit it, we all love to share a horrendous customer service experience and we all like to exaggerate it a little for dramatic effect too.

Now it's time for a choice:

1) Click here if you'd like a couple of simple ideas on how you can keep your brand promise when it comes to customer service.

2) Click here if you'd like to read my 'name and shame' list of who's let me and my friends down recently with their service brand promise.  I'll also name the ones you, (via Facebook and Twitter), and me believe live up to their promise.  Are you on one of the lists?

3) Finally, click here if you'd like the simple brand promise ideas AND the lists!