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Iomega's Customer Service & The Branding Game - Brokerblogger

After some time off for Christmas and Iomega research, here is what I've come up with.  I've decided (for now, at least) NOT to take the discount that Iomega's director of customer satisfaction offered me on my next purchase of an external hard drive from their online store.  If Iomega gets "live chat" support on Saturdays for "under warranty" products, I may consider it.

But, even then I will need to read the blogosphere's take on the quality of their customer service support, whether it's $25 per incident "paid support" or free warranty support.  I say this even though I found this Iomega "Code of Conduct (As adopted by the Board on September 25, 2006)  which says "Iomega values a positive business reputation,...", and "Iomega will stand behind its products, quality, services, and the assurances it makes regarding them.  In dealing with customers, Iomega will be candid and forthright." 

These statements, in my opinion, represent a possible Iomega "TRUTHINESS" (Merriam-Webster's 2006 Word of the Year).  By that I mean that this definition of "TRUTHINESS" may apply here:  "the quality of preferring concepts or facts one wishes to be true, rather than concepts or facts known to be true" (American Dialect Society, January 2006)."  The key is, does the CEO know all of the customer service disputes that arise, and how they're handled.

I've always wondered what "stand behind" really means when push comes to shove.  Also, a company can be "candid and forthright", but does that mean that the reasonableness of their customer service procedures and the quality of their customer service people are where they should be?  To be fair, Iomega did return all my money after I took their product to a local FedX store to return it (at their expense).  But, what about my "time = money" in dealing with all their admitted "mistakes"?  (See my "Victimized Consumer's Time & Seller Online Reputation Mgt.", Iomega External Hard Drive Website & "PR" Mistakes", and "Iomega Corporation's Apology & Consumer Justice" posts for the details.

My research uncovered some "skeletons" in Iomega's "old closet" along with proof that Iomega still doesn't have a reasonable customer service procedure in place when it comes to software updates for recent purchases.  Here is what I found.

Iomega Corporation's Apology & Consumer Justice - Brokerblogger

This John Wayne image on his 2004 U.S. postage stamp reminded me of his philosophy of:  "Never say you're sorry. It's a sign of weakness." (from his 1950 movie "Rio Grande", I think).  I disagree, an apology given by a person or a Corporation, which in the eyes of the law is viewed as "a fictional person, a legal person, or a moral person (as opposed to a natural person)", is a sign of strength!  Maybe that's why "2006 is the year of Celebrity Apologies ".

So, when Brad Noles (Director, Customer Satisfaction) of Iomega Corporation apologized to me twice by first saying:  "I sincerely apologize for my typo mistake." (he, at first, sent his customer service, "Escalation Mgr." rep's promised e-mail to me@verison.net vs. me@verizon.net), and then by saying "It appears that your MiniMax was missing a software CD for PC.  I sincerely apologize that the software CD was missing and for any inconvenience this may have caused you.", it not only is a sign of the strength of a corporation, it is far better than ignoring, or just making lite of, customer complaints altogether. 

However, the Iomega "live chat" rep somewhat contradicted Brad by implying that nothing was "missing" from my order in saying:  "I can only sell you a New CD. I cant send you one, because you bought a mac version when you bought your drive."  By the way, this post follows "Victimized Consumer's Time & Seller Online Reputation Mgt. and "Iomega's External Hard Drive Website & "PR" Mistakes ".

However, since I really am trying to help Iomega Corporation be on the cutting edge of recognizing the changes in the marketplace (specifically, the ANA's new "Consumer in control" and "Changed media landscape"), as well as the opportunity for positive Public Relations, I will now explain why I feel an apology may not be enough in some cases to provide true justice to legitimately victimized customers/consumers.  By the way, the 370 members of the ANA which include Iomega indirect competitors Hitachi, Hewlett-Packard, and IBM, are already learning to change corporate policies with the times (hopefully).