blame gameWhat is the most frustrating experience when a product isn’t working? Trying to get someone to own up to the problem – and fix it.

You might spend 20 minutes (or several hours) on the phone while companies and their vendors point fingers at each other, and your blood pressure skyrockets.

Carol calls nonsense on this practice in a recent post on the Nextiva blog, “Small Business Owners: The Buck Stops with You When Outside Vendors Create Client Issues.” She begins:

“Big companies are typically adept at sending customers with complaints to other companies connected to their products. The blame game is all too common. Just recently, one of my colleagues told me about how the manufacturer of her failing streaming DVD player immediately blamed her network provider for a weak signal.

It took weeks of unnecessary research and testing of a perfectly-fine internet connection before she decided to assume that the DVD player was at fault. Knowing that support was not forthcoming, she shelled out more money to buy a different streaming device. That device worked flawlessly right out of the box.

My colleague no longer buys products manufactured by the major electronics company that refused to support its product. And, she tells everyone that she knows to do the same. Maybe that huge company can afford to lose customers, but small businesses rely on customer loyalty. Regardless of who bears the blame for a customer concern, your dedication to problem resolution can win you customer loyalty for life.”

You can read the rest of the post here.