We’re doing company branding work at the office so evaluating how companies represent themselves to customers has been on the brain lately.

It can be interesting to debate the merits of a position in a marketplace. Should we be the low-cost, efficiency leader? Or should we offer the best customer service possible or go after a luxury segment? While one approach may be more appropriate for a given company vs another, I think the important thing is to be consistent. My personal experience tells me that when a company’s behavior lines up with who they claim to be, it usually works out fine. When it doesn’t, it’s ugly.

I recently found a bogus charge on my credit card. Luckily, I saw the transaction while it was still pending and payment hadn’t been sent. So I called the bank that issued my card and told them the whole story. Their response was to tell me that they couldn’t stop the payment from going out and that I needed to call another department to place a fraud claim. Fine, whatever. When I repeated my story to the fraud department (45 minute hold time) they told me that they’d investigate and get back to me. That was over 2 months ago and still no word on the verdict, despite several phone calls from me. Now to their credit, they did issue a provisional credit to cover the amount in question while the investigation was going on. But I’m not comfortable spending that money since I don’t know whether I’ll be able to keep it or not.
All of this wouldn’t be so bad if the credit card company had painted a more realistic picture of how this would happen from the get go. I still have their sales brochure, which says things like “You won’t be held responsible for any unauthorized purchases.” My claim form says “your claim is top priority with us.” Riiiight.

On the other hand, I checked out the local Snap Fitness earlier this week. They are a stripped down health club with about a tenth of the equipment, resources and service that Lifetime or Ballys would offer. But they don’t apologize for it. My conversation with the sales person was sugar coat free.
“Do you have showers?”
“No, most people just get in and out.”
“Okay, how about lockers for my stuff?”
“We have cubbies.”
“Alright. Where’s the drinking fountain?”
“We don’t have one.”

Not the most impressive set of features for a health club but there is no misunderstanding about what they offer. And it’s only $30 a month, less than half of the dues at Lifetime or the YMCA. I think that Snap Fitness may grab a smaller slice of the total market with this approach, but the customers that they do have will be satisfied and likely to stay.