If a company, in your eyes, consistently gives you bad service, do you continue dealing with them? Why or why not?

This question was posted on LinkedIn by Tim Tymchyshyn. I wrote a response to his question. Tim rated my response as a "Good Answer". My response is below.

“Hi Tim, I think it depends on your options. If you don't have an alternative; for example a government agency or a company with a virtual monopoly, you have no other option. If that's the case, it is often a large bureaucracy (think Dept of Motor Vehicle). If you haven't found someone helpful, leave and come back later. You'll almost certainly have someone else work with you and you might get someone more willing to assist you. (This works on phone calls too; hang up and call back, the chances of you being connected to the same person in the Call Center are miniscule).

If you have other options, I would exercise them. This is especially important to me if I need to have an ongoing relationship with this organization. I would rather pay a bit of a premium for better service.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for reading. Please let me know if you have any suggestions for future topics. Happy New Year everyone. Best wishes for a healthy and prosperous 2011!

Jim Vogel
Jim.Vogel@hotmail.com