Quality - Brands - Customer experience - Loyalty - my recent experiences

Good afternoon All

It had to be said that I have very standards, which means I expect whatever product I buy to be as described and I think that goes without saying really.

A case in point would be a BMW 3 series I bought two years ago, which at the time was around 3 years old but we bought it from a BMW dealer with (fortunately) a 2 year extended warranty.

I had never owned a BMW in all my years of car ownership and I suppose it was what marketing people would describe as an aspirational brand, all those associated attributes, you know - quality, reliability, performance, customer service, owner satisfaction. Fair enough and clearly car manufacturers invest a lot of money investing in their products and creating a premium brand feel.

Sadly though, my experience of BMW was a real disappointment, mainly because the car seemed to have glitches which the dealer could never seem to fix, despite several 2 day visits to the BMW workshop. It culminated in one fault, where the car's engine would suddenly die when you needed power (eg at a junction) almost causing an accident.

I then realised this needed fixing once and for all but I was told by the BMW dealer that I couldnt have it looked at for almost 3 weeks and they might need it for a week. I tend to be pretty loyal to "brands" and companies however I think I reached the tipping point with the BMW, I just lost the will to keep taking it back with no improvement.

Now here's the thing. Once you have had a bad service or brand experience, you're unlikely to return to that brand and you'll find something better, more reliable, more competitive, whatever - and no matter what happens you'll never try that brand or supplier again.

And for me that is the ethos we have here at Straightforward Consultancy - we truly go the extra mile for our customers and this brings about a tremendous loyalty. We're now in our 5th year (wow) and our business and reputation continue to grow. Mind you, we do enjoy what we do!

Speak soon.

Kind Regards



Andy Cliff